Ed Whitlock (March 6, 1931 – March 13, 2017) was an English-born Canadian long-distance runner, and the first person over 70 years old to run a marathon in less than three hours, with a time of 2:59:10 in 2003. Whitlock, who ran as a teenager and took up the sport again in his forties, first became the oldest person to run a marathon in less than three hours in 2000, at the age of 69, with a time of 2:52:47. He later extended this record, running a time of 2:58:40 at the age of 74. At 73, he set a world record in the marathon for men 70 to 74, running a 2:54:48, his fastest time after turning 70. According to an article in The New York Times, if age-graded, this time would be equivalent to a 20-year-old running 2:03:57 and which would have been the fastest marathon ever run in 2010. For an explanation of age-graded tables, see masters athletics. At the time of his death, Whitlock was known to be the only person over 70 to run a marathon in less than three hours, although Gene Dykes has subsequently done so several times, as has Jo Schoonbroodt. At age 85, he became the oldest person to run a marathon in less than four hours at 3 hours, 56 minutes 34 seconds at the Toronto Waterfront Marathon in October 2016. Early life Whitlock was born in a suburb of London, England, and later moved to Canada to pursue an engineering career following graduation from Royal School of Mines, Imperial College, England. He later resided in Milton, Ontario. While at school and university in England, he was a serious junior runner, primarily at cross country but also at track and road relays. He was the winner of the Ranelagh Harriers and South London Harriers inter schools cross country races in consecutive years, 1948 and 1949. He was the University of London champion at cross country and 3 miles on the track. He stopped running after arriving in Canada. Return to running Whitlock did not start running again until he was 41, concentrating on middle-distance running, and after several years recorded best times of 1:59.9 for 800 metres and 4:02.5 for 1500 metres. He started running marathons accidentally when his youngest son who was into running at the time in school determined he was going to run a marathon after running