A 96-year-old girl from Ottawa has simply set a world document for her age, fast-walking a 5-kilometre race with a time of 51:09.01 on a 28 C spring day.
In a Might 27 tweet, Tamarack Ottawa Race Weekend introduced the victory of Rejeanne Fairhead, now the quickest senior citizen on this planet within the 95–99 age group. She accomplished a 5-kilometre race, beating her personal earlier Canadian document final Might of 58:52 by almost 7 minutes and 43 seconds for girls 95-plus, Canadian Working journal reported.
“SHE DID IT! It’s an unofficial new world document! Method to go Rejeanne! Official time to return!” the race weekend group tweeted.
“I really feel nice. IT was fairly sizzling on the market,” Fairhead told Athletics Canada after the race. “I used to be simply watching the place I used to be going as a result of there was loads of potholes. And the folks had been cheering and waving so I had to focus on what I used to be doing.”
White-haired Fairhead, who stands about four-foot eleven, this 12 months exceeded the earlier ladies’s 95+ world document of 55:48 set by American Betty Lindberg on the 2022 Atlanta Peachtree 5K.
In line with the Toronto Star, accompanying Fairhead on the race had been her coach, Richelle Weeks, alongside together with her two daughters, a son, and a daughter-in-law.
Fairhead mentioned she didn’t educated for the race however had beforehand performed horseshoes and brought half in bowling. She raised over $7,400 together with her race participation this 12 months, to profit the Perley Well being Basis in Ottawa, whose mission is to lift funds to assist the Perley and Rideau Veterans’ Well being Centre, one of many largest long-term care properties in Ontario.
The lively senior volunteered at Perley for 27 years and has been a resident for 3, the Toronto Star reported. She was born in 1926, the identical 12 months as Queen Elizabeth II, and lived on a farm in Saskatchewan in childhood. She is the mom of six youngsters and was married to a person serving within the Canadian Armed Forces.
“Nicely, I’m happy with it, however I need different folks to maintain doing the identical factor,” mentioned Fairhead after the race, in accordance with the Ottawa Solar. “I imply, it’s simply an age. It’s only a quantity, so far as I’m involved.”
She was second place in her 80+ age class in 2022, in accordance with Working Journal in an article on Might 29, 2022, crushed by 80-year-old Marie Mullally of Ottawa, who completed the 5K race with a time of 48:01. Fairhead was the oldest participant within the 2022 Ottawa Race Weekend.
The Canadian Press contributed to this report.