Lap of Honour for World's Oldest Marathon Man, 101

The world's oldest marathon runner has hung up his spikes after crossing the finishing line for the final time in his last long distance race.

Fauja Singh, who is 101, finished the Hong Kong 10km (6.25 mile) marathon in one hour, 32 minutes and 28 seconds.

"I will remember this day. I will miss it," said Singh, from Ilford, east London.

"I am feeling a bit of happiness and a bit of sadness mixed together. I am happy that I am retiring at the top of the game, but I am sad that the time has come for me to not be part of it."

He ran his first London marathon in 2000 at the age of 89, and went on to compete in a further eight marathons.

He became the world's oldest full marathon runner aged 100, after finishing the Toronto marathon in 2011, but his achievement went unrecognised by Guinness World Records as he has no birth certificate.

He said he would miss running in competitive races but might consider charity runs in future.

A farmer in Punjab, India, in his younger days, Singh moved to Britain in the 1960s, taking up athletics at the age of 89 after the death of his wife and his fifth son.

"From a tragedy has come a lot of success and happiness," he said before the race.

His personal best marathon time was 5 hours and 40 minutes at the 2003 Toronto marathon.