Rower, 75: It keeps me active and I still enjoy it. I can’t wait for the big race
While many 70-somethings can creak a little getting out of an armchair, John Munro’s rows are creaking as he trains to race on the Thames.
The retired IT specialist, 75, is a member of the St Andrew Boat Club based at Meggetland on the Union Canal, Edinburgh, and he carries his boat weighing three stones almost daily from the shed to the water before hours of training, up to five times a week on the canal and a rowing machine at home.
Rowing has been his passion since he was 11 and he is living proof that exercise through middle-age and beyond helps prevent frailty and illness.
“Rowing has kept me fit and active and I am delighted to train for a chance at the Vesta Veterans Head of the River race on the Thames in March,” says Munro.
“I am the oldest member of the group of 14 people training together. It is a mixed-age team and a good feeling to be pulling your weight and aim for a place on the club’s boat.
“I row all year round and only lockdown and poor weather have made it impossible to get into the water some days.
“This has taken me all over the world to Australia, the
US, Canada, South America. Everywhere but Russia and a couple of other countries.
“We carry our boats, which weigh about 15kg (almost two and half stones) from the boathouse to the canal and set off.
“You pass all sorts of wonderful wildlife on the boat and only last week
I saw a kingfisher, just a few yards away.”
The boat race for which Munro is training is the Vesta Veterans Head next month where he will be the oldest competitor (skull) on the boat, racing over four miles with and against rowers in their fifties. Teams are matched by the average age on the boat.
Sarah Whitley, president of St Andrew Boat Club, says: “Head races are over long distances and John has been training hard, often in the cold and wet, to be considered for the races we have coming up. He is hugely dedicated.
“Rowing has taken off as a sport and we have a waiting list of people wanting to learn. We are very keen to give young people from all backgrounds the chance to try out rowing.
“Our new clubhouse was opened last month, built with investment from Sportscotland, support from family trusts, and a great fundraising effort from our members. John cycled 75 miles – a mile for each of his years – along the Union Canal, raising thousands of pounds.”
Even at 75, Munro has a bit to catch up with the club’s oldest rowers – both in their 80s. “John is our oldest competitive rower,” says Whitley. “Recent Covid lockdowns made many of our oldest members miss out on months of rowing for various reasons.”
It is no surprise to find that Munro’s rowing partner, Mike Kelly, 69, is a research scientist and former director of Public Health at the National Institute for Clinical Excellence who practises what he preaches in his career in public health.
Kelly, took to the water in 1966 and, while John Munro is still in training to hopefully replace anyone who drops out of the Thames boat race team, the professor says he won’t be miffed if John is chosen over him. “I am okay with being beaten at times by a man almost seven years older. I like to give others a chance!” he says.
“The evidence for exercise as an investment in your health bank is compelling, but I row because I enjoy it.
“It is a highly energetic sport and pushes your cardiovascular systems quite hard and that suits me because I spent my youth pounding the pavements in sandshoes and my knee and ankle joints took a bit of a hammering. Rowing puts little pressure on my knees.”
As for investment in the health bank, he says: “Research from Edinburgh and Glasgow universities shows the longer you can exercise over your life, the more likely you are to reap enormous benefits.
“These include preventing or staving off frailty, keeping muscle development, maintaining balance to prevent falling which are major debilities, and good bone density. Add to that cardiovascular boosts and better cognitive and mental health, and you start to see a picture of real investment in health.
“You cannot prevent the grim reaper or frailty, but you can live a much healthier and more enjoyable life.”
There is hope, though, for those who shudder at the thought of rowing or spending hours on a treadmill.
Kelly adds: “You do not have to join a gym or clock up hours on an exercise bike if that is not your idea of fun and remember that you are never too old to exercise. It is not too late to start tomorrow.”