IT TOOK David Criniti just under two and a half hours to win the gruelling Canberra Marathon on Sunday, but further back in the field a more remarkable achievement was unfolding.
Still about five hours from the finish line, 76-year-old Raphael Sette was just starting to get into his stride.
Age was not the only obstacle between Sette and the finish line.
The bowel cancer survivor was encumbered by his colostomy bag and the night before the marathon he hadn't managed a wink of sleep.
Chronic back and knee pain meant Sette needed painkillers to get through the marathon and while numbing the pain, the pills kept him awake all night.
Despite the major hurdles, Sette still managed to finish the race in just under seven hours and 24 minutes.
``I wanted to do it better than last year and I was on course to do it at 14 or 15km but then it [colostomy bag] got in the way and I lost 15 or 20 minutes and I had to slow down,'' Sette said.
``Last year I did it in six hours, 56 minutes and 22 seconds.''
He took up running about 14 years ago after an operation to remove his colon helped him beat bowel cancer.
The surgery left him with limited options on the sporting field so he decided to try his hand at lawn bowls.
He was selected for the Masters Games which strangely enough led him to the world of competitive long distance running.
``I was at the Masters Games and according to the newspaper, there was a 10 kilometre race that morning because they have the athletics in conjunction with the lawn bowls,'' Sette said.
``I went and entered this 10km and my friend said, `it starts at seven so by 8.30 you've got to be back to the club and have a shower in time for lawn bowls'. I said, `if I cannot finish the 10km in less than one hour you might as well ring for the undertaker'.''
``Much to my surprise in 53 minutes I ran the 10km and got bronze and since then I went for athletics and I won a lot of medals.''
Sette moved to Australia from Italy as a teenager and took up boxing to protect himself in school.
``I did boxing because I came from another country, non-english speaking country back in the early 50s and they'd call you anything but your own name and they'd pick on you,'' he said.
``There was a little Maltese guy in Broken Hill they were picking on, he was taking all of the sheilas so they picked on him one night in the streets.
``I couldn't speak English at all so I said `please stop' and so they grabbed me and I pulled away and ran home.
``After that `I said I'm going to learn boxing' and so I did.''
Sette was a professional boxer for about four years. He was diagnosed with bowel cancer 18 years ago and was given the all clear in 1995.
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