By Arun Kumar
Washington, July 20 (IANS) India’s grand old marathon man, Ashis Roy, has completed his 93rd long run finishing second in the 70 plus age group in the Annual Friendly Massey Marathon in Canada, his seventh marathon in 2009 alone.

“It was a small but beautiful marathon. I felt so happy and overwhelmed,” an elated Roy told IANS on phone from the small Canadian town after being presented a brass shield as a special “Achievement Award” with “Congratulations - 93rd marathon” engraved on it.

Running in cool weather over two loops around a few small hillocks, Roy — at 77 the oldest of 62 participants — Sunday finished the 42-kilometre race in the Northern Ontario town of Massey in six hours and 43 minutes, six minutes more than in Niagara on the Lake Marathon four weeks ago.

“My arthritic right knee started acting up forcing me to run on the gravelled shoulders of the road,” Roy said. “But the uneven surface gave me a big blister considerably slowing me down in the second half”. At 3 hours 32 minutes, it took 21 minutes longer than the first half.

Roy, who is listed in the Limca Book of Records and has, to date, competed in 20 countries outside India, including the International Veterans Marathon in Athens in 1986, has run seven marathons this year, two in India, three in the US and two in Canada.

His next run would be in the Self Transcendence Marathon in Rockland County, New York on Aug 25.

The seasoned marathoner who turned 77 on June 1 would be competing in five more marathons in the US before returning to India for his 13th run this year and topping it off with his 100th marathon in Mumbai on Jan 17, 2010.

Roy began running marathons at age 52 when he retired as a cardiologist in the Indian Air Force. He has also penned a book on the “Joy of Running”.

(Arun Kumar can be contacted at arun.kumar@ians.in)