This is how you do it.
Pic 2: BTG250121LM2 Caption: This is how you do it.
By Dave Murdoch
On Saturday, January 23 Laurie Malcolmson, of Dannevirke, starts the masters athletics competitive season representing Manawatu-Whanganui in the Colleen Blair Memorial Tournament in Palmerston North.
The tournament is in honour of a long-time athlete who died several years ago and is competed for by teams of masters athletes from Manawatu-Whanganui, Hawke's Bay, Taranaki and Wellington.
Laurie competes in the 70-75 age group but the tournament ranges down to the 40-year olds and up to Tim Blair (Colleen's husband) still competing at 89.
Laurie Malcolmson is addicted to athletics. Laurie started athletics at school finding the life on a dairy farm made him pretty fit. Moving to Auckland, he trained at Mt Smart and ran in the first athletics event there.
Competing in the shorter track events, javelin, discus, triple and long jump, Laurie held Auckland titles and decathlon national titles.
He was invited to trial for the 1972 Munich Olympic Games. In 1974 he was in line for the New Zealand Commonwealth Games in sprinting, clocking his best time of 10.4 seconds for the 100 metres.
Sadly, injury prevented him from competing and discouraged, he gave up the sport.
Thanks to encouragement from wife Gloria, Laurie resumed in the sport in 1981 and he has since competed in national, Oceania and World Masters Games, the latter in Japan, USA, Australia, South Africa and Auckland (2017).
Over the years as Laurie left one age group to join the next he has left behind records which still stand, including a 1985 100-metre record.
Last year, he entered the 70-75 age group and promptly broke the 60-metre sprint record justifying his title "New Zealand's Fastest Pensioner". He picked up six medals in the 2020 March nationals.
Covid intervened when it came to competitions, preventing local and overseas events although he continued to train and even this year international events such as the Oceania, Australian and World Masters Games have been cancelled.
Which leaves the regional and national masters competitions, starting on Saturday.
Laurie will be competing in the 60, 100, 200 and 400-metre track events, his hurdles ambitions put on hold until a niggling injury is resolved.
But he has diversified into field events, harking back to his early days, this time focusing on hammer throwing and the shorter chain version the weight.
This started last year when, bored because he could not hurdle, he picked up the hammer and had a go, nearly decapitating himself with his first effort. However, he persevered and branched into the 7.27kg weight, surprising himself with a good throw during the season which might have won the NZ title had it been competed for.
Summer is pretty busy from now on as he competes in Whangārei over Waitangi Weekend, in Inglewood at the nationals at the end of February and the Taranaki Masters on March 13.
In between, he goes to Palmerston North and Masterton to train on the all-weather tracks and use the throwing circles. He trains at Dannevirke's domain as well, on the track and up the hill from the deer park to the aviary – at pace!
OPINION: For a healthy 65-year-old Kiwi, living into their 90s is increasingly probable.