The 60yo Type 1 Diabetic Athlete

  While my sprint results as an M60 have not matched what I did as an M55, my running performances over longer distances have suffered no such decline. In Parkrun, a 5k event, my best ever performance on handicap is as an M60. 20:24, an age grade of 78.59 at Tuggeranong on 7/11/20. Only 6 seconds behind my M55 PB. Yes, this was done in fast shoes, but I have still managed an age-grade over 78 in cheap training shoes. All my results can be found on the Parkrun website, along with an explanation of the handicapping system. My best 10k as an M60 is 42:10. Actually that is the fastest officially timed 10k in my entire life. Age grade just over 79. Results from this run around Lake Burley Griffin are at canberrarunner.com.au  We had hoped to go to NZ to continue on from the runs in my post "NZ Mountains", but  Covid restrictions meant we went to Bright, Victoria instead. After warming up on some valley trail we made 3 trips to various parts of Mt Buffalo, all great. But the hi...

  As am M55 I did many events on the World Loppet ski marathon calendar, some of which appears in my post "M55 PBs". Unfortunately race cancellations due to lack of snow, Covid and travel restrictions mean that I haven't even done the Australian loppet, let alone any overseas, since turning 60. But that doesn't mean I haven't been skiing. Soon after returning home from NZ (see posts "Orienteering" and "NZ Mountains") I headed off to Finland. The loppet at Lahti was called off due to lack of snow, so we headed north to Vuokatti. Great skiing despite the mild conditions.   Back in Australia I have been track skiing at Perisher, and toured on the Main Range. Ramsheads Lunch at Club Lake. Looking forward to the Oz and NZ loppets this year, and more touring.

  Here are my M60 track PBs so far.  Distance             Location                   Time                    Open Equivalent 60m                      AIS                          8.52                           7.04 100m                    AIS                  ...

 On our NZ trip that was the subject of my previous post, Orienteering, we also went up a few hills on the South Island. To warm up we spent a few days running bits of the Kepler Track, before heading to what is arguably NZ's best one day tramp, Gertrude Pass.  Where else can you have an alpine experience with such spectacular views, complete with fall, avalanche, water and weather dangers, without technical climbing, and be back at the car by lunch time?   That afternoon we did the boat cruise on Milford Sound. Next up was Ben Lomond. We went from lake level but you can make it a bit easier by taking the cable car part way up. Then on to the Routeburn Track. The original plan was to do the through trip, but getting transport to the start and from the finish would have been very expensive and time consuming, so we drove to the eastern end and went up to Harris Saddle.  Lunch back at the car after about 25km and 700m of vertical.

 My first competition as an M60 was orienteering in New Zealand. As I am an infrequent orienteer, I spent the first series of races, the Lonely Mountain sprints at New Plymouth, getting back into the swing of things.  The lonely mountain refers to the solitary Mt Taranaki which we climbed on a non-race day. Not highly recommended. The scree is worse than I remember on Mt Ngauruhoe. Cloudy on top. No views to the sea, but we could just make out Mt Ruapehu in the distance. If I do it again it will be in winter with crampons. Pic is from the summit crater. Then it was on to Hawke's Bay for the Sprint The Bay carnival.        The large proportion of overseas orienteers attests to the fun and quality of the program. Here is one of the maps, Sleeping Giant.  Another interesting feature of this carnival is that there were at least 4 type 1 diabetics competing. I had no idea how many type 1 Kiwis orienteered until lots of us started wearing CGMs and could reco...