In our youth-obsessed culture, we’re perhaps too quick to cast people off when they’re in their autumn years. But history is full of folks who perform remarkable feats past their 60s: Colonel Sanders, the restaurateur who established KFC at 65; Dick Van Dyke, who won his latest Emmy award at 98; Rosie, the old woman who performs “Rapper’s Delight” in the 1998 film The Wedding Singer.
It’s a robust list—and now we can add another name to it. This senior citizen calls herself the “Running Granny,” and she just represented her country of Great Britain at the European Triathlon Championships in Portugal.
And she didn’t return home empty-handed.
As reported in the Westmorland Gazette, retired 65-year-old doctor Angela White claimed third place in her first two races at the event. “I felt incredibly emotional to be able to bring home two bronze medals,” White said.
Age aside, the feat is even more impressive because the two races were the Europe Triathlon Duathlon Championships (in which White finished with a time of 1:31:28) and the Europe Triathlon Middle Distance Triathlon Championships (6:41:49). And remember: White is known only as the “Running Granny”—not the Swimming or Biking Granny.
“I enjoy long distance-running,” White told the Westmoreland Gazette regarding the multi-disciplinary races, “however, I’m not really a swimmer or cyclist and in 30-degree heat [86 degrees Fahrenheit] it was jolly tough, so I really surprised myself.”
While some triathlon events would be “jolly tough” even for those who have trained their whole lives for them, White’s achievements are a testament to how it’s never too late to make a change. After all, the mother-of-three and grandmother-of-four didn’t take up running until she was 53 years old.
“The little girl inside me was fleetingly inspired at a young age,” White said, but it wasn’t until a friend introduced her to ultrarunning that she began participating in races, including “24-hour races, a 100-mile race, and a 190-mile Northern Traverse.”
In 2019, at age 60, White completed the “JOGLE,” a 875-mile route that runs throughout the length of Great Britain, in 18 days, setting a Guinness World Record as the oldest woman to do it.
“I always try to tell people to people never let go of your dreams,” White said. “You never know when you might be able to make them happen.”
That’s not just some simple sentiment White casts off for the press—it’s the mission statement of her running endeavors. White adopted the “Running Granny” moniker to draw attention to the benefits of making positive lifestyle changes in our later years. She has a social enterprise called Going for Old, which seeks to “make small, positive lifestyle choices to improve health throughout life.”
“My aim is to contribute to changing public perception of aging,” White says. “People need to encourage each other—age shouldn’t define you and what you do.”
The “Running Granny” doesn’t seem to show any signs of slowing down, and seeks to remind us all that it’s never too late to take up a healthy habit.
Michale Natale is a News Editor for the Hearst Enthusiast Group. As a writer and researcher, he has produced written and audio-visual content for more than fifteen years, spanning historical periods from the dawn of early man to the Golden Age of Hollywood. His stories for the Enthusiast Group have involved coordinating with organizations like the National Parks Service and the Secret Service, and travelling to notable historical sites and archaeological digs, from excavations of America’ earliest colonies to the former homes of Edgar Allan Poe.
