Charly Bancarel, 93, dean of the Paris Marathon, completed it on Sunday April 2, in 7 hours and 22 minutes. A feat that moved him to tears.
Charly Bancarel, 93, was the hero of the Paris Marathon on Sunday April 2. It was the oldest of the 52,000 participants in the race. A racing star in his own way, he makes you forget the stopwatch and the weight of the years. This former coach driver started racing late, at 55 years old. He ran his first marathon at age 70, and has run ten since.
“I have tears in my eyes”
He crosses time at a run. “You always have to keep going, because you don’t stop when you get old, but you get old if you stop”, he says. When he’s not running on the Cantal mountains, he trains in a small room in his home. His first fan is Denise, his wife. She always has her eye on her champion. After more than seven hours of effort in Paris, Charly arrived with a heavy heart. “It’s beautiful, I have tears in my eyes with all those who encourage me, who applaud me”did he declare.
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