Chilean Miner: Marathon Runner Edison Pena to Meet Haile Gebrselassie

The Chilean Miner and marathon runner named Edison Pena is to meet the legendary Haile Gebrselassie. Surely you’ve heard of Edison Pena, the Chilean miner nicknamed “The Runner”, who was rescued from the San Jose mine a couple of months back.

Pena was nicknamed “The Runner” from fellow miners while he was trapped underground. Apparently the Chilean miner ran alone while stranded in the tunnel for 69 days to keep himself sane, as well as to keep his body in shape.

The ING New York City Marathon is one of the world’s biggest running marathons and is a 26.2 mile course.  After hearing Pena’s story, marathon officials had invited him to watch the race. Surprisingly, Pena stated that he wanted to participate in the marathon. The Ethiopian running legend Haile Gebrselassie holds the world marathon record of 2:03:59, and contacted Edison Pena himself after news of his story.

Commenting on Haile Gebrselassie contacting Edison Pena, Julio Fiol, the Chilean general-consul in New York stated, “He got in touch with him and invited him to Ethiopia.” Instead it seems Pena will not have to go all the way to Ethiopia to meet the legend, both will be running in the ING NYC Marathon.

When commenting on Pena, the Chilean consul Fiol stated , “He's really excited. He has been preparing himself. He participated in a 3K here, he's been training. He knows that a marathon is a really long distance, but he's still willing to participate and finish."

How exciting this must be for Edison Pena. Be sure to tune in, the Marathon will air on WNBC New York live from 9:00 A.M. to 2:00 P.M, and is scheduled for November 7, 2010.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Photo Credit: NYDailyNews