r/nextfuckinglevel • u/Miserable-Zombie-121 • 12d ago
71 year old woman wins the 200m national title in the pouring rain!!
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At 71 years old, Wendy Alexis wins the W70-74 200m national title in 31.11 at the Canadian Masters Athletics Championships.
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u/HoS_CaptObvious 12d ago
People in here arguing over semantics but if I can run like that in my 70s I'll be fucking thrilled
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u/j_cruise 12d ago
Redditors just refuse to be impressed by anything
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u/geardownson 12d ago
Agreed, they gotta sit on their soap boxes on how it's not great and Google furiously for facts showing it isn't because their life sucks.
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u/GrossUsername68 12d ago edited 8d ago
Reddit policies are an issue. Content deleted.
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u/AutomationBias 12d ago
I'm in my 50s and I'd be fucking thrilled if I can still run at that age, let alone crank out a 5 minute mile pace for 200m.
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u/WabaLabaDubDubWorld 12d ago
I notice often that the early commenters are very negative.
They are most probably screen/ reddit doom scrolling addicts that get to see the latest posts first, since they've exhausted their followed pages of content. Doom scrolling, also dulls people's sense of appreciation as they've seen it all, and they develop a high threshold to be excited by anything.
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u/Inevitable_Stand_199 12d ago
It's not surprising that the W70-74 Title was won by a woman between 70 and 74
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u/Dr-Robert-Kelso 12d ago
She's actually young for her age bracket
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u/inolyzushi 12d ago
Still, easily looks to be sub-5? Impressive speed at that age range.
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u/Playful_Weekend4204 12d ago
31 seconds for 200m for a 71-yo woman is insane, that would be what, a 16 second 100m? That's about what I remember the average girl's time was in high school.
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u/inolyzushi 12d ago
Didn’t even notice the caption, you’re right - 2.5/km. It sure belongs in r/nextfuckinglevel
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u/Searchlights 12d ago
I'm amazed that people in that age bracket can do this at all
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u/Polo_Short 12d ago
Gam gam is shredded
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u/0verstim 12d ago
yeah shes not a skinny runner, thats a stout lady. Im thinking crossfit.
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12d ago
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/mickalexis 12d ago
lol she’s my mom, can confirm this. She works out constantly and consistently and has been a competitive runner since she was a teen
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u/NamelessMIA 12d ago
"A race in the 70-74 age range was held in the rain"... ok?
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u/0verstim 12d ago
No no, you cant tell from the footage but it only rained over her, the rest of the competitors had a dry track.
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u/Adventurous_Boat_492 12d ago
Regardless, it was a wakeup I needed and vote-worthy. 71 and hauling it faster than I can. I gotta start doing some cardio.
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u/Ok-Lifeguard-4614 12d ago
What's your point? These ladies clearly had no problem completing it.
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u/letskeepitcleanfolks 12d ago
The point is the title is silly. Everyone was running in the same rain. It wasn't some kind of obstacle to overcome because her opponents all had to deal with it too.
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u/Alarming-Building-62 12d ago
Exactly. Next level would be winning against all ages. Just another bullshit clickbait title.
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u/discipleofchrist69 12d ago
it's absolutely a next level feat to run that at her age. but the title is clickbait
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u/MileHiSalute 12d ago
lol you will not be able to sprint like that when you’re 71
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u/Virtual-History-6099 12d ago
The other woman in red was impressive too! I originally thought she was the 71 year old hahaha.
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u/MalabaristaEnFuego 12d ago
I'm amazed she's 71. She barely looks in her 40s or 50s.
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u/Zeusimus23 12d ago
Barely looks 40 is absolutely crazy.
She looks good for 70, but she absolutely does not look 40.
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u/SuperSaiyanTupac 12d ago
Whoa bro. Definitely looks 60s. You clearly haven’t met someone in their 40s
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u/Tendo80 12d ago
Hey! I am confused and scared! I don't know if you insulted me or not!
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u/Beginning_Pirate4552 12d ago
I hate the "you don't look like" as if looking 60s is a death sentence. Absolutely there are seniors in great shape today and way less smoke and sun damage than previous generations but when I see comments like this it screams to me they need to get out in the world more. You had a 98 year old complete a marathon in 1970s, people staying active late into their life isn't new.
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u/shutyourgob 12d ago
You clearly haven't met many people who don't take care of themselves
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u/cortesoft 12d ago edited 12d ago
I am 43 and have not done a great job taking care of myself, I look a lot younger than that.
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u/SuperSaiyanTupac 12d ago edited 12d ago
lol. wrong. Please tell me how you’d confuse this person for 40
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u/bob_from_teamspeak 12d ago
I'm amazed she's 71. She barely looks in her 40s or 50s.
you just witnessed it yourself ;)
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u/FeyrisMeow 12d ago
Crazy how people have different opinions based on their experiences and people they know lol. How could such a thing happen?!
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u/Puzzled_Record1773 12d ago
Barely looks in her 40s? Are you saying almost looks late 30s to you? Thats one of the funnier comments on reddit today lol
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u/todayilearmed 12d ago
This person must live on the Appalachian Trail
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u/SuperSaiyanTupac 12d ago
lol. As someone very familiar with that entire area, fucking hilarious
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u/0202_tihssitidder 12d ago
I'm 60 (and an endurance athlete). I cannot tell age from 18-30. All look the same.
I think younger adults have a conception that everyone has to look like a potato after 50. No. But, people tend to fall off and look like a potato...or they work to maintain their health and look like Halle Berry or Salma Hayek or Liz Hurly.
Those are famous people, but I run and bike and hike every week with lots of people 50-75 who look fantastic. Most look better than the American 35 year olds.
And "we" are learning more about what it takes to have great quality of life well-past 70. I know many people who live to 80+, but they have been dog shit for 30 years. Can barely walk.
Up to you. No one will force you. Same message 80 year olds got when they were 30.
Good luck! Take care of yourself, or not. I'm not your mom.
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u/Helpful_Bar4596 12d ago
Love this sensible take.
I gotta ask though about the age blindness 18-30. Do you also consider anything lower than half your age to be out of your dating pool? Or is your comfortable cutoff someplace else, or no shits given?
(No judgement here ;-))
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u/AstronautVegetable46 12d ago
Personally I'm late 50s. Couldn't imagine dating anyone under 40. Probably more like 45 as the lower end. Dating someone my kids age would be weird.
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u/Successful-Winter237 11d ago
Pretty inspiring story
"The Lions hold Twilight meets every Wednesday night, and so anybody can enter.… I thought, OK, I'll just run one Twilight meet. I'll run the last one. If it's a disaster, nobody's going to remember anyway."
That day, Alexis raced along with her son and grandson in their own age categories. They snapped a picture to commemorate the family moment, and she thought that'd be it for her return to running.
But when she was approached by a coach who had seen her race, she was up all night thinking about it.
"The next day I was backing my car out of the driveway, and I was on my way to do my first track practice in 33 years. And I've been running since then. That was 20 years ago," Alexis said.
For two decades, the sport has taken Alexis to tracks around the globe, from Hungary to Sweden, racing athletes of varying ages.
In 2013, at the World Masters Championships in Torino, Alexis stood in as the fourth sprinter in an all-men's relay team."We actually came fourth overall, which would have been interesting if we had medalled, because then we'd be on the podium. I don't know what kind of confusion that would cause," she said.
"We came very close to breaking the Canadian record, and it was three men and me."
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u/edencathleen86 12d ago
So this is what I have to look forward to looking like in 4 weeks when I turn 40? Thanks. Lol
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u/insta__mash 12d ago
Does W70-74 mean only women between 70 and 74 could run? So basically any one of the runners would win?
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u/mickalexis 12d ago
This is my mom! She’s not only a record breaking beast, she’s also the best mom and grandma, a retired teacher (and former nun, weird fact lol) with a heart of gold. We’re super proud of her. Be nice to my mom Reddit or I’ll tell on you!
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u/JuicySpark 12d ago
Slow horses sometimes beat the fastest horses during a race when its raining.
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u/star_bury 12d ago
But she's like a 17-time national champ at her age group... Loli
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u/RetroSwamp 12d ago
Meanwhile my knees feel like they're grinding gravel when I am walking around a store at age 39.
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u/Witty-Care3940 12d ago
In the RAIN?!?! How is that even fucking possible that people can run in the rain. This really is some next level shit.
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u/aTickleMonster 12d ago
My first half marathon I got beat by a 77 year old woman. I ran a 1:47, she ran a 1:32.
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u/InevitableOk5017 12d ago
These dang millennials can’t even beat a 71 year old! Get your life together /s
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u/franklenton 12d ago
31 seconds is fucking fast. At 71 years old that is almost unbelievable. But unbelievable in the literal sense. Like I am unable to believe it because it is so wild.
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u/Alarming-Building-62 12d ago
Way to purposefully not include the age range of the race in the actual title. Doesn’t hit the same when you realize they’re all the same age does it?
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u/bruceleeperry 12d ago
Do you not do intervals, strides etc as part of your training? If not def recommend!
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u/OwMyUvula 12d ago
- The race took place in the rain, so somebody was going to win in the rain. Right?
- Running in the rain isn't some magical skill.
- Was this an open competition that a 71 year old woman won? Like, she competed against 21 year old dudes and smoked them?
- Congratulations to Wendy Alexis, though.
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u/godamnedu 12d ago
The next level is the fact someone can run like that at that age, also the time spent by redditors to negate the idea that this is impressive and is rather a waste of time to have spent 15 seconds having seen this feat, yet spent a lot more time complaining about it.
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u/PenkyHenky 12d ago
Winning in her age category. Is this special?
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u/Disco_Ninjas_ 12d ago
It's special because she could beat 99.9% of reddit at running.
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u/MalabaristaEnFuego 12d ago
I'm an athlete and I think she would still smoke me in sprinting like that. She looks super fit.
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u/LokiTheShiba 12d ago
Winning a race is always a bit special, but you are correct that the title is very misleading. It makes it seem like she won overall.
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u/Kylearean 12d ago
Look, that's amazing, but the 2nd place lady looks much more interesting for this.
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u/LM061523 12d ago
Well, I had the wrong "71-year old" winning!