Granny who finds marathons too EASY
IRONGRAN by Edwina Brocklesby (Sphere £14.99)
SUPERWOMEN come in many shapes and sizes — which means that anybody can become one, even if you’re the sort of person who once thought about going to the gym, then rejected it as being too much like hard work.
Edwina Brocklesby, super-athlete at 75, intends to inspire, and maybe shame you, too. Her book’s subtitle leaves you in no doubt about her intention: ‘How keeping fit taught me that growing older needn’t mean slowing down.’
‘Keeping fit’ conjures up an image of ladies like me having fun in an exercise class or picking up the pace on a country stroll.
For Edwina, an arthritic granny, it meant starting to run when she was 50, tackling her first half-marathon, then using this activity as a source of solace after the premature death of her beloved husband Phil from cancer. Counselling wasn’t for her — Edwina ran her way back to life.
That was in 1994; two years later she completed the London Marathon. By then she had moved to the capital to be near her three adult children, discovered the companionable delights of the Serpentine Running Club, and begun her extraordinary trajectory to sporting success. She has now tackled six Ironman endurance races, seven triathlons, five duathlons and seven London Marathons.
She has represented Great Britain in European and World championships and cycled in a relay of more than 3,000 miles in America.
Edwina’s background makes for a terrific story. Her grandmother Georgina Landemare rose from being a scullery maid at the Ritz to Winston and Clementine Churchill’s personal cook for 15 years.
Edwina (pictured) had a comfortable upbringing in Bristol, went to university, then had a distinguished career in social work for 50 years. Hers is a life story driven by utter determination: having decided to tackle the triathlon (running, cycling, swimming), Edwina came up against a wee snag — she could hardly swim. So she learned. As you do.
Her chapter headings brook no argument: ‘Dreams don’t always live up to your expectations’, ‘Age is just a number’, ‘Your health is your most valuable asset’ and so on. You wouldn’t want to contradict Edwina.
There’s much detail about running and other forms of exercise here that will enthral sporty types, but Edwina comes into her own when she talks about ageing.
There are 11.8 million people over 65 in the UK today and by 2025 that number will exceed 14 million. Evidence shows interest in keeping fit is growing amongst older people, many of whom will know of Edwina’s charity Silverfit.
Inactivity, she says, is ‘a killer’, but her message is that exercise has huge benefits for older people: you get out of the house, socialise, have fun, and feel good about yourself.
As the Mail’s advice columnist, and aware of the problems of isolation among the old, I want this book to be a starting gun for couch potatoes (of all ages) to get fit. You may not become an ‘exercise junkie’ like the Irongran — but you’ll want what she’s having.