The Amazing 76-Year-Old ‘Irongran’
At 76, marathon and Ironman veteran Edwina ‘Eddie’ Brocklesby knows it’s smart to go slower
Edwina ‘Eddie’ Brocklesby is unstoppable
THEY CALL HER ‘IRONGRAN’,
and although that triathlon suit does look a little like a superhero’s spandex, Edwina ‘Eddie’ Brocklesby is not a new character in the Marvel cinematic universe. She’s a 76-year-old grandmother of four who has been demonstrating what’s possible for older athletes since she completed her first marathon at 53.
In 2005, Eddie ran the London Marathon in 3:45 – a fine time for most people, never mind a 62-year-old.
Ten Ironmans later – six completed – the Bristol-born former social worker is Britain’s oldest competitor in these epic endurance challenges.
‘To actually finish one is a brilliant feeling. That’s probably what motivates me to have another go,’ she says.
Her eleventh will be in Austria in July, when she’ll be 77 and going elbow-to-elbow against Dexter Yeats, a 75-year-old American grandmother. However, they will both have to keep going if they are to trump Madonna ‘The Iron Nun’ Buder, a now-retired Catholic sister from Missouri, US, who, in 2012, finished an Ironman in Canada at the age of 82.
When Eddie is not training with London running club Serpentine or riding bike simulations with Zwift, she works as the director of Silverfit, a charity that offers exercise classes for older people in everything from
Nordic walking to cheerleading. Currently operating in 17 venues in nine London boroughs, Silverfit is looking to expand further, possibly starting Couch to 5K-type sessions to build members towards participation in parkruns.
‘We are run by older people, so there’s no deterrent factor of people feeling they might not fit in,’ she explains. ‘There’s also a strong social element, which is what we think keeps people coming back. It’s about making it sociable and making it fun.’
It was the social aspect of running that encouraged Eddie to take it up more seriously in the aftermath of her husband’s early death from colon cancer. She was 52 at the time, had been married to Phil for 30 years and hadn’t done much sport since school, beyond a little netball and squash. She joined a tiny club near Nottingham, where she lived – South Notts Athletics Pacers, or SNAP. She found the support in the club to be invaluable, and has said running was more effective than the therapy she had also signed up for after her husband’s death.
The club later folded due to its small size, but not before securing a place for Eddie to represent them in her first London Marathon. ‘Getting a place was quite a privilege and in my view
I had to do the club justice, so I started doing some serious training.”
Having wrecked her anterior cruciate ligament while skiing, and with experience of triathlons from supporting her son at various events, Eddie decided to shift focus from constant running to multidiscipline sport. This was despite the fact that she had never learned to swim properly. After a year of lessons, at 65 she could finally do a passable front crawl, but swimming remains her least favourite part of the event (she likes cycling the best).
Despite her triathlon experience and ongoing training, including a recent coaching holiday, she says that her swimming still leaves something to be desired. ‘Everyone said I kick off brilliantly at the beginning of a lap, but then the kicking ceases totally and my legs begin to sink,’ she admits.
She had supported her son on three occasions while he did an Ironman, so at 66 that was the obvious next step for her. In 2009, she completed her first, alongside him, in Lanzarote.
She says she has never felt patronised at a start line – ‘People are always really encouraging’ – though the way the Ironman is set up can make life somewhat harder for slower swimmers like her.
‘It’s a rolling start and you position yourself for that, so you might start 20 minutes after the stronger swimmers. But the cut-off is real time, not your chip time, so if you place yourself honestly towards the back, you’re put at quite a disadvantage.’
Surprisingly, perhaps, Eddie does not believe she has had to make too many adjustments to ensure she, as an older athlete, performs as well and as safely as possible. ‘I’m conscious of not pushing myself too hard when running outdoors, as I don’t want to
‘I’M CONSCIOUS OF NOT PUSHING TOO HARD RUNNING OUTDOORS, AS I DON’T WANT TO INJURE MY KNEE’
1. MAKE IT SOCIABLE
‘Try and find somebody else who would be interested in walking around the block with you, then walking a bit faster, and possibly breaking into a jog. It’s more difficult to keep it up if you’re doing it alone. With Serpentine, the key to me wanting to travel to training on a Wednesday night is the fact that I’ll end up with 20 others in a local pub.’
2. GET OUTSIDE
‘Being out in the fresh air is so therapeutic. I always feel good when I’ve been outside. Look on your local authority’s website to find out what facilities they have. As our population gets older, there’s been a lot done to encourage older people to be more physically active. And find a parkrun – I think parkrun is brilliant.’
3. MAKE IT FUN
‘That’s the big one for me. There’s not enough said about how enjoyable this can be. Look at the photos of our Silverfit cheerleading classes – there’s a smile on everybody’s face!’