Olympian, 80, dressed down for running up escalator: you couldn't make it up!

simon — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 13:28:34 -0600

I love tbis story about a British Olympian, who on turning 80 decided to see if he could replicate a technique he used when he was training seriously -- by running up the DOWN escalator of a local department store!

Thanks to Ken Stone of MastersTrack.com for alerting me to this story, which was splashed over the UK tabloids...

Ken quotes UPI's report:

Mile in 6:48 at age 80: John Keston's record finally accepted

simon — Sat, 09 Dec 2006 21:09:30 -0700

On May 14, 2005, John Keston, an 80-year-old from Oregon, ran a mile in a historic time of 6:48.3. That's about one minute faster than the existing American and world records", writes Dave Clingan.

Pictures show John mid-record at the Canby HS track in Oregon, and in the 2005 USA Cross Country Championships.

There was uproar among masters athletes worldwide when the record was not accepted by USAT&F. Now, at last, the wrong has been righted.

The story behind thw story makes staggering reading, as the mile record signalled a massive comeback after John had a four-year spell starting in 1997 that included breaking his hip when he fell of his bike, breaking a leg after falling in snow, ripping tendons in his foot when he hit a rock while running, and then going through prostate surgery.

Running at YourRunning.com - masterstrack.com

Olympian, 80, dressed down for running up escalator: you couldn't make it up!

Mile in 6:48 at age 80: John Keston's record finally accepted