Dave Obelkevich successfully completes his 40th New York City Marathon

While many people were racing their first New York City Marathon on Sunday, American Dave Obelkevich successfully completed his 40th running of the race. The 72-year-old retired music teacher extended his streak completing the New York City Marathon 39 times.

“If I get under five hours, I’m very happy,” Obelkevich told AFP before Sunday’s race.

Obelkevich did just that running 4:57:01 despite battling hamstring and calf injuries in August and September. He also negative split the race, going through the halfway point in 2:29:06.

His lifetime best for the marathon is 2:40:00, which was set in 1982. The only year where Obelkevich was forced to drop out of the New York City Marathon was 1975 meaning he has run it 40 times but completed 39.

The NYC Marathon is the world’s largest race and according to The New York Times, just 2.7 per cent of competitors were Canadian, with France and Italy being the most popular participating nations besides the United States.