Gene Dykes: Sub 3-hour marathoner and ultra-marathon runner in his 70s!
Episode 63 is an interview with Gene Dykes, who is one of the most prolific and successful septuagenarian racers of all time, winning multiple masters national championships, setting a number of national records, becoming the oldest person ever to run the Triple Crown of 200s (three 200-mile races in a single year), and achieving a marathon PR of 2:54:23 at 70 years old. Gene was born in Canton, OH in 1948. He lived there until he attended University, graduating in 1970 with a B.A. in chemistry. After two years in the army, serving in Vietnam and Japan, Dykes received a Ph.D. in biochemistry in 1978. He then embarked upon a career in computer programming until he retired in 2012. He married in 1982, and along with his wife, raised two daughters. Dykes ran track in high school and college, but for most of his life was an occasional jogger. At age 50, he tore his hamstring and was unable to run at all for six years. Once he healed, he began running for enjoyment again. At age 58 he ran the New York City Marathon, his first marathon. He has now completed around 120 marathons! He has also completed many ultra marathons. In the last few years he set 14 national age group records and won 15 national championships at distances from 3K to 100 miles. In December 2018 he ran the world’s fastest marathon for age 70, 2:54:23, and the following spring he broke the Boston Marathon age group course record by almost 20 minutes. Do you have injuries or niggles ruining your enjoyment of running and hindering your performance? Running is not just good for our physical health, but our mental health too! It’s important on so many levels to all of us that we can keep running. Come in and see the specialists at Health and High Performance where they utilise the latest in technology, and experience to help you achieve the results you want and are capable of. So, head to www.healthhp.com.au/run Or find them on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/healthhighperformance/ Thank you so much for supporting the podcast! Rating, reviewing and sharing helps more people find the podcast and grows the audience. Which all helps when I’m contacting people to be interviewed!! Tail_Runner gave five stars and says; “Sean Bell: What a remarkable young man. Such a great interview. Loved this one, really looking forward to following his achievements.” Thanks so much for that! You can also go my YouTube channel to see the video recordings of the podcast. Enjoy the interview with Gene.