An internationally known runner who completed 744 marathons has died. Don McNelly was 96.
The Richard H. Keenan Funeral Home in Fairport, New York, says he died Sunday. The native of Brookville, Ohio, began running in the late 1960s after a close friend died of a heart attack. McNelly ran his first marathon in Boston in 1969. He was 86 in 2006 when he completed his 700th marathon, eventually reaching his goal with marathon No. 744, the same number of his Navy destroyer in the Pacific during World War II.
He attempted to complete his 745th marathon at a race in Pennsylvania in November 2010 - at age 90 - but had to pull out midway through. Survivors include Phyllis, his wife of nearly 75 years, and their two sons.