Reg Denny has nine medals and is looking forward to earning his tenth medal on Sunday at Tauranga's City to Surf. Photo / Rosalie Liddle Crawford.
Tauranga nonagenarian Reg Denny isn’t slowing down. On Sunday, the 90-year-old will lace up his walking shoes and stride out in the annual City to Surf Half Marathon.
“I’m walking – it’s a walking race,” he said.
“I’ve never won anything. I’m not that good – I just like doing it.”
Reg, who turned 90 in July, has been walking or running in some form since his teenage years.
“I started 75 years ago on a cycle, racing in England. Came out here and took up marathon running. I did a few races, stopped for a while, and then decided to have a go at walking.”
Wartime England to Kiwi life
Reg’s life story sounds like something from a history book. As a 9-year-old boy in England during World War II, he survived a terrifying bombing.
“Mr Hitler injured me during the war,” he said. “Why would he choose me?”
He remembers sitting at the breakfast table when the blast hit.
“A window blew in on me, and a shard of glass went into my neck, hitting the tube inside, and then it was spurting out with my heart rate. The boiled egg I was eating was special – I’d never seen one before. I said: ‘Mum, my egg’s full of dirt!’”
The blast deafened them, and as Reg’s mother rushed upstairs to find his sister, he held a towel to his bleeding neck.
“The wardrobe had fallen across her bed, but she’d gone to sleep in Mum’s bed instead. I was still bleeding.”
Despite the chaos, Reg survived and in 1958, aged 23, he sailed to New Zealand.
“The ship arrived in Wellington. The Government paid for the trip, so they decided I would work at Todd Motors as a storeman. I wanted to quickly make more money, so got a job at the gasworks because it was 24-hour shift work, so got paid more.”
He later joined NZ’s National Airways Corporation, where, surrounded by aircraft, he was soon inspired to take to the skies himself.
“Got my private pilot’s licence at the Wellington Aero Club and did a bit of flying.”
Love at first flight
It was at Wellington Airport that Reg met his wife Marie, a Kiwi working at NAC’s information counter.
“We got married in 1962 – and four girls later, we still love each other,” Reg said.
Together 63 years, there is plenty of spark and playful banter.
“I was saving money to go to England, and then he decided he wanted to marry me,” Marie said.
“He joked: ‘I need your money to buy a motorbike.’”
“Well, there were no buses from Eastbourne to the airport, so I needed money to buy a bike,” Reg said.
Marathons to kiwifruit
Reg said to burn off energy and “to escape the female population in the house”, he took up marathon running.
After moving to Tauranga, the couple also ran a kiwifruit orchard, which Reg credits for keeping him fit “and out of trouble”.
Marie said Reg’s fitness today still amazes doctors. Earlier this week, he walked the full 21.1km City to Surf course. “I’ve done it twice before. I know I can finish it.”
He said he won’t win on Sunday.
“But I won’t be last. If the last person starts to overtake me, I’ll trip him up!”
Team effort
Marie, now in her 80s, recently had back surgery but remains Reg’s number one supporter. “Somebody has to be the support crew,” Reg said.
“That’s really important,” Marie said.
“When Reg was running full marathons, I’d meet him every 5km, give him a drink and a bit of encouragement. Now he’s got his Camelbak [water pack].”
“They hold out drinks along the course, but I tell them: ‘No thanks – I’ve got plenty of whisky on board,” Reg said.
“He has a terrible London sense of humour. I wonder why I married him,” Marie bantered back.
A life of purpose
Between them, the Dennys have raised four daughters – one in Wellington, two in Tauranga, and one in Te Awamutu. “That’s why I have white hair,” Reg said. “I’ve grown used to having doors slammed.”
Marie, a former Bethlehem College art teacher, said keeping active has been vital for both of them.
“If you want to achieve a goal of a marathon, you’ve got to find ways around doing it,” she said.
“Reg doesn’t always want to go out, but he sticks at it and remains constant – whether it’s wet or fine. You’ve got to stick with things.”
Reg has walked the Tongariro Crossing seven or eight times, often alone.
“Marie doesn’t like that. But I don’t find it a problem. It’s about 19km – takes three or four hours. I’m hoping to do it again.”
Reflecting on their ages, Reg teased: “Marie’s 105.”
“I’m 21 – plus shipping and packing,” she shot back.
Still moving forward
This Sunday, Reg will park his car at the start line, Marie will meet him at the finish, and together they’ll celebrate another milestone.
“I’m quite taken aback that somebody wants to go to print about me,” Reg said.
“Why don’t you wait until I’m 100?”
Mitre 10 MEGA Tauranga City to Surf Half Marathon and 11km course takes participants from Tauranga Marina to Mount Maunganui on Sunday, November 9.