84-year-old Canadian becomes oldest to run Antarctic marathon

Ottawa, Dec 17 (IANS) An 84-year-old Canadian national named Roy Jorgen Svenningsen has become the oldest person ever to complete the Antarctic Ice Marathon.According to a report in CTV, Svenningse, who started the race December 13, took 11 hours and 41 minutes to finish it on Monday. "At one point, I thought, I don't think I'm going to do this all the way," Roy said. "I wanted to finish it, and that was it," he said, adding: "I just thought I better get it done."Roy, a retired oil worker, is from the Canadian city of Edmonton, and he has been running since 1964. He spent a year training for 42-km Antarctic marathon.The Antarctic Ice Marathon is the planet's southernmost race and is considered one of the toughest. For an entry fee of 24,800 Canadian dollars (about $19,000), participants are flown to and from Antarctica via Chile's southernmost airport and are fed and lodged in tented accommodations and provided professional photos of their once-in-a-lifetime run.The winner of this year's race was William Hafferty of the US, who set an event record time of 3 hours, 34 minutes and 12 seconds.
--IANS aak/ksk/