The man whose love of running saw him power through hundreds of marathons into his 90s, has died.
Don McNelly, 96, was a retired paper company executive from New York who did not start running until he was almost 50-years-old.
McNelly took up running after a close friend died of a heart attack.
The inspirational runner completed his first marathon in Boston in 1969.
Forty years later, he had completed 744 of them, running 26.2-mile
races in all 50 US states, every Canadian province and on every
continent, including Antarctica.
In 2006 McNelly completed his 700th marathon at the age of 86 and
eventually reached his goal with marathon 744, which was the same number
of the ship he was deployed on during World War II.
Included in the runner's record are 117 ultra-marathons which are even longer than the traditional marathon.
"I'm 90 and I feel like I'm 50, 60 tops," he told The Associated
Press in November 2010, a week after he had to pull out of a marathon in
Pennsylvania after making it about midway through the race. "I'm a
lucky, lucky, lucky guy."
Mr McNelly enlisted in the Navy during World War II where he served as chief engineering officer aboard destroyer USS Kyne.
After taking up marathon running, McNelly befriended Norm Frank,
another runner from the Rochester area with a passion for marathons.
The two travelled together to races to save on petrol and hotel bills.
By the time Frank died in 2015 at 83, he had completed 965 marathons.
Credit- ITV News.
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