Still on the move at 99

As she approaches her 100th birthday this year, Heather Lee is still setting goals, raising money for charity, and clocking up kilometres on her exercise bike – a routine she credits with keeping both her body and her outlook strong.

Heather’s extraordinary late-life athletic career began with a deeply personal moment: the death of her husband in 1996.

“When he died, I had a compulsion to walk,” she said. “One thing led to another, and I joined a walking group and then did fun runs – every sort of fun run I could do.”

Before long she had discovered an unexpected talent. A physiotherapist suggested she try race walking with Masters athletics.

“As soon as I went there and race walked, I realised how natural it was for me,” she said. “I’ve never been disqualified.”

Heather was nearly 85 when she began competing, but she embraced it wholeheartedly.

“Now I look back, I think I could have probably been an athlete earlier in my life,” she said. “But I never considered it.”