Irish masters runner Tommy Hughes is the world’s fastest distance runner over 60. On Sunday in Portaferry, Ireland, Hughes shattered the men’s 60+ world record for 10 miles (16.09 km) by nearly two minutes, running 58 minutes and 13 seconds.
The record Hughes broke was previously held by one of the greatest masters runners in history: Canada’s own Ed Whitlock, who died in 2017. Whitlock set the record 29 years ago at the Boxing Day 10-miler in Hamilton, finishing with a time of one hour and nine seconds. To put Hughes’s time in perspective, it’s an average pace of three minutes and 37 seconds per kilometre (5:50/mile) over 16.09 kilometres.
This is another record added to the 64-year-old’s impressive running resume, which features a list of world, European and Irish national records. Earlier this year at the Belfast Marathon, Hughes ran the fastest marathon time ever for someone his age, clocking two hours, 36 minutes and 37 seconds.
“I am delighted to run a world 10-mile record at the Portaferry 10-mile road race,” Hughes posted on his Instagram. “I ran the race in preparation for this weekend’s Irish national 10-mile road race championships in Dublin’s Phoenix Park.”
Hughes follows in the footsteps of Whitlock, who set dozens of world masters records during his career. The Canadian running legend is still the only person over 70 to have broken 3:00 in the marathon in a sanctioned race. He ran 2:54:48 when he was 73. (Philadelphia’sGene Dykes ran 2:54:23 at the Jacksonville Marathon in Florida in 2018, but the race was not USATF-sanctioned, and therefore his time could not be ratified as an age-group world record.)
Hughes, a former Olympian at the 1992 Games in Barcelona, aims to become the first-ever 60-plus runner to run a sub-2:30 marathon. At the Lisbon Marathon in 2020 (when he was 60), he missed the mark by two seconds, finishing in 2:30:02. He also holds the Guinness World Record for the fastest father-son marathon with his son, Eoin Hughes. Hughes ran a blazing 2:27:52, and his son ran 2:31:30, for a combined time of 4:59:22.
The Irish runner has big ambitions as he enters a new 65-69 age category in January 2025; he plans to go after the over-65 marathon world record of 2:41:57 and to challenge the two-hour and 30-minute mark.
Correction: In the article, we stated that Whitlock held the M60 10-mile road Canadian record. However, we have learned that David Guss of Kelowna, B.C., broke Whitlock’s record in Sept. 2023, with a time of 59:05. His performance was approved as a new Canadian Masters Athletics record, but he did not apply for the world record, as he was unaware that Whitlock’s 10-mile time was a world record for his age group.
