AUT Centre for Active Ageing

#MondayMotivation, right here! 🌊 At 92, Giorgios Kagais has been diving into the sea in Rhodes every morning for the past 77 years! 🇬🇷 Staying active is the key to a happy, healthy life—we should all take a page from Giorgios' book! 👏 🎥: @gurukafa #SportForLife #MastersAthletes #SportForHealth #MastersCommunity

October 10th - World Mental Health Day

Also the day of a free hui, aimed at those whose lives and livelihoods are impacted by the production and consumption of sport and recreation at a community level.

Click here for details, and to register.

Leisure for Life: Living Well, Never Gets Old Showcasing/celebrating the vital role that older adults play in the production and consumption of community sport in Aotearoa New Zealand

Never2Old!
Use it or lose it - body, mind, spirit!

Want to be motivated? I mean, truly, TRULY inspired and motivated? Listen up!
This is GB's Colin Spivey, 89, a month short of his 90th birthday, competing in the men's 5000m, 85-89 year old age group, yesterday at the WMA - World Masters Athletics world championships here in Gothensburg.
Colin lives in Huddersfield, doesn't leave the town often, he has never competed before as a , he has never even run on a track before, he has never owned a passport, he didn't have a suitcase and this is his first trip abroad since he did national service as a teenager (and you didn't need a passport for that). He does parkrun UK but this was his first official 5K race. His companion, however, impressed by his times, suggested he have a go here at the (nothing like jumping in at the deep end, eh?!).
So there he was yesterday, supported by his parkrun buddy, his two daughters and son, and two grandsons - oh plus a gaggle of the rest of us who had been inspired by his story and were enthusiastically cheering him on from the sidelines (and, ahem, not sure you're meant to, but for yours truly, from trackside too).
His family told us that one of the highlights when he was preparing for this trip was his enormous delight at discovering - and buying - a 'wheelie suitcase'. Something that was more arduous apparently was gathering together the papers he needed to get a passport, such as his parents' marriage certificate. Then he had to join an athletics club, register with the BMAF, get his GB kit (he looks great in it, doesn't he?) and get himself here.
He made it, looked extremely at home in the stadium and on the track, and said he enjoyed it all thoroughly, "although I'm a bit disappointed with my time" - which incidentally was a perfectly admirable 30:40.23. He came in a very creditable 4th (I believe) for his 85+ age group, and had it been a month or so later, he would have cruised to the Gold and the world title in the 90+ age group above.
You're inspired, right? But there's more!
I asked him if he'd do it again. Yes he would, but, he added, "I thought I might give the decathlon a go". He said he'd had a look at the pole vault section of his age group, which he thought might be the hardest discipline to master, but he hadn't been particularly daunted by the height they were reaching, so he thought he'd have fun learning all these new disciplines - all 10 of them - for next time around.
I've often talked about what a role model the late, great Canadian Olga Kotelko was. She started track and field at the age of 77 and went on to set world records through her 80s and 90s. But here we have Colin Spivey, about to start at 90. And why not? Why not look forward to learning new skills, to making new friends, seeing new places and having wonderful, joyous new experiences when you're 90, if you're as fit as Colin is? Why on earth settle for 'winding down'?
So friends, I've been so excited to share Colin's story with you. I hope you've been as uplifted and inspired by learning about him as I was. I'll be watching out for his progress with enormous interest and I'll be sure to keep you posted. Happy days!