Imagine being 81 years old and thinking your best days are basically behind you. Most people that age are worried about hip replacements or finding the TV remote. Not Fauja Singh. He didn't even start running seriously until most people were already two decades into retirement.
He was an illiterate farmer from Punjab who ended up on billboards with David Beckham. Pretty wild, right? But there’s a lot more to the "Turbaned Tornado" than just the feel-good headlines. The man ran because he was broken. He ran because he had watched his wife die, then his daughter, and finally his son in a horrific construction accident. Running wasn't a hobby; it was his way of outrunning the grief that was trying to swallow him whole.
The late-bloomer myth
People love the story of the 89-year-old who suddenly decided to run a marathon. It makes for a great Instagram quote. But the reality is that marathon runner Fauja Singh was actually a runner in his youth. He did it for fun in the fields of Beas Pind back in British India. Then life happened. The Partition of India in 1947 forced him to give up his passion for decades. He worked the land. He raised a family.
💡 You might also like: Why Brighton & Hove Albion is Actually the Best Run Club in the World
The tragedy that brought him back to the pavement is the stuff of nightmares. In 1994, he was standing in a field with his son, Kuldip, during a storm. A piece of corrugated metal blew off a structure and... well, it killed Kuldip right in front of him.
Fauja was 83. He was devastated. He moved to London to be with his other children, but the depression followed him across the ocean. He found himself sitting around Ilford, bored and lonely. One day, he saw a marathon on TV. He thought, "I can do that."
He showed up to his first training session in a three-piece suit. Honestly. His coach, Harmander Singh, had to explain that you can't exactly crush 26 miles in a waistcoat and dress shoes.
Why Guinness said "No"
This is the part that still irritates a lot of his fans. In 2011, at the Toronto Waterfront Marathon, Fauja Singh became the first 100-year-old to finish a full marathon. It took him over eight hours. By the time he crossed the line, workers were literally dismantling the barricades.
🔗 Read more: Odell Beckham Jr. Stats: Why the 2026 Comeback Is No Joke
But Guinness World Records refused to recognize it.
The reason? He didn't have a birth certificate. Back in 1911, rural villages in India didn't exactly hand out official paperwork at the local hospital. He had a British passport. He had a letter from the Queen. He had government documents. None of it was enough for the "official" record books. To Guinness, if it wasn't recorded in 1911, it didn't happen.
But if you ask the running community, he’s the record holder. Period. Between his first marathon at 89 and his personal best at 92 (which was a staggering 5 hours and 40 minutes), his stats were objectively insane. Scientific studies later showed his $VO_{2}$ peak was comparable to a man in his 60s. He wasn't just "good for his age." He was a physiological anomaly.
The diet of a centenarian
What did he eat? Everyone wants the magic pill.
- Simple Punjabi food: Lots of dal, roti, and green vegetables.
- Ginger curry: He swore by "soondh" (dried ginger) for inflammation.
- Portion control: He often said he ate to live, not lived to eat. One chapati and one bowl of dal was a standard meal.
- Total abstinence: No alcohol. No tobacco. No fried junk.
He was a lifelong vegetarian and actually became the oldest person to star in a PETA campaign. He figured if he could run 26 miles on lentils, nobody really "needs" meat for strength.
The tragic end of the Tornado
Fauja Singh lived a long, long life. He retired from competitive racing at 101, after a final 10km run in Hong Kong. He didn't stop moving, though. He’d still walk miles every day, even when he went back to India.
Sadly, the road eventually caught up with him. In July 2025, at the age of 114, he was involved in a hit-and-run accident in his native village in Punjab. He died from head injuries. It was a bizarre, tragic ending for a man who had spent his life successfully navigating some of the busiest streets in London and New York.
He didn't die of old age. He died because someone wasn't looking at the road.
How to actually apply the Fauja mindset
If you're reading this and thinking about starting your own fitness journey, don't wait until you're 89. But also, don't think you're "too old" at 40 or 50.
✨ Don't miss: Football Xs and Os Explained: Why Modern Schemes Are Actually Getting Simpler
Start with walking. Fauja didn't start with a marathon; he started with a jog around the block in a suit.
Next steps for your own longevity:
- Focus on digestion: If your body can't process it, don't eat it. Simple as that.
- Move through the pain: Fauja used to say the first 20 miles were easy; for the last six, he just talked to God. Find your "God"—whatever keeps you moving when your legs want to quit.
- Check your stats: If you're serious about following in his footsteps, get a baseline on your cardiovascular health. His $VO_{2}$ peak was the secret to his stamina.
- Volunteer: He ran for charities—premature babies, Sikh culture, animal rights. Having a reason bigger than yourself makes the miles shorter.
The real legacy of marathon runner Fauja Singh isn't the records. It's the fact that he turned a soul-crushing tragedy into a global message of hope. You don't need a birth certificate to prove that.