Old people not dead yet, ya young whipper snappers!
. Woman, 69, runs |
Devon pensioner Pauline Newsholme has just run her 69th marathon – at the age of 69.
Her amazing achievement is part of a fundraising effort she undertook after her daughter was paralysed.
Pauline, from Teignmouth, has run marathons all over the world, including Helsinki, Toronto, New York, Dublin, Venice and Paris, as well as locations all around the UK. Her latest was in Edinburgh.
She has run the London marathon ten times and has been joined in several of the races by husband Eric, 72, and daughter Glenda, 45.
“Eric had run a few marathons before and he had always been a keen runner since the age of 12.
When he ran the first ever London marathon I went to cheer him on and it really inspired me,” Pauline said.
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She ran her first half marathon in February 1982 in Oxford, where the couple lived at the time, then turned her efforts to running a full 26 miles.
“I found 13 miles fairly easy so I was confident about running my first marathon. I trained regularly with Eric, so I was very fit.
I may have been over 40 but I was fitter than I had ever been.”
Pauline wanted to raise money for a children’s charity after her daughter Clare was paralysed at the age of six after suffering a rare complication from measles.
Clare made a full recovery but Pauline carried on running and her efforts have helped raise more than £20,000 for children’s charities.
She added:
“I may be at the age when most grannies are taking it easy, but not me. I’m not ready to hang up my running shoes just yet.”
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