In terms of masters distance working, 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 damaging cut up after coming by way of midway in 1:18:41. Hughes additionally holds the males’s 60-64 world marathon document of two hours and half-hour, which he set in 2020, breaking the earlier mark by six minutes.

“I’m very proud of my run within the Belfast marathon,” Hughes posted to Instagram. “My time is a single age of 64 document, beating the earlier document 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 dangerous chilly within the week main up. “It was a raffle, however the circumstances have been good for marathon working, and the cheering across the course was sensible,” he stated.

Hughes, who will transfer into a brand new 65-69 age class in January 2025, already has his eyes on that document, which is 2:41:57. “I’ll go after the over 65 world document in six months’ time and attempt to dip underneath 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 yr, he competed within the marathon on the Barcelona Olympics, the place he completed 72nd. Hughes additionally holds the Guinness World Report for the quickest father-son marathon in 2019 along 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