Sprinter, 85, still at physical peak
A series aimed at celebrating the older people in our community defying their years to do amazing things.
Early every day except Sunday, retired couple Max and Pam Wood make space for their at-home aerobics class, pushing back their lounge sofas and playing a video of an instructor on their TV.
Their goal is to be fit for life, and a few health worries over the years have only further motivated them to do everything they can, while they still can.
The pair celebrated their 35th wedding anniversary with a relay marathon and Max Wood, 85, broke the 60-metre sprint record for his age group at Nga¯ Puna Wai sports hub’s opening day. Weeks later, he did the same with the 100m.
He said having small goals to keep him motivated, and a wife to keep him accountable, kept him at his physical peak.
Wood and wife Pam, 79, were in their
50s when they joined a walking group on Auckland’s Hibiscus Coast. The competition, camaraderie and chance to enjoy nature soon had them hooked, with Wood eventually completing 12 marathons. After moving to Christchurch, he twice finished
50-kilometre race walks in Blenheim, usually aiming to enter about 10 events each year.
Wood was encouraged to specialise in sprinting. He was a complete rookie, and a friend said he needed to get a pair of sprint spikes for his shoes if he was to have any chance of success.
‘‘We had no idea what [spiked shoes] were but we went to the shop and had an amazing time . . . he was just eager for information, he drinks it all in,’’ Pam Wood said.
‘‘He loves a challenge and I just said to him ‘give it a go Max’.
‘‘I was told there is only a handful of people in New Zealand over 60 that run the 400m in less seconds than their age and I [thought he] could do it.’’
In 2003, as a 70-year-old, Max Wood finished that run in 66.23 seconds, setting a New Zealand record. At 75, he set another record, finishing in 71 seconds. For a time he also held the 100m and the
200m records.
Soon after, Max Wood was invited to the South Island Masters Champs in Invercargill where he entered the 3km and 1500km race walks, as well as the
200m and 100m sprints.
‘‘I ended up with very sore muscles; it was a learning curve,’’ he said.
The couple train by doing about an hour of aerobics, light weights and pilates each morning, except on Sundays. Until recently, Wood worked on his abs and glutes, focusing on the leg press, romanian dead lift and weights at the gym.
In the winter, he walks up Rapaki Track and ‘‘particularly enjoys steps’’.
‘‘When we go to [New] Brighton we love going up and down over the dunes,’’ Pam Wood said.
‘‘With the sprinting its so important to stretch the glutes and the quads.’’
The day after returning home from a hernia operation, Max Wood walked the
20m length of his driveway to collect the mail. On his return, he logged the journey in his exercise diary, a meticulous record of all his walking and running meets.
‘‘It’s all about goals. He’d not done any [exercise] the day before and writing it down meant he had something to beat the next day, so he tracked it,’’ his wife said.
A treadmill facing out to the garden dominates any spare room in the lounge, mostly used by Pam Wood as her heart condition means she struggles to exercise in cold weather.
Despite tearing both hamstrings at 78, suffering septicemia through the foot and having a light stroke, he completed a
4x100m relay with his daughter, granddaughter and great-granddaughter as an 80-year-old.
‘‘I appreciate and am thankful that I can do this now. Health has been our main thing, the racing and any results are the icing on the cake. It’s mainly to be healthy and have the lifestyle [we want],’’ he said.
‘‘Our goal is to be fit forever,’’ his wife added.