Sally Gibbs wins another NZ 10,000m title

INSPIRATIONAL: Sally Gibbs won her second NZ Senior 10,000m title at the age of 53 in late January. PHOTO: FILE

It is never too late to slip on a pair of running shoes and express yourself on the road, the beach or cross country.

Just ask Sally Gibbs, who at the age of 53 won her second New Zealand 10, 000m title in Inglewood, Taranaki late last month.

The Katikati athlete won in a time of 36m 38s at the TET Stadium in Taranaki to become the oldest women to win the event. In doing so she broke her own age record, set in 2012 when she won her first 10,000m title at the Tauranga Domain aged 48.

But what makes her success even more remarkable is that she did not start running competitively until she was 45, after raising a family and competing in swimming and triathlon events.

The Tauranga Ramblers Club stalwart now has a racing CV that includes gold medals won at 800m to marathon distances at World Masters champs. She also competed for New Zealand at the World Mountain Running Championships in Italy and Wales.

In 2014 she won the 50th Rotorua Marathon at the age of 50 and the national half marathon title in Wellington, to become the first woman to win both events in the same year.

That victory in Rotorua stood out for her.

"It is one of the things I am most proud about and certainly never expected to win that. It has definitely been a highlight for me of running competitions," she said.

"I like to run everything from 1500 metres up. I really enjoy variety so I like to do some track and some road, cross country and mountain running during the year."

Gibbs, who has been guided by her coach Barry Ellis, said her late start in running had certainly helped her athletics career so far.

"I guess your body doesn't have a lifetime of wear if you haven't run as a teenager or in your 20s. I certainly have had a few injury problems and I am finding it is getting harder as you get older.

"I don't think it is ever too late. I really believe that, particularly the middle distance and distance-type events. They really suit older athletes and they often do well at them rather than the sprints.

Tauranga Ramblers president Malcolm Taylor said her success was "pretty phenomenal" and had a lot to do with her starting so late.

"In reality you would not expect a 53-year-old to win a New Zealand women's senior title. I think possibly because of all the swimming she did, her body has not been under the same stress as someone starting young, so she does have that advantage."

Taylor would love all the club members to have the same attitude as Gibbs when it came to supporting events.

"In many ways she is a great inspiration and probably shocks a lot of people when they find out how old she is and how well she runs. She is a great ambassador for the club."

Gibbs' next big events will be the NZ Masters Athletic championships in Nelson in March, then the 2017 World Masters Games in Auckland in April where she will compete in track, road and cross country events.

"I think Masters gives any adult an opportunity in sport that may be an incentive to be involved and to compete."