Lester Wright is outrunning Father Time and the competitors.
The sprinter, 100 years younger, broke the world document for his age group within the males’s 100-meter on the Penn Relays in Philadelphia on Saturday. (Watch the FloTrack video beneath.)
“It was fairly good to have the ability to do that at age 100,” Wright advised the Asbury Park Press. “After I got here right here I used to be a bit bit nervous, however once I noticed the gang and all the things I fell proper in with it.”
The centenarian acquired heat applause from the hundreds at Franklin Discipline who additionally had purpose to cheer the return of the venerable monitor meet after a pandemic hiatus, NJ.com noted.
Wright’s subject included runners 80 years outdated and up, and was received by 84-year-old Bob Williamson.
However Wright’s time of 26.34 shattered the 100-104 age group document beforehand set by Donald Pellmann in 2015 at 26.99 seconds. Pellmann’s document nonetheless appeared on the USATF Masters World Record listing as of Monday morning, however Wright’s record-winning time was ratified, in line with the Asbury Park Press.
In fact, a 100-year-old sprinting in any respect is headline-worthy.
“I suppose it’s actually one thing that you simply don’t typically hear about and it looks as if it might be considerably novel if I can get on the market and actually carry out,” Wright, who turned 100 on Friday, told ABC in New York.
Wright, a monitor star at Lengthy Department Excessive College in New Jersey within the Thirties who wed his teen sweetheart Adele (yep, nonetheless married after 80 years), additionally has made nice strides in his neighborhood. He attended faculty on the GI invoice and opened the primary Black-owned dental lab within the space, manufacturing false tooth, in line with the Asbury Park Press.
Quick-forward to the 5:00 mark for the race:
