José Manuel Ojeda: “It would be a dream to reach 80 marathons at 80 years old”

The Lanzarote runner reviews the achievements he has made to date, including obtaining the Finisher title in the 'Majors', the six most important marathons in the world

March 27 2023 (20:14 WEST)
Updated in March 30 2023 (09:57 WEST)
https://youtu.be/kZzz6-RDmfs

The Lanzarote marathon runner José Manuel Ojeda discovered his passion for running by chance. “I started in '81 with the first Canary Islands marathon after a couple of months of training. At that time I didn't train or anything, but I practiced several sports. As I was well classified, a coach approached me and asked me "Do you want to train?" And I said yes. And from that moment it became my favorite sport”, says Ojeda.

“A month later I did the Las Palmas half marathon and achieved a very good time, 1 hour and 24 minutes. And from there a few marathons fell. You could say that for me it is the queen test. And after several races, I began to have the New York marathon in mind. There was always talk that it was one of the most important in the world, so I began to get excited. It was in '89 when I was able to do it and there I started in international marathons,” says the runner.

The Lanzarote runner, José Manuel Ojeda, after finishing the Tokyo marathon
The Lanzarote runner, José Manuel Ojeda, after finishing the Tokyo marathon

Ojeda began to jog through different countries and, without thinking directly about it, he was also crossing the finish lines of different 'Majors'; the 6 Great Marathons of the world that are held in New York, Boston, Chicago, Berlin, London and Tokyo. “At first I liked to participate in important marathons because I had almost done all the marathons in Spain. The following year I matched the one in London. Until in 2009 the third Major arrived, in Boston”, says the marathon runner.

“I was very excited because it was going to be my marathon number 50. I think Boston is the one I liked the most, both for the organization and for the attention to the athlete. Years later I did the one in Berlin. When I was approaching 70 marathons I was 67 years old and I set myself a challenge: to do my 70th marathon in Tokyo, at 70 years old. I had everything prepared, but with the pandemic all the plans changed,” explains Ojeda. Finally, he ran marathon number 70 in Chicago and not in Tokyo.

After the exceptional situation caused by Covid-19 globally, Ojeda once again considered a new objective to match the number of marathons with his age. “I told myself that I had no choice but to do the 71st for the 71 years. And so, without having the objective of the 'Majors', I managed to complete the six in Tokyo. For me this was one of the hardest because Japan is a different country. Furthermore, with the issue of the pandemic we had to constantly take our temperature and get antigen tests. But when I managed to see the finish line, it was the greatest joy of my life,” says the runner.

Apart from marathons, Ojeda has also competed in championships at a national and international level. “I have participated in veteran championships. I have been Spanish champion a couple of times and I have been in nine Europeans. I have also been in eight world championships. I especially remember one in South Africa, in which I was about to get on the podium. I have competed in Australia, the United States, Puerto Rico... Thank God I have been on every continent and I have been able to share these moments with many people. The truth is that the most beautiful thing is the relationship between athletes from different countries,” says the Lanzarote native.

 

Next challenges

In 2016, the runner decided to put aside the competitions because they required very demanding training and focus exclusively on marathons. “It would be a dream to reach 80 marathons at 80 years old”, but he doesn't set it as an objective. “Yes, I plan to reach 180 half marathons, right now I have 144. Of course, as long as I have the same health that I have now,” says the marathon runner.

“Another of the challenges, which I hope to be able to fulfill next year, is to do the 34 stages of the Camino de Santiago. This can be a great objective because it means running every day. And in each stage I would have to do 20 or 30 kilometers,” says Ojeda.

In addition to personal goals, the marathon runner trains young people and visits residences to promote sports and health in all stages of life. “I tell everyone that, if we want to and set our minds to it, we can all achieve great goals. The important thing is not to rush. Normally they want to achieve the results from one day to the next. But we must remember that, sometimes, the results take years to arrive,” concludes Ojeda.

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