Masters of masters: Four Canadian record-holders who just might be getting better with age
Masters athletics is a global circuit of track and field for older athletes. Here are a few Canadian faces of the sport:
Karla Del Grande, 63: As athletes age, and generally slow, they often move up to longer distances but not this Toronto athlete. She was a distance runner until a coach suggested she try sprinting and now she holds numerous Canadian sprint records across the women’s 50, 55 and 60 age groups. She’s also the fastest 60-year-old woman in the world, having set multiple indoor and out-
door world records from 60 metres up to 200.
Earl Fee, 87: After a three-decade break from the sport, the Mississauga runner returned to the track at the age of 56 and, soon after, started breaking records. He now holds the Canadian records in the 400- and 800-metre distances from age 65 through to 85, plus a few others
including the men’s high jump record he set last month. His speed over 800 metres is world class and he holds several masters world records in that distance.
Marg Radcliffe, 74: She didn’t discover masters track and field until she turned 55 and after a few years of trying her hand at pretty much every event — she holds the Canadian women’s 60 age group high jump record — she picked up a javelin. The Vancouver Island athlete set a Canadian javelin record at her very first meet. It’s been her best event for years and, unlike the jumping, it has survived a knee replacement. She threw the javelin 23.48 metres at the Americas Masters Games in Vancouver this past August to set the Canadian women’s 70 record.
Ed Whitlock, 85: The Milton runner is best known for his marathon feats — he’s the only man over 70 to break three hours for the 42.2K distance and he easily collected the over-85 record last weekend with a sub-four hour run — but he’s also world class on the track over shorter distances. In the 65-85 age groups, he holds practically all the Canadian records from 1,500 to 10,000 metres and, more often than not, it’s also the world record.