'There Goes My Hero': Chinese Man Runs Entire 42-KM Marathon While Smoking Cigarettes

A 50-year-old man has become something of a cult hero after running a 42-km marathon while smoking cigarettes throughout the event.

Man runs marathon while chain-smoking cigarettes

The Chinese runner known as 'Uncle Chen' has gone viral after he completed the Xin'anjiang Marathon in Jiande, China while, smoking cigarettes throughout the marathon.

Weibo

Photos of the 50-year-old have been doing the rounds on Chinese social media. The event organisers also celebrated him by sharing his finishing certificate.

Chen, from Guangzhou, crossed the finish line in an impressive 3:28 and finished 574th overall out of nearly 1500 runners who competed, despite lighting up cigarettes and smoking them throughout the race.

Uncle Chen has a reputation for chain smoking while running marathons.

This is not the first time Uncle Chen has pulled off such a strange stunt. In 2018, he was pictured lighting up and smoking several cigarettes while running the Guangzhou Marathon and the 2019 Xiamen Marathon.

Weibo

In 2018, Chen clocked a time of 3:36 and ran 3:32 in 2019. The report also says that the 50-year-old has participated in ultramarathons, with one spanning 50-km and another lasting 12 hours.

His nonchalance about smoking cigarettes during races has apparently earned him the nickname "Smoking Brother" in running circles, a moniker he adopted after a 2017 event in Hangzhou.

Uncle Chen's antics have drawn mixed reactions, with some full of admiration for the runner while others understandably question his methods.

"Putting their own spin on the Foo Fighters classic, 'My Hero', a user wrote.

"There goes my hero. Watch him as he smokes," a second person said.

"Imagine being stuck behind him the whole race," a third person said.

"So this is what peak performance looks like," another added.

There are currently no rules prohibiting marathon runners from smoking cigarettes while they compete.

Chain smoking involves a person smoking continually¡ªas soon as one cigarette is discarded, another is lit up and smoked straight after.

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