ED WHITLOCK - 74-year-old Marathoner Is Sub-3 Hero

by Marc Bloom

Ed Whitlock, a Canadian marathoner who may be the world's greatest athlete for his age, rotates his running shoes like the tires of a car. "I have ten pairs that I alternate," said Whitlock. "That way they don't wear out."

Every day, Whitlock, 74, travels farther on foot than many motorists in his town of Milton, Ontario, a Toronto suburb. He trains up to three hours a day, about 23 miles, close to the marathon distance of 26 miles, 385 yards. Most Olympic marathoners do less.

Whitlock, 5'7" and 112 pounds, has been heralded like an Olympic champion since running 2 hours 54 minutes 49 seconds last September in the Toronto Waterfront Marathon. His time, at age 73, placed him 26 th of 1,690 finishers, and shattered his own world record for a runner 70 or older by more than four minutes. The previous year, in the same race, Whitlock had run 2:59:10, becoming the first man 70 or older to break three hours.

"Ed is pushing the limits, like Roger Bannister breaking the 4-minute mile," said Bill Rodgers, 57, winner of the Boston and New York City marathons four times each. "I think he should slow down and have some respect for us youngsters."

While Whitlock shuns publicity, his star quality has crossed the Atlantic and, for the first time, a match race between 70-plus runners is planned for a major international marathon. On April 10 in Rotterdam, Whitlock will race against 71-year-old Dutch star Joop Ruter, who ran 3:02:49 last year at Rotterdam.

Whitlock's achievements exemplify a growing nationwide trend of senior citizen participation in sports. Among the nation's 400,000 marathon finishers in 2003, there were about 500 aged 70 or over, as compared with 100 or so a decade ago, according to Ryan Lamppa of the Road Running Information Center in Santa Barbara, Calif.

For many active elders, 70 may be the new 50.

Indeed, a recent study sponsored by the National Institutes of Health, the most comprehensive look at the healthy aging of the human heart, affirms that older people can achieve more health and fitness gains from exercise than previously thought. The study also sheds light on Whitlock's ability, at 73, to run a pace of 6:40 per mile for 26.2 miles.

Dr. Benjamin D. Levine, a cardiologist at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center and Presbyterian Hospital, in Dallas, found that a group of people with a mean age of 70 who'd started exercising in mid-life and kept it up had "hearts indistinguishable from healthy 30-year-olds." Instead of the heart shrinking and stiffening with age, as it does in sedentary people, impairing performance, said Dr. Levine, the trained 70-year-olds had larger, more elastic heart muscles. The findings were reported in the journal Circulation last September.

Exercise, said Dr. Levine, had preserved the heart's "compliance" and would enable someone like Whitlock, who'd trained for years, to pump more blood, feeding the working muscles with oxygen levels associated with younger athletes. A colleague of Levine's at Southwestern, exercise physiologist Peter Snell, a 3-time Olympic gold medalist in middle distance running for New Zealand, said Whitlock's marathon pace required an oxygen consumption of 48 milliliters per kilogram (2.2 lbs.) of body weight per minute.

"That's unheard of for a 73-year-old," said Snell. "It's what you'd expect for someone around 40 who's a very good runner."

Whitlock does not consider himself unique. "People under-estimate what old people can accomplish," he said. "Old people are the worst in that respect. They let themselves be inhibited by age."

Unlike younger stars, Whitlock has no team, coach, training partners, massage therapist, nutritionist, sports psychologist, shoe contract or high-altitude training camp. He does no stretching exercises or weight training. Whitlock has no special diet, does not carbohydrate-load and has ice cream for dessert every night.

Whitlock does all of his training in a cemetery. He covers a one-third-of-a-mile loop on a paved path. He doesn't count laps, stopping when his watch indicates three hours. He said he will not run the roads because drivers "aim" at him. Besides, Whitlock prefers running in circles. "You don't have to face the wind for very long," he said.

Whitlock's 2:54:49 would have placed him 306 th at last fall's New York City Marathon, putting him in the top one percent of the 33,000 finishers. At New York, only 480 runners bettered three hours, the gold standard of marathon excellence, and a time few runners beyond mid-life can approach. Last year, the second-fastest marathoner in the U.S. 70 or older ran 3:24:28.

Whitlock may run faster still. Toronto marathon race director Alan Brookes said Whitlock crossed the finish in his 2:54 "looking fresh as a daisy." Brookes had promoted Whitlock's presence, and as a result the Toronto field doubled, from 795 finishers in 2003 to 1,690 last year.

A native Briton, Whitlock, born in London in 1931, was an excellent school and university runner but said he lacked coaching and motivation. He dropped running in 1952 when he came to Canada to pursue an engineering career.

While working all over Canada, getting married and raising two sons, Whitlock didn't run a step for 20 years, resuming in 1972. The long break may account for his current success, according to experts who have observed injuries that stem from life-long running intensity.

"The layoff probably saved Whitlock a lot of arthritic effects that impair performance," said David Costill of Ball State University, one of the world's pre-eminent exercise physiologists who has done a longitudinal study that has tracked top runners for decades. "In the runners we've studied, some for 40 years, cardiac output and muscle mass decline. Those losses represent the aging process."

Costill's subjects are premier athletes like 60-year-old Ken Sparks, who has trained intensely since college and once held masters records, running a 2:33 marathon at age 53. Sparks' oxygen consumption, while reduced from earlier levels, is still high for his age. However, Sparks has not competed in seven years.

"I had surgery on both knees," said Sparks, himself an exercise physiologist at Cleveland State University. "The cartilage was worn out from constant running and had to be removed."

Whitlock attributes his success to "good genes." He ran his first two marathons in the 1970s with his teenage son and recorded his best time, 2:31:23, in 1979, when he still consider the marathon "a dalliance." Whitlock focused on shorter distances, winning five world masters age-group track titles in the 1,500 meters, 5,000 meters and 10,000 meters, from 1979 to 2001.

By doing middle-distance events, Whitlock has nurtured his speed, complementing his long training runs. Last year, Whitlock ran 15 races at 5-, 10- and 15-kilometer distances in the six months leading up to Toronto.

This winter, using that same approach for Rotterdam, Whitlock has been doing indoor track races while logging over 100 miles a week. In the Dutch star Ruter, called "the fastest grandfather in the world in Rotterdam," Whitlock faces a formidable challenge. A former butcher who lives in Rotterdam, Ruter took up running at 51 and has run 11 marathons.

"I've never run head-to-head against anyone in a marathon," said Whitlock. Rotterdam, known for its fast course, has produced a number of world records. Race organizers hope the excitement will spur Whitlock or Ruter to another record and are offering prize money in the 70-plus category, another first.

Unlike Whitlock, Ruter has a team, runs on park trails and gets frequent massage. In an email interview through an interpreter, Ruter said that after his 3:02:49 last year, he celebrated by drinking and dancing at a local pub.

"I will run against Whitlock as though I am a youngster," said Ruter. "I will give him the race of his life."

Sidebar: Ed Whitlock's Best Performances Since Turning 70

Event Time Site Year His Age

5,000 meters 18:22 Toronto 2004 73

10,000 meters 37:33 Toronto 2004 73

15,000 meters 58:55 Utica, NY 2003 72

Marathon 2:54:49 Toronto 2004 73

Postscript: Whitlock won his duel with Ruter at Rotterdam, running TIME TK.

BUY NOW! For more stories of champion runners, order Marc Bloom's books.