Body & Fitness

The oldest Kiwi woman taking on the World Masters Games

'I might be 88, but I always want to win.'

Octogenarian wonder Marcia Petley may have undergone a knee replacement, a shattered wrist and open-heart surgery over the years, but there is no stopping the indestructible athlete.

The Hamilton-based part-time carer is the oldest Kiwi woman competing at the World Masters Games, where she plans to take part in the 100m and 200m, as well as the hammer and weight-throw in the 85-89 age group.

“I’m looking forward to competing,” says Marcia, who has participated in numerous global masters’ events for more than three decades. “I might be 88, but I always want to win.”

Born in 1929, Marcia loved athletics at school but it was only after her children became involved in sport – her daughter Karen was a successful distance runner coached by Arthur Lydiard – that she re-started her competitive days.

Such was her passion for athletics, she was one of the founding members of the Frankton Athletic Club and she recalls her whole-hearted commitment to the sport.

“I used to race home, go to the athletics track, come home and type out all of the results and take them to the Waikato Times for 6am the next day. I don’t know how I did it!”

With an appetite for competition, Marcia was curious to see how she’d fare against the best in her age group, and she made her debut at the World Masters Athletics Championships in Rome 32 years ago.

Competing with a broken foot, she still managed to place fourth in the 100m, and fondly recalls a chance meeting in London with two-time Olympic 1500m champion and now International Association of Athletics Federations President Sebastian Coe.

“I remember him asking me what I’d done to my foot,” she tells. “He was as nice as could be.”

It’s more than 30 years since her first Games.

Since then, Marcia, who managed Hamilton’s Embassy Theatre for 43 years, has competed in more than a dozen countries from Russia and China to Brazil and South Africa, racking up dozens of medals and records along the way. And she’s survived a number of medical setbacks which would have floored many.

Twelve years ago, Marcia underwent a knee replacement and was advised to give up running. Yet she ignored doctor’s orders and proudly states, “I’m still running on the same knee today.”

Even open-heart surgery to replace a faulty valve in 2009 couldn’t dim her passion and she still trains up to four times a week. However, the sprinter, who has added the throws to her repertoire in more recent times, admits she has reduced her training load.

“I’ve realised my body can’t do as much,” says Marcia, whose husband John died in 2003. “I understand when my number is nearly up. But I’m still alright – I mow my own lawns and do everything in the section.”

Still working 23 hours per week as carer – “I work to save up for my athletics trips” – Marcia is relishing the prospect of competing at Auckland World Masters Games in which her daughter Karen races in the 55-59 age group.

Marcia (left) competing in France in 2015 against women from Lithuania (centre) and Colombia.

“I know a Kiwi woman, who did well at last year’s World Masters Athletics Championships in Perth, has since turned 85, so I’ll have some competition,” she says. “But the thing about masters’ athletics is you don’t know who will pop up and run well.”

So after the World Masters Games, how much longer will Marcia continue to compete? “Can you tell me how long I’m going to live?” she says with a laugh. “As long as I can run, I will.”

WATCH: Three things with Allison Roe

Loading the player...

Words: Steve Landells

Related stories