Eighty-six-year-old Ed Whitlock was a marathon legend. The Canadian was the first man in his age group to run a sub-three-hour marathon at 73 and a sub-four-hour marathon at 85, beating his previous record-holder by 28 minutes.

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Sadly, as reported in Runner’s World, the veteran athlete and regular record-breaker died a few weeks ago in a Toronto hospital following a short battle with prostate cancer.

Whitlock was born in the U.K. and moved to Canada after university. Despite having arthritis, numerous injuries and bad knees, he ignored his doctors’ advice to give up the sport and continued to break records right up until his death.

He was well-known in the running community and served as an inspiration to many. Modest on and off the track, Whitlock’s methods were a little old school. He did very little stretching before or after training, didn’t have a coach, and didn’t subscribe to buying the latest gym outfits and shoes. In the last marathon he ran he admitted his shirt was more than 20 years old and his running shoes were at least 15 years old.

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