President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih has been presented with the 60th marathon medal and jersey of Maldivian athlete and Staff Sergeant at the Maldives National Defense Force (MNDF), Nasrullah Ahmed.

During a special ceremony held at the President’s Office on Thursday where Nasrullah paid a visit to the president, Solih acknowledged the marathoner’s achievements and congratulated him for his exceptional performance.

The president went on to encourage Nasrullah to push himself to achieve his goal to run a groundbreaking number of marathons in the Asia Region.

The ceremony was joined by Minister of Defense and National Security, Mariya Ahmed Didi as well as the Chief of Staff at the President’s Office, Ali Zahir.

Nasrullah holds a record in the Maldives for the greatest number of marathons completed in the island nation and the medal presented to the president on Thursday was won during the New York Liberty Run held this year.

The medalist has completed five more marathons since then, pushing the number of marathons completed to date, to 65.

One of Nasrullah’s most notable achievements is having completed his run at the 5th Hindustan Marathon held in New Delhi, India, within as little as three hours, 29 minutes and 38 seconds. Nasrullah takes an average of four hours to complete a marathon.

Although he set a goal to complete 18 marathons during this concluding year, the Covid-19 pandemic hindered his goal. During last year, Nasrullah completed 13 marathons.

Actively training local athletes in long-distance running, Nasrullah is also a renowned coach, he got into marathons at the beginning of 2000 and even completed the MTCC Marathon Race held during 2008, in less than four hours.