But coming back to running, it is scientifically proven that far from damaging your knees, running may actually help protect them. And athletes, sooner than perhaps any other professionals, are forced to confront the slowing down of the body. It's not easy to defy the ageing process. If that doesn't command respect, what does? At the Trusts Stadium in Waitakere, West Auckland, much to the amazement of onlookers and athletes, she broke the Guinness World Record for javelin with a throw of 5m and 12cm, taking her gold medal tally to four. She was the oldest competitor at the World Masters games. In April, a 101-year-old Indian woman, Mann Kaur, celebrated her 100-m sprint victory at the American Masters game in Vancouver a la Usain Bolt.
It's no longer uncommon to find octogenarians, nonagenarians, centenarians take part in runs across the world. Research tells us that an increasing number of older people are running marathons, whether half marathons or the full distance. And she was just 25 minutes slower than she was 50 years ago, proving that age is just a number. She's competed nearly 40 marathons, including the Boston Marathon once again this year, at age 70. In the following years, Switzer continued to run. If that's not proving the coach wrong, what is?Īlmost a decade before Switzer, Bobbi Gibb ran and become the first woman to finish a marathon - but without the official bib number. Switzer later said that she was determined to complete the race if she had to finish it on her knees. In a struggle caught on camera, her boyfriend, running alongside Switzer, body bumped the official to enable Switzer to continue running. Two miles in, an official furious to see a girl running in the Boston Marathon, got in the way and tried to stop her. To prove her coach wrong, Switzer ran the race. Switzer registered under the initials KV Switzer. Back then, the marathon was a men's only event. And she did! Briggs reportedly believed that no woman could run 26 miles (42kms). This past fortnight, there was a lot of talk about Kathrine Switzer, the Germany-born American runner who in 1967, wanted to prove her coach Arnie Briggs wrong. Why would anyone run 42 kilometres, or even half of that (21 kms), which is what they call a half marathon? What is the satisfaction gleaned from accomplishing these feats? And how come there are so many elderly folk running marathons?
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