74-year-old Gu Dawo becomes China's oldest marathon pacemaker

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74-year-old Gu Dawo attended "The Silk Road" Ningxia Yinchuan International Marathon in west China's Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region on Sunday as the special five-hour pacemaker. Having finished his mission, Gu became the oldest official pacemaker in Chinese marathon history.

Also known as "rabbit", a pacemaker is a runner who leads a middle- or long-distance running event help runners control their pace so they will not run too fast or too slow. Pacemakers have colorful balloons attached to their backs so runners can recognize them easily.

In the past year, Gu has finished three full marathons respectively in Lanzhou, Xiamen and Yinchuan in China. He has also been abroad to attend a triathlon in Chattanooga and a half marathon in the State of Georgia in the United States. Locals called him "the record-creating Chinese grandpa at his 70s" and chered for him when they learnt that Gu is over 70 years old.

Age does not stop you from running. /VCG Photo

Gu keeps gets up at 5 a.m., and goes to bed at 10 p.m. He believes it is sports that help him remain healthy at his age. "It's never too early in your life to attend sports. Some at my age are jealous of me still being able to run like this. Actually they just failed to grasp their best time for taking exercise when they were young," said Gu.

In order to attend sports events overseas, Gu has been studying English for a long time and has paid a lot of visits to libraries. "I read and dealt with all the schedules and paperwork in English by myself. I can also make simple conversations with foreign runners." Gu considers reading and sports his best entertainment.

Gu thinks that some of today's young people hold prejudice against old people, assuming that old people "cannot walk too much or run too long""don't know how to use electronic products or learn new things". Gu disagrees and believes as long as old people start to act, they can also be vigorous, just like young people.