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It’s hard to think of many athletic competitions that push your body to the brink quite like a marathon, but there are some people out there who go out of their way to make those races even more difficult than they already are–including one man who was disqualified for smoking a bunch of cigarettes while running one.
If you’re familiar with the history of the marathon, you probably know it can be traced back to the Greek messenger who supposedly ran 26.2 miles to report the result of a battle only to drop dead as soon as he delivered the news.
While many people would argue the fate he befell highlights why it’s a bad idea to try to follow in his footsteps, that hasn’t stopped plenty of others from viewing it as the ultimate challenge while attempting to traverse that distance as quickly as possible while competing in the many events that are hosted around the globe each year.
I’ve attended around a dozen marathons between Boston and New York City as a spectator over the years, and I’ve always been amazed by the number of people who opt to make an already grueling task even harder by figuring out a way to up the difficulty level, ranging from runners who’ve donned an unwieldy costume to one guy who was juggling tennis balls the entire time.
As a result, I can’t help but respect a 52-year-old Chinese runner known as “Uncle Chen,” who was able to finish the Xiamen Marathon last year in 3 hours and 33 minutes while puffing the cigarettes he repeatedly sparked while making his way through the course.
Chen earned some viral fame in 2022 when he chain-smoked during another race he finished in 3:28, and according to The Toronto Son, that led to officials instituting a new rule that banned participants from smoking to avoid having an “effect [on] the race and the safety of other runners.”
However, that apparently didn’t stop Chen from once again helping himself to a steady diet of darts, and he was subsequently disqualified as a result.
I don’t know what the future holds for Uncle Chen, but if I were him, I’d try to make the “Cigarette Marathon” the new “Beer Mile.”