Dylan Bettencourt
Lester Wright, who turned 100 years of age the day before he participated in the 100m sprint, did not enter the race to lose.
“If you’re going to run a race, you should really run to try to win,” Wright told Fox 29.
“I don’t know how you can run to be second or third.”
Wright lined up for the race at the Penn Relays track and field meet on Saturday when he ran the 100m in 26.34 seconds, beating the previous record of 26.99 seconds to make Wright the fastest centenarian in history.
He beat the previous record, which was set in 2015 by an Englishman, by more than half a second.
Wright’s athletics career began 80 years ago. The World War II veteran took sprinting seriously during the 1930s before he was forced to delay his track career to serve in the war.
He served in a segregated unit on the beaches of Normandy and the Battle of the Bulge and was promoted to sergeant by the end of the war.
Then, Wright began sprinting again at the age of 30 and never looked back.
However, like a bottle of good wine, he only got better with age. He broke the 200m record for over 75s when he was 76 years old.
Wright does not claim all his success for himself, sharing the glory with Adele, his wife of 80 years.
“She gave me valuable advice before I took to the track. She told me to finish my own race,” he said.
The couple operated a dental supply business for 40 years, all the while training together and raising a family that now includes great-great grandchildren.
This may not be the last time we see Wright sprinting to the finish line on a track as he suggested he may be back for the Penn Relays in 2023.
Image source: @USAToday
