{"id":52276,"date":"2025-07-17T12:07:43","date_gmt":"2025-07-17T06:37:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/risingentrepreneurs.in\/index.php\/2025\/07\/17\/fauja-singh-ran-past-time-limits-and-into-eternity-harjinder-singh-kukreja-harkirat-kaur-kukreja-remember-the-legendary-marathoner\/"},"modified":"2025-07-17T12:07:43","modified_gmt":"2025-07-17T06:37:43","slug":"fauja-singh-ran-past-time-limits-and-into-eternity-harjinder-singh-kukreja-harkirat-kaur-kukreja-remember-the-legendary-marathoner","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/risingentrepreneurs.in\/index.php\/2025\/07\/17\/fauja-singh-ran-past-time-limits-and-into-eternity-harjinder-singh-kukreja-harkirat-kaur-kukreja-remember-the-legendary-marathoner\/","title":{"rendered":"Fauja Singh Ran Past Time, Limits \u2014 and Into Eternity: Harjinder Singh Kukreja & Harkirat Kaur Kukreja Remember the Legendary Marathoner"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

New Delhi [India], July 17:<\/strong> On July 14, 2025, Fauja Singh \u2014 the world\u2019s oldest marathon runner, and perhaps its most enduring symbol of faith-powered resilience \u2014 passed away in his ancestral village, Beas in Jalandhar, Punjab at the age of 114.<\/p>\n

News of his death swept across continents like a solemn wind through wheat fields, touching elite athletes, Sikh communities, and global admirers alike. But for Harjinder Singh Kukreja and Harkirat Kaur Kukreja \u2014 Indian luxury travel influencers, entrepreneurs, and proud Sikhs \u2014 it wasn\u2019t just the loss of a public figure. It was a deeply personal farewell.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe didn\u2019t die. He simply ran into eternity,\u201d Harjinder said from his family home in Ludhiana, where Fauja Singh had visited less than a year before his passing. \u201cHe held our daughter in his lap. My sons stood beside him like they were meeting time itself, wearing a turban.\u201d<\/p>\n

That day \u2014 a quiet evening in September 2024 \u2014 would mark one of the last private visits Fauja Singh made in his astonishingly long life.<\/p>\n

A Life of Stillness in Motion<\/strong><\/p>\n

Born on April 1, 1911, Fauja Singh grew up in Beas Pind as the youngest of four children in a humble Sikh farming family. A fragile child who couldn\u2019t walk until the age of five, he was affectionately nicknamed \u201cdanda\u201d (stick) for his pencil-thin legs. Few imagined that those same legs would one day carry the spirit of a global community across marathon finish lines from London to Toronto.<\/p>\n

After losing his wife in 1992 and a son in 1994, Singh \u2014 then in his late 80s \u2014 emigrated to the United Kingdom and began running. Not for sport, he often said, but for survival. His first marathon was the London Marathon in 2000, which he completed in 6 hours and 54 minutes \u2014 at the age of 89.<\/p>\n

By 100, he had run the Toronto Waterfront Marathon in just over eight hours, becoming the first centenarian to finish a full marathon. His best time \u2014 5 hours and 40 minutes \u2014 was clocked in 2003, at age 92.<\/p>\n

Though the Guinness Book of World Records could not formally recognize many of his feats due to a lack of official birth records (common in pre-Partition India), Fauja Singh didn\u2019t seem concerned.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe world watched him run. That was record enough,\u201d said Harkirat Kaur Kukreja.<\/p>\n

Adidas, Ali, and the Olympics \u2014 But No Ego<\/strong><\/p>\n

Fauja Singh\u2019s journey wasn\u2019t just marked by time but by the quiet transcendence of it. He became the face of Adidas\u2019 Impossible Is Nothing campaign alongside Muhammad Ali and David Beckham. In 2012, at 101, he carried the Olympic torch for the London Games.<\/p>\n

But despite global attention, he remained disarmingly humble. He never accepted endorsements for personal gain, declined brand deals, and famously adhered to a lifestyle rooted in simplicity: homemade vegetarian meals and no ego.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe used to say, \u2018I run while talking to God,\u2019\u201d said Harjinder. \u201cAnd he meant it.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Kukreja Family Bond<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Kukrejas\u2019 association with Fauja Singh began in 2017, after an introduction through his biographer, Khushwant Singh. Harjinder still recalls his first meeting with Fauja Singh at the marathoner\u2019s house in village Beas. \u201cHe had this magnetic silence and yet when he spok,\u201d Harkirat added. \u201cThe kind that teaches without speaking.\u201d<\/p>\n

That moment marked the beginning of a friendship rooted in reverence. The family visited Singh frequently \u2014 over cups of tea in London, spontaneous Facebook Lives celebrating turmeric, and even a quiet charity langar in Southall for his 106th birthday, where he chose to fund meals for children in Malawi rather than celebrate himself.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe walked into our lives like a whisper,\u201d said Harkirat. \u201cBut his presence echoed.\u201d<\/p>\n

Their last meeting in 2024 was perhaps the most moving. Singh, then 113, arrived at their home without fanfare. He held five-year-old Rut Suhavi in his arms while paging through his biography, smiling at her questions. Rehras and Aad Sach, the Kukrejas\u2019 sons, stood quietly by, too awed to speak.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere were no selfies. No press. Just a holy kind of stillness,\u201d Harjinder recalled. \u201cHe was like Ardaas in human form.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2e3b<\/p>\n

More Than a Marathoner<\/strong><\/p>\n

Fauja Singh\u2019s story has always defied categorization. He wasn\u2019t a professional athlete in the traditional sense. He was never a public speaker, politician, or activist. Yet he moved people.<\/p>\n

For the global Sikh community, he made visible a faith too often misunderstood. For runners, he became the embodiment of what it meant to love the journey more than the destination. For elders, he shattered the myth that life is a slow fade after 70. And for families like the Kukrejas, he became the living proof that legacy is not built through noise but through pace, grace, and presence.<\/p>\n

\u2e3b<\/p>\n

A Final Farewell<\/strong><\/p>\n

When news of his passing reached the Kukreja family, they sat together in silence. \u201cNo one spoke. We didn\u2019t need to,\u201d Harkirat said. Their daughter looked up and asked, \u201cBaba Ji ran into the sky, didn\u2019t he?\u201d<\/p>\n

Yes, he did.<\/p>\n

Today, the world mourns a man whose final lap was not toward a finish line but toward the infinite. His footprints remain \u2014 not just in medal records or YouTube clips, but in memories, in values, and in homes like the Kukrejas\u2019, where his legacy will be retold with love for generations to come.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe outran time,\u201d Harjinder said. \u201cAnd now, he\u2019s running with it.\u201d<\/p>\n

If you object to the content of this press release, please notify us at pr.error.rectification@gmail.com. We will respond and rectify the situation within 24 hours.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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