OLDEST MALE BNCS IN THE HALF
The oldest male Light Blue in the field, and second overall on the BNC age list, will be Dieter Olms( 84), who holds both Blue and Light Blue Numbers, having completed the Ultra 15 times and the Half 10 times. He ran his first Ultra in 1985 and narrowly missed a silver medal by less than a minute as he finished in 4:00:47. With a sporadic TTOM record, he earned Blue Number 2930 in 2005, aged 65, and finished his TTOM Ultra career on 15 medals in 2011. Since 2012 he has only entered the Half, earning Light Blue Number 2383 last year.
IN THE Ultra Marathon
While there are no 80-year-old BNC entrants in the 2026 Ultra, the 70-79 age category is well represented, with 49 entrants calling themselves septuagenarians. Leading the charge will be Lawrence Ashworth, and he is just one of the vastly experienced TTOM runners in the top eight on this list( aged 76 or older), who all have more than 25 TTOM medals. In fact, some have over 40, and these brave( regular) voyagers continue to inspire as they remind us all not to count the years, but to make the years count!
NAME |
AGE ON RACE DAY |
ULTRA MEDALS |
HALF MEDALS |
Lawrence Ashworth 79 years; 159 days 29 0 Eric Pocock 78 years; 3 days 24 4 Gerald Kroukamp 77 years; 224 days 30 1
Dieter Olms
Next on the age list is Ken Poole( 83), owner of Blue Number 340 in the Ultra.( He is included here even though he does not have a Light Blue number in the Half.) Remarkably, he ran his 12 Ultras from 1982 to 1997, earning five silver medals along the way with a best of 3:51:06, and only returned to the event in 2023, aged 80, to tackle the Half for the first time! In 2026 he will take on the 21km route for the second time.
Kenny Williams |
77 years; 29 days |
38 |
0 |
Brian Currie |
76 years; 238 days |
26 |
0 |
Graham Channon |
76 years; 218 days |
41 |
0 |
Thelma Rossouw |
76 years; 177 days |
10 |
5 |
Anthony Abrahamson |
76 years; 98 days |
45 |
0 |
OLDEST MALE BNCS IN THE ULTRA
This could be a very special race day for the oldest BNC entrant in the 2026 Ultra, 79-year-old Lawrence Ashworth, the holder of Blue Number 1375. He ran his first TTOM Ultra in 1983, completing his 10th in 1998, and his 20th in 2010. He then completed a further nine from 2011 to 2019, and would likely have hit 30 in the 2020 race, but the outbreak of the COVID pandemic and cancellation of that year’ s race put paid to that plan. In 2024 he narrowly missed out on his Triple Blue Number when he finished in 7:03:24, but in 2026 he is back to try once again, and determined to get his 30th!
Ken Poole
Third on the men’ s list, and fifth overall is Kaare James, husband of Marlene and owner of Blue Number 196, having completed the Ultra 31 times, as well as Light Blue Number 2338 for 10 Half finishes. He ran the Ultra 21 consecutive times from 1980 to 2000, tackled the Half in 2001, then went back to the Ultra and moved up to 30 medals by 2011. A second Half medal was added in 2012, followed by a 31st Ultra medal in 2013, but he was not able to complete the Ultra in further attempts in 2015 and 2019. In all other years other than the two missed years due to the COVID pandemic, Kaare completed the Half, earning his Light Blue Number 2338 last year. Remarkably, except for the COVID years, Kaare has lined up in a TTOM race every year since 1980, in an unbroken sequence of 47 events!
Lawrence Ashworth
Kaare James
“ I t is quite evident that age is no limiting factor in participation in the event”
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