In the recently started Hangzhou Marathon in Zhejiang, an old man who dribbled with a football while running attracted a lot of attention. Uncle is skillful in footwork, full of energy on the runway, and what is even more surprising is that he is 70 years old!
It is reported that the uncle's name is Wang Yanzhe, a native of Shenyang, Liaoning. In an interview with the Yangtze Evening News/Purple Cow News reporter, he said that he is a fan and began to contact marathons after the age of 63, "It's not to show off my personality, I just think running a marathon is a bit boring, and it's more motivating to run and play football at the same time." Today, the 70-year-old Wang Yanzhe has run 85 marathons, including half marathons and full marathons, and his goal is to officially "hang up his boots" after participating in 100 marathons.
The 70-year-old "fashionable" uncle attracted attention while running a horse and playing football
Recently, a video of a marathon runner participating in the race has attracted everyone's attention. I saw this player running and playing football, black sports shorts, with a tight white top, jet-black board hair, and a pair of dark windproof goggles, looking young, fashionable and cool. In fact, the contestant is already 70 years old, and when they learned his age, everyone shouted "too much contrast", which is really unbelievable.
The player's name is Wang Yanzhe, a native of Shenyang, Liaoning Province, born in 1953, and is now 70 years old. In the end, he finished the course in 5 hours, 16 minutes and 45 seconds. In fact, this is not the first time that Wang Yanzhe has run and played football in a marathon.
In an interview with the Yangtze Evening News/Purple Cow News reporter, Wang Yanzhe was full of anger, saying that his daughter worked in Hangzhou and settled in Hangzhou after he retired. Knowing that it was the media in Jiangsu, Wang Yanzhe immediately became interested, and he said that the best result he got in the marathon was in Jiangsu.
"In 2021, I participated in the marathon in Xuzhou, Jiangsu Province, with a time of 3 hours, 44 minutes and 24 seconds, which is considered a mass elite in my age group. Wang Yanzhe said that because of this achievement, he also won the title of the Chinese Athletics Association's mass elite player in the age group over 65 years old. Wang Yanzhe told reporters that he originally signed up for the marathon event to be held in Nanjing in 2023, but unfortunately did not win the lottery.
A word from a golfer He ran 85 marathons
Wang Yanzhe told reporters that after graduating from school, he worked as an ordinary worker in Shenyang, and after retiring at the age of 60, he came to Hangzhou with his daughter to settle down.
"My hobbies since retirement are footballing and cycling. Wang Yanzhe said that after coming to Hangzhou, in order to kill time, he often played football with his neighbors on the football field downstairs in the community, and everyone also formed a special team for this purpose, "basically playing for two hours every night, I am the oldest." ”
Wang Yanzhe said that running a marathon was completely accidental. "You're in such good health, why don't you run a marathon?" Wang Yanzhe told the Yangtze Evening News/Purple Cow News reporter that once when he was playing football, a golfer asked him this sentence, and he was also thinking in his heart at the time, "I haven't run before, can I do it?"
After that, Wang Yanzhe began to run. "I didn't find anyone to practice, and I didn't participate in any running groups, I just ran on the road. Wang Yanzhe told reporters that he had practiced for two months and found that his body could withstand it.
Wang Yanzhe said that after his family learned that he was going to run a marathon, they didn't understand it at first, saying that it was better to take it easy at such an age. "I listed a number of elderly people who participated in the marathon, and then assured them that if they couldn't persevere, they would never hold on, and finally the family agreed. ”
In 2017, Wang Yanzhe signed up for the Shenyang Marathon, when he was 64 years old. After running a marathon for the first time and finishing the marathon, Wang Yanzhe didn't feel very tired. "I saw that my body was okay, the first time I ran down, I felt like I played a few games of football, it was not as uncomfortable as I imagined, and then I signed up for the marathon when I saw it. Wang Yanzhe said that this run could not be stopped, and by the time of the Hangzhou Marathon, he had participated in 85 marathons.
Xiamen Marathon will be the last "kickball run"
Why do you want to play football while running? Wang Yanzhe said with a smile that he is first and foremost a fan. Wang Yanzhe lived in the compound of the Liaoning football team when he was a child, and he often watched the training of football players since he was in school.
"When I run, it's like something is missing for me, but when I run with the ball, there's a kind of motivation. Wang Yanzhe admitted to reporters that the marathon was too boring, so he thought of running with the ball, which gave him a steady stream of motivation. After playing football and running a few marathons, a video about him was uploaded to the Internet, and many netizens praised him for his good physical fitness, and some netizens also suggested that his move may affect others to run, which has certain safety risks.
"I noticed this, in fact, I didn't play the whole time, basically in the second half, when I saw that the road was empty, I would pick up and hold someone, and it would definitely not affect others. Wang Yanzhe said, "I have signed up for the Xiamen Marathon on January 7, which should be my farewell race for playing football and running. Wang Yanzhe told reporters that he was ready to run the last time, the last to touch the line, and run with the ball kicked the whole time, which should also be the last time he kicked the ball and ran a marathon.
His plan: "retire" after 100 runs
For Wang Yanzhe, the station in Xuzhou can be regarded as "becoming famous in a fight". Since then, he has been running more and more vigorously, running ten to twenty marathons a year.
"I have been to Japan and Singapore abroad, Beijing, Shanghai, Dalian, Xiamen, Macau and Hong Kong in China. Wang Yanzhe told reporters that going out for a run, seeing the local customs, broadening his horizons, and seeing many runners who are similar to his age or even older, running out of health and happiness, making his retirement life more fulfilling.
"My goal is to stop running after 100 marathons and officially 'hang up my boots', but I should keep playing football and cycling. Wang Yanzhe told reporters that in fact, when he was close to 70 years old, he was basically a "health run", no longer pursuing grades and time, and only seeking to be happy.
Regarding Uncle Wang's youthful state, some netizens even suspected that he was not 70 years old at all, and left a message saying, "This is a seventy-year-old uncle, obviously a forty-year-old young man!" In this regard, Wang Yanzhe said that he was very happy and a little "proud" when he saw the messages from netizens. "I'm a little older, but I can't get old, keep exercising, keep a happy mood, and I will naturally be young. He laughs.
Text/Guo Yipeng, Mei Jianming
Editor/Ni Jianing
(Yangtze Evening News)