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No stopping Steve Spence: 54-year-old runs sub-5 mile for 41st straight year

Shippensburg University cross-country coach Steve Spence ran a sub-5:00 mile for the 41st consecutive year on May 11.

Steve Spence

Steve Spence, the cross-country head coach at Shippensburg University in Pennsylvania, was 14 when he ran his first sub-5:00 mile (1609 metres). On May 11, two days after his 54th birthday, Spence ran 4:54 to extend his sub-5 mile streak to an astonishing 41 years.

He looked good doing it too, outfitted with short shorts while going shirtless well into his fifties. He was paced by the team’s assistant coach, Matt Gillette, who posted the feat on the social media platform Strava.

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According to Shippensburg University sports information, it’s believed that Spence’s mark is the longest standing streak of its kind in the United States.

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The time trial was run on Shippensburg campus ahead of the 2016 PSAC Outdoor Track & Field Championships, a state conference meet. Shippensburg won the men’s and women’s title at the meet as Spence earned coach of the year honours (see below photo).

Spence, once one of the United States’ top distance runners, won a bronze medal in the marathon at the IAAF world championships in 1991 and finished 12th at the Olympic Games in 1992. He began coaching at the Pennsylvania-based university in 1998.

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The footage was taken by Shippensburg runner Cole Nissley, who also captured footage of Spence running a sub-5 mile in late 2015.

Spence is the father of elite distance runner Neely Spence Gracey, the top American finisher at the 2016 Boston Marathon.

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