The popular Whangarei 'parkrunner' Colin Thorne recently celebrated his 100th birthday and 175th parkrun.
The popular Whangarei 'parkrunner' Colin Thorne recently celebrated his 100th birthday and 175th parkrun.
The world’s oldest-known centenarian “parkrunner” - who also happens to hail from Whangārei - has recently celebrated his 100th birthday and 175th parkrun.
Northlander Colin Thorne turned 100 on January 14 and was cheered on by around 400 fellow parkrunners at a special event in his honour on Saturday.
The large crowd, including friends, whānau, Whangarei Mayor Vincent Cucurullo, Minister of Health Shane Reti and former MP Phil Heatley gathered around him as he completed his weekly 5km walk from Whangarei’s Te Matou a Pohe bridge.
Cheery as ever, the new centenarian said it had been fantastic to reach his goal of getting to 100 and was overwhelmed by the support from his parkrun community.
He said while he’d always played sport, he didn’t start running until he retired from dairy farming at 64.
Thorne started with marathons and half-marathons (completing 50 and 102 respectively) and at 69, ran his fastest marathon in 3 hours and 18 minutes.
Around 400 people came out to celebrate Colin Thorne's significant milestone.
Over the course of nearly 30 years, Thorne would go on to run around the world, picking up various medals along the way.
He completed his final half-marathon at the tender age of 92, after his wife and biggest supporter, Betty, said it was time to slow down.
Not one to sit idly, however, Thorne said he found another way to keep running without doing events and began his first parkrun shortly after his 93rd birthday.
Since then, he’s completed parkruns in 11 locations across Aotearoa and has gone from running the 5km loop to walking, usually accompanied by a family member (or two).
He also kept himself busy with gardening and mowing his lawn and even managed to hit the gym three days a week.
Thorne attributed his participation at his local parkrun as a “wonderful thing”, especially after losing his wife Betty in 2021 in their 70th year of marriage.
He said it had also helped keep “the old bones moving” and increased his social circle.
“I’ve been pretty blessed all my life with good health, but I think having a positive attitude is also really important,” Thorne said.
Whangarei's Colin Thorne nearing the finish line of his 175th parkrun event, which also celebrated his recent 100th birthday.
“I had a knee replacement about 12-13 years ago where they said I’d only ever be able to swim or ride a bike, but I proved them wrong.
“My advice is that doing something is better than nothing, even if it’s just 10 minutes a day. Life is good, you’re never too old to start, so just slow down and take one day at a time.”
Thorne said while he did get the usual aches and pains like everyone else, apart from that he felt great.
He said he wasn’t sure when he’d finish up his parkruns, but that he aimed to keep going until he couldn’t do it anymore.
He confirmed this weekend he would be going with his daughter and son-in-law to participate in the Gisborne parkrun event.
