The Canadian, who broke 3:00 in the marathon in
his 70s and 4:00 at age 85, succumbed to prostate cancer.
In 2003, at 72, Whitlock became the first person 70 or
older to break 3:00 in the marathon, with a 2:59:10 at the Toronto Waterfront
Marathon. A year later, at 73, he lowered that 70+ best to 2:54:49. Over the
ensuing years, Whitlock set age-group marks in the 70+, 75+, 80+, and 85+ age
groups at distances from 1500 meters up through the marathon. Just last
October, at 85, he ran 3:56:33 at the Toronto Marathon, becoming thefirst in his age group to break
4:00and taking 28 minutes off the previous 85+ record.
The
British-born Mr. Whitlock trained in a cemetery near his home in Milton,
Ontario, outside Toronto, running laps for three hours or more at a time in his
shuffling style. He had no coach, followed no special diet, did no stretching
except on the morning of a race, got no massages and took no medication, except
for a supplement for his knees.
The
training itself was drudgery, Mr. Whitlock said, and he did not run for his
health. He simply enjoyed setting records and getting attention. And those
records forced scientists and fellow runners to reassess the possibilities ofaging and performance.
“The real feeling of enjoyment,” he said in an
interview with The New York Times in December, “is getting across the finish
line and finding out that you’ve done O.K.”
At 5 feet 7 inches and a racing weight of 110
to 112 pounds, Mr. Whitlock was also a marvel of science. At 81, he underwent a
battery of physiological tests at McGill University in Montreal. His
oxygen-carrying capacity was the highest ever recorded in the literature for
someone his age, scientists said. And his relative retention of muscle mass was
also considered remarkable.
Edward
Frederick Whitlock was born in London on March 6, 1931. He ran a 4:34 mile as a
schoolboy, but an injury to the Achilles’ tendon in his right foot curtailed
his collegiate running career. Upon graduating in 1952 from the Royal School of
Mines at Imperial College in London, he moved to Canada for work and did not
run again seriously for nearly two decades, until he was 41.
Mr.
Whitlock is survived by his wife of 58 years, Brenda; two sons, Neil and Clive;
and a sister, Catherine Hunt.
By December, though, his running had been
interrupted by various pains in his shoulder, knee, hip and groin. His weight
had also dropped to 105 pounds. Even so, as with many runners, he was reluctant
to visit a doctor. He gave no indication that he was gravely ill.
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