The Never-Ending Marathon of Mr. Dharam Singh

This is the story of Dharampal Singh who, according to himself and four hastily arranged forms of ID, is 119 years old. While living that long would be a feat unto itself, it’s all the running that got our attention.

Mr. Dharam Singh likes to run.

A lot.

According to Robert Young of the Gerontology Research Group, only about 1,000 people have been verified as living past 110. That’s roughly .00001 percent of the current human population. Of these people, only about 10 percent are male. Of these males, 0 percent could run a marathon. We traveled to magical (and crowded) India in the spring to figure out the ancient secrets of Dharam’s longevity and watch him attempt to finish the Hindustan Marathon, which, if his age is to be believed, would make him the oldest finisher of any kind of sanctioned running event by at least two decades.