The 74-year-old Quebecois marathon runner Benoît Rancourt is the second child of a family of ten boys and two girls and, since 1982, has completed 192 marathons. One of his brothers has also run 100 marathons and, once, nine of the ten family members finished the same marathon race. Three brothers are currently approaching 100 marathons. Rancourt, who has run 92 marathons since 2015, aims to complete marathon number 200 next year and runs five days a week. He takes the month of November completely off.
“I’m not good at offering advice,” says Rancourt, one of the few runners you’ll ever meet who’ll say that. “Running is a good way to keep a certain physical shape which isn’t too expensive and is easy to practice. I do my errands and when I come back home, I go running.”
Running, of course, is something we obsess about—especially now, race season. But to hear great athletes simplify the sport is always refreshing and almost always these athletes tend to be the nicest people you’ll ever meet. Leanne Loney, a teacher based in Quebec, is closing in on marathon number 47 this month at the TCS Toronto Waterfront Marathon. She’s met Rancourt on several occasions and says she always leaves these meetings inspired.
“He has always been welcoming and encouraging when I see him at local races and in May I was so excited to give him his Ottawa Marathon medal when he finished,” says Loney, who finished that marathon and, afterwards, hung around the finish line to give out medals. “Inspired by him, I tell my students that I hope to be a little old lady running marathons for as long as I can.”
Rancourt wouldn’t give me any secrets to his longevity, but he did mention that it’s not necessary to race to be a runner and that it’s also not important to run fast. “Time is not so important and everyone can choose their distance and run at their own speed,” he said, adding that he recently branched out from running with his siblings, to also run with his kids. On marathon number 100 and number 150, Rancourt ran with his daughter and son. (That’s him with his daughter pictured up top, at the 2015 Boston Marathon). “I think I’ve been able to share my passion for running with my family,” he said, mentioning that he runs in Saucony Kinvara shoes. Like many great runners, Benoît hesitates to find any divine wisdom in his sneakers, though after we spoke, something he said lingered in my mind.
“Running has taught me to better understand my strengths and weaknesses,” he said, “and make adjustments accordingly.”
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