Modern Athlete Magazine Issue 90, January 2017 | Página 16

Ma Living Legend

Randburg’s
Grand
Dame
She may have only taken up running late in life, but Deidre Larkin
has certainly made her mark on the SA running scene, setting several
world records or bests, regularly finishing on the podium at races, and
inspiring many a younger runner with her attitude – and at 85 she
shows no sign of slowing down any time soon.
– BY RACHEL PIENAAR & SEAN FALCONER

youngest son running and I thought, now that
is something I should try! I was looking for an
exercise to do because of my osteoporosis, so I
decided to try running.”
After just over one month of training, Deirdre
was ready for her first race, the Randburg
Harriers Valentine’s 10km, and she finished it
in one hour 25 minutes. The racing bug had
bitten, and that year she went on to complete 36
races. The following year, having set her sights
on collecting as many medals as she could, she
completed 58 races! By 2012 she was winning
the great grandmaster age category regularly,
and in 2013 she was selected to run for Central
Gauteng in the SA 10km Championships in
Durban. There she clocked 54:17 to break
the SA 10km Record for women over 70 years

of age, and smashed the World Record for
women over 80, taking two and a half minutes
off the previous mark. She also won the great
grandmaster category in the Spar Womens’
Challenge Grand Prix that year.
In 2015 she once again claimed the SA 10km
title in her age category, and towards the end
of that year she posted a 1:01:31 finishing
time in the Kolonade 10km in Pretoria to set
a new world single-age record for an 84-yearold woman, to go with the records she already
holds for 81 and 82 years of age. Now 85,
Deirdre is still a regular at the races in Gauteng,
averaging 60 races a year and running an event
most weekends, sometimes even two, mostly
over 10km but with at least one half marathon
included per month. Just recently she won the
80+ age category at the Old Mutual Soweto Half
Marathon, and within two weeks she was back in
action at the notoriously tough Tom Jenkins race
in Pretoria. There’s no holding this grand dame
of road running back!

Musical Talent
Born in England, Deirdre came out to South
Africa in 1970 with her late husband, John,
and their four children, settling in Randburg.
John, who compiled crosswords for The Star
newspaper for 20 years, passed away several
years ago, but the children and grandchildren
all live in close proximity. Deirdre started playing
the piano at age five and went on to become
a concert pianist and teacher. “I played for the
Rosebank Choir for 12 years before teaching
piano at Kingsmead College in Rosebank for

16

ISSUE 90 JANUARY 2017 / www.modernathlete.co.za

Images: Jetline Action Photo & Courtesy Randburg Harriers

D

eirdre Larkin remembers the first
time she ever ventured out for a run
in late 2009. It was early morning as
the 78-year-old put on her brand new
running shoes and hit the road, employing an
interesting regime of run three steps, walk three
steps, because that was all she could manage.
She had been diagnosed with osteoporosis in
2001, and the doctors had put her on medication
to combat the deterioration in strength of
her bones, but the medication made her ill.
“I was going to doctors to be cured of what
other doctors gave me,” she says, adding that
a dietician also advised her to cut all sugar,
salt, white flour and caffeine from her diet,
while a biokineticist designed a strengthening
programme that included yoga, Pilates and
fitness classes. “But then one day I saw my