. world masters championships

Some people reckon Derek Turnbull was the greatest veteran runner of all time.
This is the guy who at 65 years old ran 2:41:57 in the London Marathon, still an age-group world's best.

That same year, 1992, he set six 65-69 age group records, among them a blistering 4:56.4 -- yes you read that right -- a sub 5-minute mile at age 65.

Turnbull, a sheep farmer from Tussock Creek, New Zealand, died in his sleep at home on his farm and Nature Reserve called Sherwood Forest, leaving a wife Pat and a grown-up family of six, 14 grandchildren and 4 great grandchildren.

He set 25 world records at distances including 800m, 1500m, 1 mile, 5000m and 10.000m and set best times for cross-country as well as the marathon. He won 28 gold medals at the World Masters Championships on the track – these included six golds at the championships in Durban in 1997 (at age 71). He ran 5:04 for 1500 meters at age 70. Yet he regarded his 58-year running career as just a hobby, and a way to relax and unwind from his "day job" as a sheep farmer.