X-Message-Number: 31798 From: "Kennita (Go Cryo!)" <> Subject: Fwd: [ducklingslist] 100 year old Grandmother shot puts her w... Date: Mon, 6 Jul 2009 06:21:55 -0700 References: <> Good example for heathy long life! I think "cryonics" and "life extension research" -- I wonder if someone in our communities could swing an interview for their newsletter? Genome analysis? Attitude assessment? Live long and prosper, Kennita http://www.agedcarecrisis.com/news/3602-100-year-old-grandmother-shot-puts-her-way-to-games 100 year old Grandmother shot puts her way to Games Brisbane grandmother and keen athlete Ruth Firth is in training to compete in the World Masters Games in Sydney in October. Ruth Firth will be the oldest competitor at the Games, which focuses on getting people involved no matter what their age or ability. Transcript KERRY O'BRIEN, PRESENTER: It's nearly a decade since Australia's sporting heart was captured by the Sydney Olympics. But tomorrow marks a 100 day countdown to another huge sporting event in Sydney: the World Masters Games. About 25,000 athletes will be competing, some former champions, others just plain enthusiastic. The games are about encouraging people to stay fit and healthy through sport, regardless of their years, and no one has taken the message on board more than one remarkable woman: Ruth Frith, who will have passed her own century when she stands in the track and field arena. John Taylor reports from Brisbane. JOHN TAYLOR, REPORTER: On a cold Brisbane morning, Ruth Frith is getting ready to throw her weight around. Even at 99, practise still makes perfect. RUTH FRITH: Well, I can only say because I've loved athletics since I was at primary school, and that could be the only reason because I don't believe in diets. I don't believe in all that jazz. JOHN TAYLOR: Alongside is her 69-year-old daughter and fellow athlete Helen Searle. HELEN SEARLE, DAUGHTER: Back off. I'll hit you in the head. JOHN TAYLOR: How good an athlete is your mum? HELEN SEARLE: Her record stands for herself. She's world record holder since she turned 85 in the 100, the long jump, the triple jump and all the throws. HELEN SEARLE: That was good. You had your arms out nice and straight. That was good. JOHN TAYLOR: Come October, Ruth Frith will be competing in five athletics events at the World Masters Games in Sydney. She will be 100 then and the oldest competitor, not that it's anything special. RUTH FRITH: Why is the focus on just because you're going to be 100? I didn't do anything to be 100. I just grew. JOHN TAYLOR: Ruth's daughter Helen has long been the sporting champion in the family. Through the '50s and '60s she competed in two Olympics and three Commonwealth Games. HELEN SEARLE: Thanks to my Mum and Dad carting me around and making sure I had the right coaches, it's been hard work but I've seen a lot of the world that normally I wouldn't have seen. JOHN TAYLOR: But two and a half decades ago her mum decided it was her turn to have a go, even though she was 74. RUTH FRITH: Well, I got tired. I used to go to the World Games around the world and everyone would say: "Ruth, you mind my bag." So I ended up surrounded by bags while they were all out on the field. And I thought this is stupid. I may as well join it and get in it myself. So that's how I came to really join. JOHN TAYLOR: As old as she is, Ruth Frith is a poster child for Sydney's World Masters Games. Its motto is fit, fun and forever young. About 25,000 people will be competing from around the world. Masters competitions are about getting involved, no matter what your age or ability. RUTH FRITH: And the hardest part of me ever to being a Master, now I was 74 way back in '83, and was getting out in a pair of shorts. Now women didn't wear slacks or anything much in '83 and again a pair of shorts - that was the most nerve-racking thing. JOHN TAYLOR: Are you over that now? RUTH FRITH: Oh, yes! JOHN TAYLOR: Ruth Frith doesn't think she's special but when she's not training or competing, she speaks to others about why she thinks masters sport is good for everyone. RUTH FRITH: If you ever see creaky knees and grey-haired people walking around an Oval or trying to throw, please don't laugh. Just wave and say "good on you" because they are only fulfilling a dream, a dream they may have had when they were children and could never carry it out, but now they have the chance. JOHN TAYLOR: What makes this woman even more remarkable is that her sight is nearly gone. RUTH FRITH: They told me it would be 10 years. Well that was '94 and 204 ... it's a degeneration of your eyes. JOHN TAYLOR: How good is your sight? What can you see? RUTH FRITH: I can't see your face! JOHN TAYLOR: There are some, you know, small fortunes from losing your sight. RUTH FRITH: That's true. That's true. JOHN TAYLOR: She believes it's just part of life. And you overcome the bad by getting out there and staying active. RUTH FRITH: I think all life is just: be true to your own self. If you can't be true to your own self you can't be true to anybody. So live your own life your way and don't be deflected down the wrong path. I just think life is living your own life and living it to the full. KERRY O'BRIEN: When she is ready to hang up her spikes there is always another career for a decade or so as a coach perhaps. Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=31798