“Uncle Roy”, “Mass Roy”, “Daddy Roy”, “Roy Fortis” are some of the names that Roy Thomas bears. He is one of the oldest active participants in many of the road races all across Jamaica. At 87 years old, he finishes every race he enters and remains an inspiration to many of us who have embraced this healthy sporting lifestyle.
Roy started KC in 1942 and remained until 1944, while at KC he never participated in sports, but he always had a keen interest. He described himself as being too scrawny for track and field or football and that the cricket ball was too fast for him to see. In his “younger days” he was active in the KCOBA and still maintains keen interest in the school and its achievements.
He will tell you his story of how he got involved in running and the benefits of this healthy lifestyle, suffice it to say, he has been on the road since the late 1960s and hasn’t stopped since. His last race was the St. Hugh’s SWANS 5K earlier this year where he walked. He will quickly tell you that his formula from those days until now was to run his own race and not worry about anyone else. He believes his personal best for a 5K is modest 32 minutes, but this pace demonstrates that you can use this healthy sporting lifestyle to achieve long term results. His current race pace is still far better than many who are more youthful than he is.
At our third Puma 5K staging in May, we will present a special 90th Anniversary Award to Roy Thomas who will be celebrating his 88th birthday later that same month. Roy has participated in our first two races and fully endorsed the initiative as a “win-win” for the school, the community and the individual. Today, the PUMA FORTIS 5K Team takes great pleasure in saluting one of our sons who has made us proud.