Mastering athletics in his sixties
David Riddell is tackling the biggest race of his life at the age of 63. He spoke with reporter before to flying out for South Korea ahead of the World Masters Athletics Championships.
It was a combination of a couple of things. Number one was that I read Use It or Lose It by Peter Snell and that really fired me up a little bit not to let go the ability to run. So based on that I went for a run around the block and found out I couldn’t. But I wasn’t ready to admit that I could no longer run, even though I hadn’t run right through my life. Also I wanted to recapture the joy of running, which I had lost since childhood due to the side stitch, then I read the latest research on the side stitch and learnt what it is, and I was curious to find out whether I could finally overcome it. I had lost every race I had run as a kid because of the stitch.
Somebody joked that I should enter the Masters Games and I thought it’d be good experience. I was dumbstruck that I actually won something. I had never won a race in my life. Somebody said it’s possible to be fitter and faster at 61 than you were as a teenager if you wanted to take it seriously. I had never heard such a thing in my life so I decided to put it to the test and it’s true.
I wouldn’t have been able to keep going until I stopped comparing myself to them and just competed with myself. Otherwise the embarrassment and the humiliation would have been too much for me. But as I competed with myself I was able to enjoy it and although I always lose, I’m a heck of a lot closer to the front runners than I used to be.
I’m doing all the short work from 60m right up to 1500m; 60, 200, 400, the 800 and the 1500. I’m still searching for the one that fits me, I’m still trying everything.
They’re just a bit incredulous actually. They’re amazed. I seem to have emerged from the woodwork. As my aunty said ‘there’s no runners in our family, you’re the first, you’re the trailblazer.’ I said I had left my run pretty late but there’s nothing like a sprint at the finish, which seems to be my style. Down at the running club they call me the sprinter because I always sprint at the end whether I’m stuffed or not. I say to them that if I’m not on the ground at the end of the race then they should hit me with a piece of timber because I ought to be. I plan to take it as far as I can. If I keep progressing at the rate I’m going then I’m contender for a New Zealand record but don’t ask me which one yet. I’ve got plenty left in the tank yet. Name: David Riddell
Suburb: Stoke
Sport: Athletics
Occupation: Motivational speaker/ family counsellor
Date of birth: August 1953