In relation to masters distance operating, Tommy Hughes, the previous Olympian from Eire, is in a league of his personal. The 64-year-old from Belfast took on his hometown marathon on Might 5, clocking two hours, 36 minutes, and 37 seconds—which is the quickest marathon time ever for somebody his age.
Hughes completed twenty fifth general (twenty third male) and gained his M60-64 age class by a staggering 39 minutes, forward of Northern Eire’s Paul Alister, who got here in at 3:15:40. He even ran a one-minute destructive cut up after coming by way of midway in 1:18:41. Hughes additionally holds the males’s 60-64 world marathon file of two hours and half-hour, which he set in 2020, breaking the earlier mark by six minutes.
“I’m very pleased with my run within the Belfast marathon,” Hughes posted to Instagram. “My time is a single age of 64 file, beating the earlier file of two:24:44 set by Clive Davies in 1979.”
Hughes says he wasn’t even going to run Sunday’s marathon, as he got here down with a really unhealthy chilly within the week main up. “It was a raffle, however the circumstances have been excellent for marathon operating, and the cheering across the course was good,” he stated.
Hughes, who will transfer into a brand new 65-69 age class in January 2025, already has his eyes on that file, which is 2:41:57. “I’ll go after the over 65 world file in six months’ time and attempt to dip below that elusive two-hour and 30-minute mark.”
He has a lifetime private finest of two:13:15 from the 1992 Marrakech Marathon. In the identical 12 months, he competed within the marathon on the Barcelona Olympics, the place he completed 72nd. Hughes additionally holds the Guinness World File for the quickest father-son marathon in 2019 together with his son, Eoin Hughes. Tommy ran a blazing 2:27:52, and Eoin ran 2:31:30 for a mixed time of 4:59:22
