The seemingly ageless actor Joan Collins, 91 on 23 May 2024, famously said: "Age is just a number. It's totally irrelevant unless, of course, you happen to be a bottle of wine."

Age is a number that signifies how long a person has lived. This series of numbers doesn't define who you are, what you have achieved, or even what you can still accomplish. And in long-distance running, it seems there are few limits to what can be achieved at any age.

Take the recent TCS London Marathon, for example. The most versatile distance runner of his generation, Kenenisa Bekele (Ethiopia), came mightily close to winning the race outright at 41 while running an astonishing M40 masters world record of 2:04:15.

Bekele was second to 27-year-old Kenyan, Alexander Munyao, who was 14 seconds ahead in The Mall after Bekele had made a determined bid for victory with 10K still to run. Perhaps age was the deciding factor but 2:04 and bits at 41 is still an outrageous result!

Meanwhile, Korean-born US citizen Jeannie Rice (76), from Ohio, smashed the W75 world record with 3:33:27 in London – winning her category by half an hour – to eclipse Bekele's performance when age-graded. Bekele's run was rated at 102.45%. Rice's run scores 107.17% – amazing when age grading scores equate to the current world record being worth 100%!

London Marathon also saw some of the youngest and oldest runners to complete the classic 26.2-mile race in the capital. William Hamilton (4:51:42) ran two days after he became eligible, having celebrated his 18th birthday on Friday 19 April. Meanwhile, David Picksley (91), who finished in 7:57:15, was the only runner over 90 years old to finish this year.

One week after the TCS London Marathon, on 27-28 April 2024, around the Trummen Lake at Vaxjo in Sweden, we witnessed an amazing performance by an older athlete as Bo Pelander (Sweden) became the first man over 80 to run more than 100 miles in 24 hours.

Competing in the VXO Ultrafest, incorporating the Swedish national 100K and 24-hour Championships, Pelander – who celebrates his 81st birthday next month – completed the marathon in 5:42:27; reached 50 miles in 11:13:31 and passed 100 miles in 23:50:11 to finish with 161.869 kms/100.58 miles after 24 hours!

At the same event in Sweden, a 63-year-old former Irish and now Swedish distance runner, Christena Walter, running in her first 24-hour race, completed 192.86 kms/119.837 miles. This is the second longest in the W60 age group since 2013, only beaten by the world record 216.455 kms/134.499 miles set by Eva Esnaola Agnesta last year in Verona.

With athletes maturing and improving like fine wines, perhaps age is just a number after all...

Photo of Bo Pelander relaxing post-race by Rosie Jidbacken