Upper Hutt has a World Record Race Walking champion after Jacqueline Wilson returned this week from a successful trip at the World Masters Athletics Championships in South Korea. Normally seen pounding the streets and river trail, Jacqueline has put in the miles and dedication to bring back 3 Gold medals from the Championships.

Only starting the sport in her 60’s, she has already represented New Zealand on the World Stage in Brazil, Spain, Korea, Poland, Sweden, Finland, Oceania (Cook Is and Fiji), UK and Australia with an impressive haul of medals to prove it.

The World Masters Athletic Championships are held every two years and cover all track and field events, including non-stadia events, such as Cross country and Half Marathon for runners and 10/20km road walks for Race Walkers. They are open to any athlete over 35 who belongs to Masters Athletics.  The Championships were held late August/ early September in Daegu, South Korea. There were 7476 competitors from over 90 countries, the eldest competitor from Thailand at 106! It was also the largest athletics event held in Asia so far. The NZ Team consisted of 28 athletes and a total of 23 medals were won (9 Gold, 8 Silver and 6 Bronze).

Daegu is the 4^th largest city in Korea with a population of 2.4m and three stadiums were used, spread throughout the city. Shuttle buses provided transit between venues from various parts of the city and free transport passes were provided for the duration of the competition. The transport system, with metro, monorail, and buses was very efficient and modern. Taking the bus and metro was a challenge at first, but most transport options announced or displayed the next stop in both languages, so it became relatively easy as long as you knew where you were going!

Jacqueline, Women’s 80+, won each of her designated events, the 5000m track Walk (36:22.30), the 10Km Road Walk (1:12.50) and 20km Road Walk (2:32.54). The World Record was broken in the 20km road walk, bettering the previous record by almost 5 mins. As one would expect, taking part in summer, the temperatures and humidity in Korea were high, even considering the early start of 7am for the Road Walks. Fortunately some welcome rain midway through the 20km Road Walk, helped cool things down a little.

These are not the only World Records she holds, the W75+, 3000m and 5000m Road Walks she has held since February 2021. As you would expect she holds Wellington and NZ National records for her events.

Getting to Korea, involved flights via Singapore and Busan going out and Hong Kong and Melbourne coming home. Busan (on the South Coast of Korea), is a port city and the coast is quite picturesque, totally different to the busy bustling city of Seoul (the capital), which we visited on our last trip to Korea in 2017. Getting to Daegu was easy using the Korail KTX (similar to the Bullet Trains in Japan).                  

Being part of Masters Athletics shows we can continue exercising and competing successfully whatever our age, having the determination and ability to represent New Zealand on the World Stage. You meet new people from many countries, make new friends and you also get a chance to travel the World doing it.

Does this sound like fun? Are you, another potential Gold Medalist? If you think you are, why not have a go. Keep fit and travel the World!

A “thank you” to Doug Wilson for sending this article to The Upper Hutt Connection.

21/09/26