100-year-old runner, ex-fighter pilot and Christian author sets five world records

Originally published in Fox News

A 100-year-old Texas man says he’s on “the top of the world” after breaking five world running records for his age group during a championship meet in Maryland last weekend.

Orville Rogers, a Dallas resident who trained bomber pilots during World War II, is proof age is just a number after his record-setting performances at the USATF Master Indoor Track and Field Championships.

“I have a total of 18 world records and I’m very grateful that God has blessed me with the ability and the motivation to run well,” Rogers told Fox and Friends Tuesday.

The centenarian entered his first race when he was 90. He competes in the 100 to 104 age group.

He is also the author of The Running Man: Flying High for the Glory of God.

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Rogers explained his secret for living to 100.

“I’m a Christian and God promises a long life,” he said. “I have a wonderful wife who died 10 years ago. I have a great family. I have lots of friends and I keep active mentally, physically and spiritually.”

The USATF posted video of Rogers, in a blue top, setting a new world age group record in the 60-meter dash with a time of 19.13 seconds.

He secured his other age group world records at the 2018 Indoor Championships in the 200-meter, 400-meter, 800-meter and 1 500-meter events.

Rogers said during the Korean War he flew the biggest airplane in the world, the B-36 strategic bomber.

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“We had 16 crew members and 16 20-millimeter canons on each airplane for defence and we had a capability and we had the responsibility to retaliate against Russia if war had been declared,” he said.