63-year-old grandfather qualifies for Boston in marathon debut

Dave Fletcher, a 63-year-old grandfather from Wooster, Ohio, ran a Boston qualifying time in his marathon debut. He now has his sights set on the 2017 event.

Fletcher ran his qualifying time at the 2015 Akron Marathon on Sept. 26 running a 4:04:36 debut performance. The runner  will be 65 on race day in 2017 meaning that he qualifies for the 65 to 69 age group. The standard for that age group is under 4:10:00. Registration for the 2016 Boston Marathon is already closed and so runners who hit the standard now are aiming to line up at the start line of the 2017 event.

The Ohio runner is a 30-year veteran of the plumbing industry and father of three sons. According to The Loudonville Times, he started training 51 weeks before the Akron Marathon, spurred by a moment with his four grandchildren where he was winded bike riding alongside them. On top of working full-time, Fletcher managed to train 65 to 75 kilometres on a weekly basis.

“This is a life changing experience, completing my first marathon is one item I’ve now crossed off my bucket list,” Fletcher told The Loudonville Times. “But there’s still one big item left to go… and that one is located in Boston.”

His family was scattered along the course in Akron donning shirts with ‘Team Fletcher 26.2’ on the front and ‘Boston Bound’ on the reverse. With family support, Fletcher was able to overcome a pulled hamstring at mile 25, which forced him to stop on the side of the road and stretch until the pain subsided. Fortunately, Fletcher was able to recover and finish well under the Boston Marathon time threshold, a feat brought to his attention by a fellow competitor shortly after finishing.

In the build-up to the race, Fletcher ran as far as 35 kilometres on his long runs and any cramps caused by long work hours were treated by drinking pickle juice. Fletcher made sure to stay fully energized during his pre-race taper by consuming pasta on a nightly basis in an effort to carbo-load the week of the race.

A total of 482 male athletes aged 65 to 69 were entered for the 2015 Boston Marathon, with 403 of those competitors finishing the 42.2K distance. The average finishing time for males 65 to 69 was 4:22 in 2015 according to Competitor.com