‘Smoking Brother’: Chinese man, 50, chain-smokes through 42km marathon in 3½ hours, makes global headlines

A 50-year-old man in southern China has gone viral worldwide after pictures of him running a full marathon in just under three and a half hours while chain-smoking appeared online.

The man, who is from Guangzhou and goes by the name “Uncle Chen”, caught public attention after event organisers posted pictures and video online of him smoking while completing the 42km endurance marathon in China, guancha.cn reported.

A video of the event showed Chen wearing an orange T-shirt and shorts and running with a cigarette dangling from the corner of his mouth.

He appeared calm as he ran and did not appear to have any difficulty breathing. Chen finished the competition with a time of 3 hours 28 minutes and placed 574th out of nearly 1,500 runners.

According to Canadian Running Magazine, Chen has a history of smoking while competing in marathons and reported that he earned the title “Smoking Brother” in running circles in China.

He made his debut run in the 2018 Guangzhou Marathon, clocking a time of 3 hours and 36 minutes, followed by the 2019 Xiamen Marathon with a time of 3 hours and 32 minutes. Chen has improved year by year.

Aside from full marathons, Chen also enters ultra-marathons, completing in one that was 50km long and another one that lasted 12 hours.

Hong Kong-based family doctor Amy Wang told the South China Morning Post: “If people can quit smoking, then that’s the best thing they can do for their health. However, if they cannot, then exercise will at least provide some protective effect. Some studies suggest that cigarette smoking can increase haemoglobin, total lung capacity and stimulate weight loss, which are desirable for performance in sports.”

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“However, these benefits appear to be dose-dependent, meaning they may not develop until many years after starting treatment. It’s unethical to perform such research, especially when you require children to smoke at such a young age. It’s also illegal in many parts of the world. Therefore, there is no good quality evidence to prove this, but there is already much evidence proving that cigarette smoking can cause negative impacts on our health — lung cancer is a prime example.”

She added that Chen’s smoking could put others at risk.

“We know from evidence that second-hand smoke can cause stroke, lung cancer, and coronary heart disease in adults, and sudden infant death syndrome, acute respiratory infections, middle ear disease, severe asthma and respiratory problems in children.

“According to the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in the US, people who do not smoke but are exposed to second-hand smoke have an increase of 25 to 30 per cent risk of developing heart disease and a 20 to 30 per cent more risk of a stroke.”

Chen’s story has trended globally, prompting debate over his behaviour, with some applauding his ability to smoke while running, but many criticised him for setting a terrible example.

One person, annoyed by his behaviour, said: “He forces other runners around or behind him to inhale second-hand smoke. How selfish!”

Another said: “How many cigarettes did he smoke within the three and a half hours? Does he think he’s lived too long?”