“We get on the start line, the gun goes off and they all took off like rabbits. I finally caught the last guy up and said, ‘This is a funny way to start a walk’, and he just replied, ‘It’s a bloody race, you fool’.
“I planned to just get around the next bend and pull out, but there were so many people cheering, I was too ashamed to stop. Each time I got to a place I thought I could pull out, there were people applauding. I had to do it, and it nearly killed me.”
Allan Martin in action in the long jump.
He has also competed at the Turin and Auckland World Masters Games in 2013 and 2017 respectively.
“I was planning on going to the European Masters in Finland in July, but after this one, and knowing what it’s taken out of me, I’m going to settle for the Australian Masters in October.
“You have to be cautious at my age. It’s called risk management.
“There is the Dunedin Masters next year and, if I’m still alive, it’ll be Whanganui the year after.”
While his training wasn’t taken too seriously, it was still something he did most days.
At the age of 80, Martin finished his PhD in older adulthood education and social change.
“It’s all about leading a healthy and interesting life,” he said.
“I do my morning exercises, which last half an hour or so, and then during the day I go three times around the 500m showground track we have here [Warkworth, north of Auckland].
“I alternate the training with jogging and running. It’s nothing major, and I probably should have done more. That’s the thing with training - it’s physical and mental, and as you get older, the mental side of things becomes more important.”
Allan Martin is presented with one of his six gold medals.
He said he had a great time at the Whanganui games.
He nabbed gold medals in the 60m,100m, 200m, 400m, javelin and long jump.
“At the previous one, it only went up to the 85-90 [age group], but this year there was 90-plus,” Martin said.
“It really doesn’t matter though, because if there’s no one else there, you have to run with the younger age group.
“You still have to compete and do the job.”
Martin is a longtime friend of New Zealand Opera School founder Donald Trott, who he has known since his days at TVNZ.
“I came down to Whanganui with my daughter, who had a fantastic career as a journalist in different parts of the world, and Donald took her for a trip around the city in that lovely MG he’s got,” Martin said.
