He’s the master of his craft

By Paul Pickering
WHEN Pakenham resident Roy Stanway declares that he’s “76 years young”, he ain’t lying.
The grandfather of “about 17” – at last count – won two gold medals at the World Masters Games in Sydney this month, taking out the 8km cross-country run and 5km track event in the 75-and-over division.
Stanway, who runs six days a week, added the world titles to a stash of gold medals from national and regional masters events this year.
“I’ve had a good year,” he reflected last week.
“I won the Australian Masters, the Oceania Masters and topped it off with this one.”
It was Stanway’s second tilt at the World Masters after competing in the Melbourne carnival two decades ago. His wife Marlene has won seven World Masters medals in race-walking.
He went into the event thinking that he’d be “over the moon” with a medal of any kind.
“I won the cross-country by 30 seconds, which isn’t much really,” he said.
“It was a very bad day to run; 26 degrees, very windy and we had to go up a fairly long hill three times – so it wasn’t easy.
“The 5km turned out to bit a bit easier, because I won by over 100m.”
Stanway is, by his own admission, one of the more unlikely world champions. He was a professional cyclist during his youth, but says he “wasn’t much good”. And he didn’t take up running until middle age.
“I started off running when my daughter was in little aths – and she’s 48 now,” he explained.
“She asked me to go for a run and I went about 200m and then had to walk.
“I never would have believed then that I’d go on and run marathons.”
Stanway has now completed the 42km journey nine times, breaking the three-hour mark five times. His best time is 2:55.
The competitive fire still burns, but Stanway reckons he might struggle to defend his title in Italy in 2013.
“In four years’ time, I think I’ll be too old,” he said.
“I told my daughter I’ve retired from racing. No one believes me though, they reckon I’ve made more comebacks than Nellie Melba.”
While Stanway’s 32-year racing career may be over, he plans to continue running as long as his legs are willing.