Let us pause to marvel at the magnificence of possibly the fittest old lady on the planet. Let’s take our time to appreciate not just the female athlete but the older female athlete, usually left for dust by the cultural conversation.
For anyone struggling to get their creaking knees into gear for a marathon, or even to go from armchair to fridge, it may be useful to meet Jeannie Rice, who did barely any exercise until she took up jogging at the age of 35 to shift a bit of holiday weight. Now, at 77, this grandmother is not just breaking world records and thundering past runners a third her age, but also astonishing medical researchers. Rice is fast gaining fame as a running legend: she set a new world record for 75 to 79-year-old women at the London Marathon last year at 3:33:27; no woman her age has been recorded to run faster in the 1,500m, 5km or 10km.
