Sy Mah

Thian K. "Sy" Mah was a Canadian long-distance runner and physical education teacher who held a Guinness World Records mark for the most lifetime marathons, 524. Born in Bashaw, Alberta, in 1926 to a Chinese immigrant family, he did not start running marathons until he was forty, partly to guard against the heart disease that ran in his family. He founded the North York Track Club in Toronto, where he coached Maureen Wilton, and in 1981 ran his 198th marathon to pass Ted Corbitt. He finished the Boston Marathon twenty times, took part in ultramarathons and triathlons, and was invited to the 152 mile Spartathlon in Greece. He died in Toledo, Ohio, in 1988.