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Sasha Gonzales

Hong Kong actors Chow Yun-fat, 70, Kent Cheng, 74, Lau Kong, 79, and Paw Hee-ching, 76, made headlines in January for being among the oldest participants in the 10km event at the Standard Chartered Hong Kong Marathon 2026.
In 2025, the then 69-year-old Chow ran the half-marathon at the event, completing the 13.1-mile (21km) race in two hours, 24 minutes and 33 seconds.
Recently, a growing number of people in their sixties, seventies, eighties and older have been in the news for taking part in endurance events.
In October 2025, 80-year-old American Natalie Grabow became the oldest woman to finish the 140.6-mile (226.3km) Ironman World Championship triathlon in Kona, Hawaii.
This gruelling race includes a 2.4-mile swim, a 112-mile bike ride and a full marathon run.
Korean-American Jeannie Rice, who turns 78 in April, is known for being a fast runner for her age. She has taken part in many marathons, including the 2025 Tokyo Marathon and the 2024 London Marathon – in which she set a new age-group record of three hours, 33 minutes and 27 seconds.

Nearly a week after that London race, scientists put Rice through a series of health tests and concluded that she had the highest VO2 max (47.8) ever recorded for a woman aged 75 or older, and a high maximum heart rate of 180.
VO2 max is a measure of cardiorespiratory fitness that refers to the maximum amount of oxygen the body can absorb and use during exercise. A VO2 max of 48 is generally considered excellent for a woman, indicating strong aerobic capacity.
Results from the Rice study were published in 2024 in the Journal of Applied Physiology.
Hiromu Inada, 93, is another older athlete who is breaking records. In June 2025, at 92 years old, the Japanese nonagenarian became the oldest person to complete the 70.3-mile Ironman in Cairns, Australia.
He also holds the Guinness World Record for being the oldest person to complete the Ironman World Championship in Hawaii. He achieved this feat in 2018 at 85 years old, when he completed the race in just under 17 hours.
Inada first completed the Ironman World Championship in 2016. He is not done racing and hopes to return to Cairns this year.
Inada, who was born in 1932 and lives in Yachiyo, in Japan’s Chiba prefecture, did not become athletic until later in life.
“I was never a sporty person. In fact, I used to be quite lazy,” he says. “When I retired at age 60, I started swimming for my health. Ten years later, I competed in my first triathlon.”

Inada remembers the Cairns event in 2025 as being particularly difficult – he injured his foot and did not feel that he had gone into the race well prepared. However, he felt encouraged by the other athletes and the spectators, who cheered him on until he reached the finish line.
Preparing for a big event like the Ironman is not easy for Inada. He trains hard and often.
“I attend training camp once a month and go on long bike rides once a week. These help me maintain my fitness,” he says.
“I’m always afraid before a race. The older I get, the more I worry about how I’ll perform. But I know that if I train hard enough, I will make it across the finish line.”
Proper nutrition and recovery are also crucial to his success.
“I choose foods that nourish my body and help me recover from daily training. My meals are balanced and include plenty of vegetables, fish, meat and fruit,” he says.
“I still move on my rest days – I’ve found that active recovery training, which involves low-intensity exercise, relieves muscle fatigue and keeps my body supple.”
Taking precautions when training for an endurance race and prioritising rest and recovery are crucial, especially for seniors. Aerobic capacity, muscle strength and recovery ability naturally decline as we age, says Norma Ngai, a physiotherapist at Matilda International Hospital in Hong Kong.

Ngai advises seniors to increase their training volume and intensity gradually. She recommends strength training to maintain strength and support endurance performance, and balance training to reduce fall risk and improve stability. It is important to protect joints by using proper technique and lower-impact options when needed, she adds, as well as gradual loading.
Most healthy seniors can safely begin low-intensity exercise without medical clearance, she says. Those with cardiovascular, metabolic or kidney disease, or anyone experiencing symptoms such as chest discomfort, dizziness, unusual breathlessness, palpitations or unexplained fatigue – at any age – should speak with a doctor first.
A recent study found that male endurance athletes aged over 50 may be more likely to experience abnormal heart rhythms – ventricular tachycardia – during training if they already have scarring in their heart. This is a significant finding, seeing as nine out of 10 sudden cardiac deaths during sport occur in older males.
Scarring may be caused by heart attacks, disease and exertion from high-intensity exercise over many years.
The study, published in January in the European Journal of Preventive Cardiology, highlights the importance of regular heart health checks for veteran male endurance athletes to ensure they are not at risk of complications while training.
Savvy senior athletes undergo regular functional and fitness assessments. Ngai says that these tests measure walking speed, balance, endurance and strength. They are useful for identifying early mobility limitations or fall risk, setting training baselines, tracking progress, and adjusting training plans appropriately.
“Age-related changes can occur silently, so assessments allow training to remain safe, targeted and effective,” she says.
Ngai says exercisers should always listen to their bodies and not ignore pain, excessive fatigue or prolonged soreness.
At 65, Singaporean Yim Pui Fun is as avid a runner as she was in her twenties, when she took up the sport to get into shape while studying in Canada.
The retired civil service worker took part in the Penang Bridge International Marathon in Malaysia in December 2025. It was her 44th marathon since 1988 and her 14th overseas marathon.

She is also a vertical runner, racing up stairs in tall buildings. Her last vertical race was the inaugural Sky Race in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, in August 2025. For the event, she climbed the world’s second-tallest building, the Merdeka 118, coming second in the senior veteran women (age 60+) category.
Yim runs and climbs stairs regularly, even when not preparing for a race. She enjoys running because it helps her maintain her weight, and she says that climbing stairs strengthens the heart, lungs, muscles and bones, as well as builds stamina, burns calories and minimises fall risk.
For those who want to take up an endurance sport like distance running but worry about being too old, Yim suggests starting small.
“Just increase the intensity of your training slowly and celebrate any small improvements along the way. During the initial weeks or months, expect some soreness as your body adapts.”

Inada’s key advice is “not to think about age too much”.
“Just start moving,” he says. “If you train every day, you’ll eventually see results, and that will motivate you to embrace newer, bigger challenges. Remember that you’re also doing something good for your health.”
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Wellness

How people like 70-year-old Chow Yun-fat keep pushing their endurance limits as they age

Actor Chow Yun-fat (middle) runs in the 10km event at the Standard Chartered Hong Kong Marathon 2026. The 70-year-old is part of a growing number of older people competing in endurance races. Photo: Eugene Lee

Jeannie Rice runs during a half-marathon in Naples, Florida, on January 18, 2026. The 77-year-old completed the race in 1:43:13, taking first place among the three competitors in the women’s 75- to 79-year-old age group. Photo: Facebook/jeannie.k.rice

Hiromu Inada crosses the finish line to complete the Ironman race in Cairns, Australia, in June 2025. Photo: Ironman Cairns_Sportograf

Norma Ngai, a physiotherapist at Hong Kong’s Matilda International Hospital, says that aerobic capacity, muscle strength and recovery ability naturally decline as we age. Photo: Matilda International Hospital

Singaporean runner Yim Pui Fun has been competing in endurance races for more than 40 years. Photo: Yim Pui Fun

Yim Pui Fun (left) stands on the podium after the inaugural Sky Race in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, in August 2025. She came in second in the senior veteran women category. Photo: Wisline Leong

Japanese-American influencer, 60, who went viral saying it’s never too late to start over

One of the things that Dana Nakagawa talks about in her YouTube videos is her interpretation of the Japanese concept of ikigai. “It’s what brings you joy, and it intersects with what you do on a daily basis. It could be something like your morning coffee,” she says. Photo: Dana Nakagawa

When Nakagawa lost her job during Covid, she started selling modern and vintage clothing she found at thrift stores. Photo: Instagram/danafindwell

Nakagawa shows how she declutters her home using specially marked bins. Photo: Dana Nakagawa

How 79-year-old influencer lost 30kg and now has the bone density of a 20-year-old

Joan MacDonald took up her daughter Michelle’s challenge to overhaul her lifestyle, dropping from 90kg at the age of 70 (left) to 59kg at 79. Resistance training played a key part. Photo: Joan MacDonald

Joan MacDonald lifts weights at the gym. Photo: Joan MacDonald

Joan MacDonald with her daughter, fitness trainer Michelle MacDonald, who has spent almost a decade transforming her mother’s health. Photo: Instagram/michellemacdonaldofficial

Rotstein (centre) leads a Buff Bones class. Photo: buff-bones.com

Joan MacDonald lifts a kettlebell as part of a strength training workout to build muscle and bone. Photo: Instagram/trainwithjoan

Hong Kong orthopaedic surgeon Dr Athena Au. Photo: Dr Athena Au

How a whole food, plant-based diet keeps 85-year-old YouTubers young and disease-free

Octogenarian YouTubers Bob and Fran German practise qigong in a video. The vegan couple switched to a whole food, plant-based diet years ago because their “lives depended on it”, and now say they feel as fit as ever. Photo: YouTube/AskBobnFran

Bob and Fran credit a whole food, plant-based diet with helping restore their health. Photo: Facebook/EatPlantBased

Hong Kong dietician Jaclyn Tsang does not believe a plant-based diet alone can cure cancer, but says it can contribute to overall health improvement and disease prevention. Photo: courtesy of Jaclyn Tsang

Every morning, Bob and Fran drink a squeeze of lemon juice in a glass of water to aid digestion and boost immunity. Photo: Shutterstock

The cover of Bob and Fran German’s book. Photo: Amazon

Bob and Fran eat mushrooms every day, which contain antioxidants such as ergothioneine and beta-glucans that bolster immunity. Photo: Shutterstock

Health benefits of quitting alcohol, from weight loss to slowing ageing

Jodi Clark, seen in January 2023 and this month,  who now runs online groups, challenges and retreats for women, has lost 38kg (84lb) since she stopped drinking more than 3 years ago. Photo: Jodi Clark

David Wilson, whose Instagram handle is @soberdave, quit alcohol more than seven years ago after nearly four decades of regular drinking. Now he is helping others who want to stop and improve their health. Photo: David Wilson

Wilson shares motivational nuggets and more on his Instagram account @soberdave. Photo: Instagram/soberdave

Jodi Clark in January 2023 (left) and in January 2026 (right). She has lost 38kg since she stopped drinking more than three years ago. Photo: Jodi Clark

Clark says she used to be a “middle-lane drinker”, someone who binged at the weekend but restricted drinking during the week. Photo: Jodi Clark

Millie Gooch, founder of the Sober Girl Society, is always keen to share tips on how to fully embrace sobriety.  Photo: Instagram/sobergirlsociety

Nurse practitioner Cynthia Thurlow has seen how alcohol can ruin lives. Photo: Cynthia Thurlow

David Nutt, professor of neuropsychopharmacology at Imperial College London, says alcohol “pickles your brain”. Photo: Imperial College London

Lifestyle

Health & Wellness

Health

Chow ran a half-marathon last year, while silver stars like Natalie Grabow, Jeannie Rice and Hiromu Inada are breaking records. Here’s how


Chow ran a half-marathon last year, while silver stars like Natalie Grabow, Jeannie Rice and Hiromu Inada are breaking records. Here’s how.


How people like 70-year-old Chow Yun-fat keep pushing their endurance limits as they age

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Chow ran a half-marathon last year, while silver stars like Natalie Grabow, Jeannie Rice and Hiromu Inada are breaking records. Here’s how

Chow ran a half-marathon last year, while silver stars like Natalie Grabow, Jeannie Rice and Hiromu Inada are breaking records. Here’s how