All tagged Gene Dykes
Gene Dykes, the 73-year-old phenom from Pennsylvania, added another world record to his collection last weekend. He was targeting the 70+ WR of 4:14:55, which had stood for over 20 years. He covered 10 laps of the 5k course at the USATF Nationals in… 3:56:43!
Dykes credited the late, great Ed Whitlock for never having tackled this event, and at London on October 3 he will be gunning for Whitlock’s 70+ marathon record of 2:54:48.
Gene has run three marathons under 3:00 since turning 70, only the second runner to do so along with the legendary Ed Whitlock. You can also follow him on Strava, if you want to witness some amazing feats of training and racing. In addition to marathons, he races ultras up to 200 miles. This weekend he’s competing the the Philadelphia Freedom challenge, which entails a half marathon and an 8k on Saturday, followed by a full marathon on Sunday. Yesterday he “took it easy” in the half, running 1:39, before going out and blasting the 8k in 33:33 — 6:43 pace! As I write this, I haven’t seen marathon results yet. I’m guessing low-3:00’s.
