5 days ago
The champion Sheffield couple who took up running in middle age
When Gordon Fiander took up running at the age of 60, it was to join his wife Jenni in a passion that had only begun when she herself was in middle the Sheffield couple are such keen runners that they are often the fastest finishers in the over-70s categories in the local events they are members of Valley Park Runners and have told the BBC that more retired people should follow in their footsteps and remain Fiander, 71, said: "I know people who basically retire and give up everything. They sit on the sofa and die within a couple of years. Older people ought to be still working hard. That's what bodies are designed for."
The pair, who worked as lecturers at Sheffield College, were always keen on the outdoors, having met an an outward bound event in their Fiander loved caving, while his wife's hobbies were fencing and was when they moved to Grenoside that Mrs Fiander, then 48, discovered the joy of running."It was getting tricky to travel to orienteering events and we'd moved here to be near the woods, so I started to get out and run to destress from work - first in the day and then at night with a head torch," she joining Valley Park Runners, she placed first in races from over 50s to husband eventually came with her on short jogs before he started going to local Parkruns and got "hooked" on running."It's amazing, it's addictive when you start going, you meet this wonderful community."Jenni finds Parkrun too short but I love it. I'm faster than her at shorter distances, but on longer distances I can't keep up."
The couple regularly compete in half-marathons and fell races, and encourage those around them to enjoy the club's women's captain, Jayne Grayson, called them "inspirational"."They are amazing. They never stop giving, time and effort. Nothing's too much, they are so enthusiastic and full of energy," she pair have had many injuries to recover from over the years, including a broken leg suffered on a ski trip for Mrs Fiander, and a sore back as a legacy of her husband's caving Fiander said: "We are not normal, our friends say that but we enjoy our retirement doing active things and making memories."Right from the outset of our marriage, we were determined to make it work. It's the same dogged determination that Jenni has powering up a hill. One foot in front of another we know we'll get there!"
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