Positive effects of exercise at any age are well established. For athlete Victor Njume, it was the health benefits as well as the fun of competition that saw him get back into track and field later in life.
“I used to do track when I was in high school, and I thought when I’m retired ‘why not get back into it?’”
Now 75, Njume recently returned from the Canadian Masters Track and Field Championships held in Surrey with a gold medal and a new national record in javelin, gold in the 400 metres and a silver medal in shot put.
Seeing other senior athletes train and compete is what initially inspired him, he said. “I had some mentors like Harry Thompson who is much older than me and he is doing track, and in my last meet there was a 95-year-old man competing.”
Njume currently trains three days a week and enjoys gardening and other activities on his days off. Aging and injuries have meant he has modified his activities and the categories he competes in. Years ago he ruptured both his achilles tendons and it took years to heal from these injuries, he said. “Since I’ve gotten over the achilles injuries I can do some things but not as I used to. I don’t do 100 metres now. I have learned to do 400 metres because it allows me to run a little bit differently from sprinting.”
Njume said the key for athletes at any age is to keep going. If you are not able to do what you once did, find something else that challenges you and makes you feel good. “As I get older I see some people are able to do certain things and others are not, but there is nobody who is junk,” he said. “The most important part for me is recognizing I am a creature of God. I could say ‘hey I’m all spent’ but that’s not what God thinks. He says ‘look at what I can make. He is 75, he thinks he is old, but look at what he can do.’”
