CHANDIGARH:The 114-year-old Fauja Singh, nicknamed the Turbaned Tornado, the oldest marathon runner, died in a road accident in his village near Jalandhar in Punjab.Sources said that Singh was hit by an unidentified vehicle on the evening of July 14 as he was crossing the road at his native Beas village near Jalandhar.”My father was going for a walk when an unidentified vehicle hit him. He suffered head injuries. We immediately rushed him to a private hospital; however, he succumbed to his injuries,” said his son Harvinder Singh.Singh was born on April 1, 1911, at Beas village in Jalandhar, Punjab. He was the youngest of four children in his family. In 1992, he moved to England and settled in East London with his son after the death of his wife, Gian Kaur. Singh started his marathon career in 2000 at the age of 89 as he decided to take up running and took part in the London Marathon that year, and shot to fame as he completed the marathon. It was his maiden full marathon, which he completed in six hours and fifty-four minutes. He broke the previous world record of 58 minutes in the 90-plus age bracket. He also ran New York, Toronto and Mumbai marathons. In 2003, he completed the Toronto Waterfront Marathon in five hours and forty minutes in the 90-plus category, which was his personal best timing.On October 16, 2011, Singh became the first centenarian to finish a marathon, making him the oldest marathoner as he completed the Toronto Waterfront Marathon in eight hours, eleven minutes and six seconds. It was a world record, but the Guinness World Records refused to recognise it as Singh could not produce his birth certificate.
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