Ghanaian-American Nana Serwa Wiafe is 53 and has already ran all six major marathons, having started running at the age of 43.

To put it in contest, she is the first Ghanaian to run all six major marathons being London, Boston, Chicago, Berlin, New York and Tokyo and she has done all these in less than 10 years after she made her full marathon debut aged 45.

“Running is my escape, my morning run is where I plan my day,” she told journalist Larry Madowo after featuring in in the Berlin Marathon on Sunday, her second appearance in the German capital.

Eliud Kipchoge and Sifan Hassan were among marathoners who donned a headband during their race at the Paris 2024 Olympics but what is the technology all about?

“For marathons and whatnot, is the community that I have formed since I joined this small but elite group. It is only one per cent of the world’s population that has run a marathon.”

While elite marathoners come into it at an early age with the aim of making a career out of it, Nana picked up running after a nasty experience in her personal life.

“It was right after my divorce back in 2011, I picked it up by joining Black Girls Tun in Austin at the time and I run my first half marathon, I was at 43 and then, I ran my first full marathon at 45, so this is my 10th year of running,” she added.

As she explained in a previous interview, her love for running became a passport to explore the world as it has taken her across several cities around the globe, featuring in half and full marathons.

Nana was born in Kumasi, Ghana but moved to the United States in the 1980s to join her parents who were living in Chicago, Illinois.

That was after showing her athletics prowess in primary school in Akropong, Ghana where she excelled in sprints; 100m, 200m and 4x100m relay. However, over the years, she came to love distance running and that is how she embraced marathons.

Kenyan marathoner CyBrian Kotut has shared how he managed to floor most of his rials to clinch second place at the prestigious Berlin Marathon on Sunday.

To commemorate her 53rd birthday in January, she competed in her 39th half marathon, the USAA Fit Resolution Half Marathon, while she has ran in over 30 US states and will not stop until she runs in all 50.

Coming to Berlin, it was her second appearance, having also competed in London, New York, Chicago, Boston and completed the set of all six Major marathons in Tokyo in March.

Her only regret is that she feels ‘lonely’ in the races since Ghanaians and West Africans in general have not embraced running.

Eliud Kipchoge believes the future of marathon running is promising, with athletes motivated to achieve faster times and carry forward the legacy as he looks forward to more races in 2025.

“It’s kind of sad when I come to runs like this. One thing I can always count on is not to see a Ghanaian flag anywhere on the course but like yesterday [Sunday], I saw a lot of South Africans, Kenyans on the course and then I felt like I was the only one though I had my running jersey and big Ghana flag in front with the black star but it was just me and I had just strangers see the flag and call out ‘Go Ghana’, but it would really be nice to see my fellow Ghanaians out there with the flag,” she added.

“I am in Germany I know there is a lot of us [Ghanaians] here in Germany but in West Africa, especially in Ghana, we are more of a soccer culture than we are running culture and I would really like us to emerge more into the running culture,” said the mother of one, who has a Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology, Minor in Health Administration, as well as a Masters in Project Management.

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