Meet the 96-YO Bengaluru Marathoner Who Picked up Running at 91 & Hasn’t Stopped Since

Most people retire from competitive sport long before they retire from work. For N S Dattatreya, a former manager with the State Bank of Mysore, the opposite is true. He retired from banking in 1989, spent three decades living quietly in Bengaluru, and then, in January 2019, laced up a pair of running shoes for the very first time at the age of 91 and entered his first marathon.

He has not stopped since.

At 98, Dattatreya has participated in nearly 300 marathons and walkathons, won five gold medals at the 21st Asia Masters Athletics Championship in Malaysia, and continues to be a regular face at Bengaluru’s running events, including the TCS World 10K, one of India’s most prestigious road races.

But the numbers, remarkable as they are, are not really what drives him.

“I want to be a role model for young people,” he has said. “They should realise there is a life outside the virtual world and make walking or running 5 km a day an important part of their daily routine.”

From a football field to a starting line

Dattatreya was a sportsman long before running entered his life. As a schoolboy, he was part of his school’s football team, and a sense of physical discipline stayed with him through decades of professional life. Even during the demanding years of his banking career, he maintained a habit of staying fit, though formal competition remained on the sidelines.

After three decades of retirement, something shifted. A growing interest in distance running, combined with a desire to do something meaningful with his energy, led him to sign up for his first race in early 2019.

Crossing that first finish line was transformative. After completing his first marathon, he felt a deep desire to continue — and continue he did.

Within his first year alone, he participated in 90 events, both physical races and virtual running events, covering distances ranging from 5 km to more than 20 km in a single outing.

By the time he was 96 and preparing to become the first person of that age to complete the TCS World 10K Bengaluru, his total event count had surpassed 100.

Five gold medals and a seat at the Asian table

What set Dattatreya apart from being merely an enthusiastic participant was what happened when he took his running beyond India.

In December 2019, at 91 years of age, he represented India at the 21st Asia Masters Athletics Championship in Malaysia, competing against athletes from across the continent in his age category. He returned home with five gold medals across different track and field categories.

The achievement placed him firmly among India’s most decorated senior athletes and earned him recognition as an Asian champion — a title that sits alongside the more quietly earned one of neighbourhood inspiration.

His son Murli began running alongside him after Dattatreya encouraged him to join, turning their morning 5 km runs into a shared routine.

The image of a father and son running the same course, with the father in his nineties leading the way, captures something of the spirit that has made Dattatreya so widely admired.

Changing lives, one kilometre at a time

The ripple effect of Dattatreya’s running extends well beyond race-day medals.

Among the many people whose lives he has changed is Kuldip Singh Jadav, a corporate professional from Vadodara who met Dattatreya in 2019 when he was briefly transferred to Bengaluru.

“Dattatreya uncle changed my life,” Kuldip says. “When I met him for the first time, I was stunned that a 91-year-old could run a marathon. From that moment, I felt that if he could cover long distances, why couldn’t I?”

Kuldip went on to participate in nearly 50 cycling and running events, making physical activity a core part of his daily life. He is one of thousands who credit Dattatreya with motivating them to move.

This is, in many ways, Dattatreya’s real project.

He is deeply concerned by what he sees as a generation absorbed in screens and sedentary routines, and he regards his presence on race courses as a living argument against inertia.

“For me, health is wealth,” he has said. “I run to keep my fitness on track, and I suggest all youngsters should do the same.”

Participation in the TCS World 10K holds additional emotional meaning for him. Having lost his second son to cancer, he draws comfort from the fact that the event raises funds for cancer research, making each finish-line crossing feel like something more than a personal milestone.

What science says about older adults who run

Research published over the past decade consistently supports what Dattatreya appears to embody intuitively.

Studies published in journals including the British Journal of Sports Medicine have found that regular aerobic exercise in older adults is associated with significantly better cardiovascular health, a lower risk of cognitive decline, and improved physical function well into people’s eighties and nineties.

The key, researchers note, is consistency over decades rather than dramatic late-life interventions.

For Dattatreya, three decades of maintaining general fitness before he ever ran a race may have laid the physical foundation for everything that followed at 91 and beyond.

At 96, he shows little sign of slowing down.

Events continue to be marked on his calendar. The starting line, whenever he approaches it, draws the kind of attention that no elite runner can quite replicate, because watching a nonagenarian in running shoes prepare for a 10-kilometre course does something to the people around him.

It quietly removes every excuse they had for standing still.

All images courtesy: Instagram/@ns_dattatreya_at_96

Sources:

‘At 92, NS Dattatreya runs TCS World 10K in a bid to inspire‘: by Olympics.com, Published on 17 December 2020

‘TCS World 10K Bengaluru 2024: Meet NS Dattatreya, 96, the oldest participant‘: by myKhel, Published on 25 April 2024

‘Sole mates unite‘ (NS Dattatreya, 96, at TCS World 10K 2024): by The Hindu Bengaluru, Published on 26 April 2024

‘92-year-old marathon runner wins five gold medals at the Asian Championships‘: by Book of Achievers, Published on 26 February 2021

‘Want to be role model for youngsters, says 92-year-old runner‘: by NewSD, Published on 17 December 2020

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