A Chinese man has become something of a cult hero after becoming known for completing marathons with impressive times, all while having a smoke.
The 50-year-old known as "Uncle Chen" completed the Xin'anjiang Marathon in China last week while smoking cigarettes. Chen finished 574th overall out of nearly 1,500 runners, with a time of 3 hours and 28 minutes.
This is not the first time Chen has sparked a big reaction for his bizarre running techniques. In the 2018 Guangzhou marathon, he clocked in at 3:36, and ran 3:32 in the 2019 Xiamen Marathon, all while smoking.
(Source: Weibo)
Chen is also understood to be an ultramarathoner, running distances from 50 km to 12 hours. It's unsure whether or not he smokes during those, though.
There currently aren't any laws against smoking in running events so, despite some runners probably not too pleased getting a puff of smoke in the face while stuck behind Chen, the experienced competitor was free to keep on lighting up.
Canadian Running Magazine noted that there isn’t any previous Guinness World Record in place for the fastest marathon while chain-smoking. So, although Chen isn't aiming for anything but a good time right now, maybe next year he'll be in with a shout of an entry in the famous book.
We can only guess that Chen's behaviour is probably hindering his performance, despite him looking fit as a fiddle. Someone give this man a nicotine patch and let's see his race time then.
