Heather Lee OAM

NSW Senior Australian of the Year

NSW IS HOME to an athlete who holds five world records and eight Australian records, yet many people have never heard of her. Ninety-twoyear-old Heather Lee began walking competitively when she was in her eighties and has since achieved global success. In addition to the incidental kilometres she gets in by walking everywhere, and carrying her groceries home from the shop, she trains at least three times a week. Wednesdays are spent working with a personal trainer who is helping Heather increase her speed.

“This year we’ve been doing a lot of interval training that has increased my pace and time,” Heather says. “I never know what she’s going to give me each week, but I’m always looking forward to it because it’s a challenge. I haven’t let her down yet.”

Heather has always been a walker, as many people of her generation are, she says, but it wasn’t until 1996 that she started walking with the focus and determination she has now. The clarion call came from her husband, Leonard, who was on his deathbed.

“His last words to me were, ‘Now is the time to show your mettle’,” Heather says. “After he died for some reason or another I felt a compulsion to walk. The faster I walked, the better I felt. It was therapy for me.”

Heather was initially walking in fun runs and beating younger competitors. In 2011, when she was 84, her physiotherapist suggested she travel to Adelaide for the Australian Masters Games. She won four gold medals. “I had no idea I had it in me,” she said. It spurred her on to greater things and she hasn’t stopped since.

“I’d like to inspire other people to get moving and get active. That’s my mission,” she says. She urges people not to “think old”.

Heather visits a local nursing home where she promotes staying active to the residents – many of whom are younger than her. “I am the message,” she says.

“I’m fiercely independent.”

When she speaks to The Weekly, she has just completed a 9km walk. “I think he would be pleased,” she says, reflecting on her husband’s parting words to her.