Rejeanne Fairhead stood at the starting line in front of Ottawa’s city hall on Saturday surrounded by thousands of racers who were almost all, assuredly, younger than her.
But as the sun beat down on a 28 C day in the nation’s capital, the 96-year-old took a deep breath and burst forward.
Fifty-one minutes and nine seconds later she was a world record holder.
“It felt very good,” Fairhead said, in an interview the day after her big accomplishment. “I was proud of what I did. But I was glad it was all over too.”
Fairhead walked the five-kilometre distance in the Tamarack Ottawa Race Weekend almost five minutes faster than American Betty Lindberg, who set the previous world record for a 5K race completed by women between the ages of 95 and 99.
Lindberg was 97 when she finished the Atlanta Peachtree Marathon Weekend in 55 minutes and 48 seconds in February 2022.
Unlike Lindberg, who has racked up the records as a master’s athlete in multiple distances, Fairhead did not before, nor does she really now, see herself as an athlete.
“They call me that, but I don’t know if I do,” she said, laughing.
Fairhead said for her first 95 years of life the most athletic pursuits she had involved bowling and horse shoes. But a little more than a year ago, a friend at the Perley Rideau Seniors’ Village asked if she wanted to try the 5K race in Ottawa’s annual marathon weekend.
Fairhead said sure. She walked that race in 58 minutes and 52 seconds, setting the Canadian record in her age category. Then she found out she was only three minutes or so off the world record.
So she set her sights on that title too.
In March she began training with physiotherapist and running coach Richelle Weeks, who donated her time. Three times a week Fairhead went for a walk with Weeks, and on alternating days did some basic strength exercises at home.
According to nationalpost.com. Source of photos: internet
