Nana Serwaa Wiafe, the first Ghanaian to complete a six-star major marathon in the world, has shared her story on how she achieved her success at age 53.

According to her, she started running marathons in 2011 and continued to win medals in marathons including Chicago, New York, the oldest marathon, Boston, Berlin, and Tokyo 2024, where she acquired her six-star medal.

Serwaa Wiafe noted that she began her running journey after her marriage collapsed ten years ago and has been pleased with the athletic successes which have kept her excited.

“I am the first six-star major marathon finisher at age 53. These medals include Chicago, New York, the oldest marathon Boston, Berlin, and Tokyo 2024, where I acquired my six-star. Running is the community that I have formed. Only one percent of the population has run a marathon.

"It was right after my divorce that I started running back in 2011 by joining Black Girls in Austin. I ran my first marathon at 43 and my first full marathon at age 45. It is sad I don’t see West Africans in the marathons,” she said in a video shared by international journalist Larry Madowo on X.

She also called on West African countries to focus on investing in athletics, especially running, in addition to soccer to groom more talents.

“I have my Ghana flag where strangers call out ‘Go Ghana.’ In West Africa, especially Ghana, we are more of a soccer culture, but I really would like us to emerge into a running culture and get into big races,” she added.

Watch the video below:

Nana Serwa Wiafe started running after her divorce 10 years ago. She’s now the first Ghanaian to finish all 6 World Marathon Majors - at 53 🇬🇭

I bumped into her in Germany after she ran Berlin for a 2nd time, like a boss pic.twitter.com/NIDT0sGQnI

— Larry Madowo (@LarryMadowo) September 30, 2024