‘I will continue for as long as my body will allow me to’
Barry Ferguson turns 80 next year. He is a sprint hurdler with multiple championship medals to his name. He’s also a coach and a qualified official.
When I was a kid at high school in Jamaica, I did athletics. I came to London in the early 1960s to work for London Transport, and someone roped me into a meeting between all the different lines of the Underground. I also did the London Transport Championships and managed to win a couple of gold medals, but that was the end of my athletics career from age 20 to 41.
At that point, my son decided he wanted to do athletics, so I found a club [Cambridge Harriers] and joined with him. While he was training, I’d chat to the coaches. I volunteered to help and went on an officials’ course and a coaching course. Then I met a chap who told me about competitions for older athletes. He invited me to compete and that was a springboard for me. I ran 100m, albeit very slowly, but I had fun.
At 45, I had a go at the National Championships and won. I heard someone talking about going to Italy to compete in the European Veterans Championships and thought, “A trip to Italy? That sounds good!” I finished fourth, then went to Eugene, Oregon for the World Veterans Championships and came fourth again. Then Budapest for a European Championship, and guess what? I was fourth.
By then, I was 50. But I told myself I was better than fourth and I should seriously look at how I could improve.
The book that inspired me was by Olympian David Hemery, who won gold [in the 400m hurdles] in Mexico in 1968. From his book, I learned about visualising and started to practise that. Visualising is about finding the right focus. Trying hard is not the way to win a race, running efficiently is. Gradually, I developed the skills and corrected the mistakes, and at the next European Championships, aged 50, I won.
That was the beginning of me winning medals in Masters Athletics and I’ve been going through the age groups and attending pretty much all the major championships since then.
I’ll admit that I don’t train as well as I should. I know how to train, but I don’t necessarily do it – I help others do it properly, sometimes at my own expense. But there’s no regret, that’s just a statement of fact. As I’ve got older, I’ve learned to prevent the injuries. I see an osteopath monthly for routine checks, particularly for my back. When the championships come up, the date is set so I can’t do anything about that, but I can do something about the shape I’m in.
In a typical week, I do circuit training on Tuesdays. Thursday is reps on the track. On Fridays, I weight train in the gym, and Saturday is for hurdle skills.
Sunday is running up hills – 20m to 30m up and then walking down slowly.
When I’m 80, I’ll want to compete again with my peers, and hopefully win a couple more medals before I give up. I don’t put any time frame on that – as long as I’m enjoying it, I’ll continue for as long as my body will allow me to.
Coaching keeps me going, too – the athletes I coach turn around and coach me. I’ll tell them to do this or that, and they turn to me and say, “Well, you haven’t done your reps yet!” So off I go and do mine. It’s nice to have that kind of rapport.
I love the Masters community, being able to chat with others about what we do, the injuries, the performances, the excuses. And because I’m lazy, having something to train for gives me the incentive to get out there.
The psychology side is something
I’ve found has helped me not only in performing, but in day-to-day life. It’s given me the attitude of, if I’m not in control, I’m not going to worry about it; to concentrate on what I’m in control of and can influence. I also remember hearing the swimmer Adam Peaty being asked about training to win medals. He said, we don’t train to win medals; we train to get better. We talk about improving and doing the best we can each time. That’s the right mindset.’