Photos: Amalia Osborne.
Avila Allsop jokes that she’s always been a bit of a late bloomer. Back in the day, when the norm was to get married by 25, she wed in her mid-thirties. Now, at 89 years old, she’s just won gold in powerlifting at the 2025 Downer New Zealand Masters Games.
It’s not bad for someone who only took up the sport two years ago.
“My mother always said to me, ‘Try everything unless it’s illegal or immoral!’” grins Avila, who’s out to prove there’s no pressure to succeed on a certain timeline. “So I do!”
As she welcomes the Weekly into her apartment at the Country Club in Huapai, north of Auckland – she’s skipped indoor bowls for our photoshoot – there’s a collection of medals hanging over the sides of all of her dining chairs.
She began attending the Masters Games in 2019 for indoor rowing. Now, she holds the New Zealand record for the 300m indoor rowing 85+ open division.
When her gym trainer, Tim Joyce, encouraged her to pick up a 20-kilogram deadlift bar, Avila thought, “Why not?”
She says, “Slowly I built up my strength and mobility. By then, I thought I might as well add powerlifting to my repertoire at the Masters.”
Standing at 147cm, Avila lifted a personal best of 70 kilograms. The achievement won her the gold medal at the event held in Whanganui in February. She was the only woman competing in the 80+ category for powerlifting.
“People who see me training often comment, ‘Aren’t you too old to be lifting that weight?’ But I say, ‘That’s nonsense!’
“I’ve never had the physique of an athlete. I exercise because my health depends on it. At my age, you lose fitness and muscle very quickly. I’ve noticed such a difference with powerlifting. I feel strong.
“The only thing I don’t like is competing in long socks, short shorts and tucking my short in. You have to expose your knees so the judges can see they lock at the top of the lift. I look like a real Charlie!”
Growing up in Te Kūiti, Avila’s sporting prowess didn’t come naturally. In high school, she was the girl chosen last for all the sports teams. On her report cards, PE teachers often wrote, “Avila tries hard.”
After finishing sixth form, the young woman who dreamed of being a doctor instead went to secretarial college in Hamilton, as many did at the time.
“At the Waikato Cathedral, I became a bell ringer, which requires a lot of concentration – just like powerlifting,” she explains. “You have to get your head in the zone.
“In the bell tower, there was a sign that said, ‘There are easier ways to get to Heaven than on the end of a bell rope.’ Some of the shorter girls had to stand on one step – I stood on three!”
At 34, she married Bill, and they raised their two daughters, Fiona, now 53, and Ingrid, 51, who always accompany their mother to the annual Masters Games.
“Mum’s incredible and quite a character – we love her quirkiness,” enthuses Fiona. “Ingrid and I are so proud of her, and it’s great to see her recognised for her insatiable zest for life.
“Ingrid and I both have endometriosis, and haven’t been able to have children, so it’s been sad at times that Mum never got to be a groovy gran. We decided to do cool adventures together and make the most of what we do have.”
Alongside her two weekly weight-training sessions, Avila paints and writes, recently winning a local Wearable Arts competition for a wedding dress made of insulation wrap. And she has also started learning the ukulele in the Country Club band.
“Oh, and I never miss quiz night – I’m secretly quite competitive,” she chuckles.
The irrepressible octogenarian, who turns 90 in August, plans to compete – and lift heavier – at the Masters Games in Dunedin in 2026.
She also wishes the word “masters” deterred less wannabe athletes.
Avila explains, “People often think they’re only for elite athletes. But you can be at any level of sport and can start attending at 20 years of age.
“My daughters and I think of going to the Masters as a summer holiday. Of course, I put in the work and don’t want to make a fool of myself, but I also do it for fun.
“Whenever people come up and to me and say, ‘Avila, you’re such an inspiration!’ I reply, ‘Well, you can be too! Just go and do it.’ My hope is to encourage people of all ages to keep active and keep learning.”
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