Harriette Thompson of Charlotte completed the San Diego Rock ‘n’ Roll Marathon on Sunday to become the oldest woman ever to complete a 26.2-mile race.
Her unofficial finish time was 7 hours, 24 minutes and 36 seconds.
She finished alongside her son Brenny Thompson, 56, also of Charlotte, who strode alongside her for the entire distance while taking video and photographs with his iPhone.
Nearly 19,000 runners were entered in Sunday’s race, the 18th running of the Rock ‘n’ Roll event, which is owned by the San Diego-based Competitor Group.
Thompson has run the race 16 out of those 18 years. She missed it in 1998, the inaugural year, and in 2013, when her 14-year streak ended because she’d recently had all but one of her upper teeth removed as a result of an oral cancer that also took her upper jawbone. In 2010, 2011 and 2012, she ran while the disease was eating away at her mouth.
Previously, the oldest female marathon finisher on record was Gladys Burrill, who ran the 2010 Honolulu Marathon in 9:53:16 at the age of 92 years, 1 month. Thompson turned 92 in March.
Thompson did fall shy of another world record: Her time of 7:07:42 at last year’s race remains the fastest marathon ever run by a 90- to 94-year-old woman.
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