Born: 1943, United Kingdom (assumed)
Died: NA
Country most active: United Kingdom
Also known as: NA
The following is excerpted from Infinite Women founder Allison Tyra’s book The View from the Hill: Women Who Made Their Mark After 40.
Edwina Brocklesby, who would go on to be the U.K.’s oldest Ironman triathlete and founder and director of Silverfit, which promotes physical activity among older people, “didn’t do any exercise at all until I was 50,” as she told The Guardian. Earlier in her life, Brocklesby had been busy with three children and her career as a social worker running two adoption agencies. Inspired by a friend who was training for a marathon, she took up running. In addition to the social benefits many find in running groups, “there’s so much evidence that if you keep physically active, you don’t experience some of the difficulties associated with aging,” she has said. “If you can keep your bone and muscle strength up, you’re less likely to fall—and you might also be able to prevent yourself from hitting the ground if you do fall. Falls are one of the things that costs the NHS [National Health Service] the most money.”
Brocklesby ran her first marathon in 1996 at age 52, completing her first London Triathlon—running, swimming and cycling—at 58, because the other activities were easier on her joints than solely running. “When I started swimming, at 56, I couldn’t do crawl at all and swam breaststroke with my head above water like most women of my age.” More than 20 years later, she was still going strong, inspiring the nickname “Irongran.”