If you think competing in a marathon is tough, imagine running 26.2 miles while filling your lungs with smoke. Smoking?? Yes, you heard it correctly. One Chinese man did the exact during a race and finished the race with a great time!!
The 50-year-old chain-smoker athlete, “Uncle Chen” who lives in Guangzhou accomplished the feat at the Xin’anjiang Marathon in Jiande, China on Nov. 6.
Photos of Mr. Chen smoking during the competition went viral on Chinese social media aap called Weibo and event organizers celebrated his finish by sharing a completion certificate.
Chen completed the marathon with an impressive timing of 3:28. He finished 574th out of nearly 1500 runners despite taking heaters to the face throughout the race.
Chen is also an ultramarathoner, who has run distances from 50 km to 12 hours.
Chen became an internet sensation for smoking during races in 2018. He smoked cigarettes during the Guangzhou Marathon 2018, where he finished with a 3:36 time.
Adding to his legend, Chen followed up his jaw-dropping performance in 2018 with another strong outing in 2019, finishing the Xiamen Marathon in 3:32.
However, the outlet reports that not everyone was fond of Chen’s smoking sesh with critics saying the stunt is hurtful to the other runners.
However, Chen didn’t respond to these accusations when he was asked by reporters at the finish line.
The runner finished the race in 3:32:53 hours and claimed that he had smoked because he wanted to make a point about tobacco control in China.