More masters wisdom from the Great White North: “People want to achieve things and that doesn’t necessarily disappear because you’re old. If somebody feels capable of doing something, it’s what they want to do, then they should go ahead and do it.” So says Andrew Sixsmith, director of the Gerontology Research Centre at Simon Fraser University in British Columbia. He’s quoted in a nice story about masters track that ran yesterday in the Burnaby NewsLeader. The story’s headline says it all.

Sverre Hietanen, 90, was recently inducted into the Canadian Masters Athletics Hall of Fame. (Photo by Mario Bartel)

Read on:

Silver haired, and seeking gold

By Mario Bartel – Burnaby NewsLeader
Published: August 23, 2010 3:00 PM
Updated: August 23, 2010 3:59 PM

Sverre Hietanen wants to run the 100 meters when he’s 100 years old.

Don’t bet against him. At 90, he can still cover the distance in 25 seconds, beating men much younger.

Hietanen, who’s originally from Sindefjord, Norway, was recently inducted into the Canadian Masters Athletic Hall of Fame for his running accomplishments, which include 39 B.C. Masters age class records in middle and long distances. He’s held world records. He’s run marathons in Vancouver, Seattle, Portland, Honolulu, Boston and Oslo.

And while Hietanen says he’s been running since he “was in diapers,” most of his athletic success has come since he hit his “golden years.”

He’s not the only one.

At the most recent World Masters Games, in 2009 in Sydney, Australia, 28,676 athletes from 95 countries competed in 28 sports.

Diabetes scare

When Don Benson was growing up in New Westminster during the Depression, he played sports like football, softball, lacrosse, boxing and hockey. But as he got older and the responsibilities of work, raising a family, and administrating various sports organizations like minor lacrosse took over, his physical activity diminished to little more than gardening.

Then seven years ago, when he was 70, his doctor gave him a wake-up call; with 170 pounds packed onto his 5’4” frame, he was a prime candidate for Type 2 diabetes.

So he started running, mostly around the track at Mercer Stadium. He lost 25 pounds.

“I had a feeling of well-being,” says Benson, who now tips the scales at 140.

His regular appearances at the track caught the attention of Besnik and Tatjane Mece, a couple of track coaches from Albania working with kids at Mercer. They took Benson under their wing, refined his training regime, worked on his technique.

When he was able to nudge a provincial record in his first Masters track meet, his competitive juices flowed.

“Hey, I can do it,” he said. “All I had to do was stick with it and train.”

That kind of self-determination is probably the tipping point that brings seniors into competitive athletics, says Andrew Sixsmith, the director of the Gerontology Research Centre at Simon Fraser University, and a competitive triathlete himself.

“It’s easy to kick back and just say ‘ah well, I’m getting old now and I’m not going to do these sorts of things,’ and people’s expectations as you get old may be that you should be in a nursing home or something like that,” says Sixsmith. “People want to achieve things and that doesn’t necessarily disappear because you’re old. If somebody feels capable of doing something, it’s what they want to do, then they should go ahead and do it.”

Beating her fears

That’s what’s driving Agnes Benna to take swimming lessons at age 64, despite her own terror of the water and her daughter’s admonitions.

She wants to add triathlons to her athletic palmarès that includes five marathons, more than 20 half-marathons and dozens of 10 kilometer runs. All since she turned 60.

“I like to compete,” says Benna, who started running to counter the effects of her osteoperosis. “I could give up and feel sorry for myself. But it’s better to spend my pension on my running and on running shoes.”

In fact, she’s so addicted to her running, she did the Grouse Grind to keep her quads in shape just three weeks after knee surgery last August. Following four months of physiotherapy, she’s worked her way back up to 26 km runs, competed in a duathlon in March and finished third in her age group in the Seek the Peak Relay in July, a 16.5 km race from Ambleside Park in West Vancouver to the top of the Grouse Grind.

For active seniors still scratching their competitive itch, the benefits extend way beyond physical fitness, says Sixsmith.

“Competitive sports brings a whole lot of benefits, it gives structure in terms of training, it gives you a kind of social structure.”

And it helps keep seniors mentally sharp, says Sixsmith. “That’s generally good for the whole physiology of the body including the brain. It’s just keeping the whole body system healthy. Simply being engaged in a purposeful activity is beneficial.”

Don Benson, who’s authored three books and was the poet laureate for the City of New Westminster until recently, says he always carries a pen and paper with him on training runs because “I think clearly when I’m working out. Some of my best creative work has come to me when I’m working out.”

“I feel sharper and more alert,” says Agnes Benna. “You have to coordinate your legs, your breathing.”

“I feel good,” says Sverre Hietanen, who still lives on his own in Burnaby’s Edmonds area and runs a few times a week around the track at Swangard Stadium.

“My blood pressure is perfect, my heart is great. I feel younger.”

And with that he hoists from the orange track at Swangard a cloth shopping satchel of shiny medals and colourful ribbons he’s earned for running. It must weigh 20 pounds.

photo@burnabynewsleader.com