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Earl Fee, 90, sets his 60th age group world record in 33 C heat

A new WR in the M90-94 400m at NCCWMA in Toronto brings to 60 the number of age-group world records Earl Fee has held

Ninety-year-old Earl Fee has set another age group world record, this time in the 400m, at the NCCWMA meet at Toronto’s Varsity Stadium. Fee ran 89.15 seconds on Friday, beating the existing record (set by Yoshiyuki Shimizu of Brazil last year at the World Masters Athletics Championships in Malaga, Spain) by 0.2s. This is Fee’s 60th world record.

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“The conditions were not ideal,” Fee wrote in a Facebook post. “33C and ‘feels like 45C,’ (Globe and Mail), but I had taken loads of water in the hours before, so the heat did not trouble me…

Earl Fee Buffalo World Masters 1995, 800m, world 800m age group record at age 66. Photo: Marasport Inc

“I take the lead immediately. For many days before, I have been thinking: don’t step on the lane line to avoid disqualification, use powerful arm action the last 100 metres, and make sure to run through the finish line. At 300 metres I feel my race is going fairly well, but the finish line seems too far-far away so I forget all about the powerful arm action and concentrate on the next 50 metres and then the finish. I run about 4 metres past the finish as planned, but my main competition, the speedy 80 age group [Oswald] Rogers from Trinidad is suddenly there and beats me by 0.05 second. But immediately it is announced Earl Fee has broken the 400m world record in 89.15 seconds. I had broken the 90-94 age group record by 0.20 seconds. Based on my training, I expected my time would be close to the existing record.”

Originally from Saskatchewan, Fee has more world records than any other living racer, according to iRun.ca. His latest book (he has several) is entitled Earl Fee is Running.

RELATED: Earl Fee sets his 59th world record at age 90

 

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