Age really is just a number for Charly Bancarel, the 94-year-old running in this year’s Paris Marathon Pour Tous. One post on Instagram tells us that the elderly man will be the oldest participant in the race in 2024! This actually won’t be the first time that Charly has set a record like this. In 2023, he also became the oldest runner to complete the Paris Marathon!
Runner’s World tells us that it took Charly Bancarel over seven hours to complete the 26.2 mile race. Although he was one of the final hundred participants to cross the finish line, this was still an incredible feat at 93 years old!
What’s especially impressive is that Charly Bancarel didn’t even get into running until he was 55 years old. He completed his first marathon when he was 70 and would go on to finish over 10 of these races in total!
Charly Bancarel will be running in the Paris 2024 Marathon Pour Tous.
Now, the 94-year-old is getting ready for the Paris 2024 Marathon Pour Tous, or Marathon For All. This version of the race is much more open to the public. For the first time, the city will invite non-professional athletes to participate in an Olympic Marathon event of their own. There will also be a shorter route for those unable to complete the whole thing.
“Paris 2024 promised to revolutionise the Olympic and Paralympic Games experience for the public,” reads the Olympic Games Paris 2024 website. “Many people shared a dream that is now a reality: with the Paris 2024 Mass Participation Marathon, amateur athletes will be able to run the Olympic marathon route at night, enabling as many people as possible to follow in the footsteps of outstanding athletes.”
Kudos to Charly Bancarel for not letting his age keep him from going after his goals! We’ll be rooting for him during the race.
You can find the source of this story’s featured image here.
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