BIG BIRTHDAY CELEBRATIONS
LISA JACKSON MEETS THREE WOMEN WHO USED MILESTONE BIRTHDAYS NOT JUST AS AN EXCUSE TO PARTY, BUT ALSO TO ACHIEVE EXTRAORDINARY RUNNING GOALS
Sue marked her 70th birthday run with a new tattoo
“RUNNING 100K FOR MY 70TH BIRTHDAY MADE IT ONE OF THE BEST DAYS OF MY LIFE”
“My running career started on my 60th birthday – the day of the 7/7 bombs in London,” says Sue Atkinson, 71, a writer from Croydon. “My daughter was close to the bus bomb so that really shook me. I’d always wanted to run the London Marathon so I thought, ‘Do that next year – life is so precarious, you never know what’s round the corner and if you don’t do it now, you may never do it,’ and I did.
“Ten years later I wanted to celebrate turning 70 by attempting another sporting challenge. By then I’d already done the 50K Royal Parks Foundation Ultra, nine marathons, 21 half-marathons and loads of 10Ks and triathlons. I chose the 100K Thames Path Challenge because I often train on part of the route – and it wouldn’t have any hills. My son-in-law Nick said he was happy (once he got over the shock!) to do the last 50K with me because I was nervous of running in the dark.