‘Smoking Brother’: Chinese man, 50, chain-smokes through 42km marathon in 3½ hours, makes global headlines
- A man in China who ran a marathon while smoking continuously goes viral around the globe
- Chen is well known for smoking during marathons and has been given the name ‘Smoking Brother’ in running circles
A 50-year-old man in southern China has gone viral worldwide after pictures of him running a full marathon in just under three and a half hours while chain-smoking appeared online.
The man, who is from Guangzhou and goes by the name “Uncle Chen”, caught public attention after event organisers posted pictures and video online of him smoking while completing the 42km endurance marathon in China, guancha.cn reported.
A video of the event showed Chen wearing an orange T-shirt and shorts and running with a cigarette dangling from the corner of his mouth.
He appeared calm as he ran and did not appear to have any difficulty breathing. Chen finished the competition with a time of 3 hours 28 minutes and placed 574th out of nearly 1,500 runners.
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Chinese runner goes viral for chain-smoking his way through marathon
According to Canadian Running Magazine, Chen has a history of smoking while competing in marathons and reported that he earned the title “Smoking Brother” in running circles in China.
He made his debut run in the 2018 Guangzhou Marathon, clocking a time of 3 hours and 36 minutes, followed by the 2019 Xiamen Marathon with a time of 3 hours and 32 minutes. Chen has improved year by year.