Age is no Barrier for Anne

Anne Gready and fellow members of the Country Women’s Association have proved that age is no barrier by competing in the VicSuper Murray Marathon in 2009.

At 54, Anne competed for the first time in the five day, 404km paddling race on the mighty Murray River, which takes place from December 27 - 31 each year. She had a ball competing and surprised herself that she could do it.

“I’d never done anything like the Marathon before. I’m not a sporty person at all, I play lawn bowls and that’s about it,” said Anne.

As part of her preparation Anne sought help from a personal trainer to improve her fitness and ensure she was race ready.

“I went to a personal trainer to ask for help and, at first, he said ‘no way’, and tried to talk me out of doing the race,” she said.

The trainer finally agreed to help Anne, which paid off as she didn’t suffer any injuries or pains throughout the duration of the five-day race.

Anne also committed to attending two team training sessions in Yarrawonga in the lead-up to the VicSuper Murray Marathon, which was a five-hour drive from her home.

During the race, Anne and her team mates would paddle one race leg each day. The paddling legs varied in distances between 15 and 23 kilometres.

Anne and her team came second in the women’s open relay class in a time of 35 hours 28 minutes, while Anne also received another event honour, when she won the annual Red Day dress up competition.

She was the best dressed on Red Day, sporting a red tutu, wig and devil horns, taking home a recreational kayak for her efforts.

The kayak has come in very handy as Anne has now moved to Robinvale, which is situated on the Murray River south-east of Mildura.

“I’ve got roof racks on the car to transport the kayak and I use it quite a lot,” she said.

Anne was the ‘spring chicken’ of her CWA team, with the most senior participant in her team aged 77.

Anne’s advice to anyone wanting to take part in the VicSuper Murray Marathon is to give it a go.

“If I can do it, then so can other people. It was so much fun, but you won’t know until you have a go,” she said.