Canada’s fastest 90-year-old claims another national masters record

On Sunday, London, Ont. runner Canio Polosa, who currently holds the designation of Canada’s fastest 90-year-old, set the Canadian masters record over one mile, clocking 11:25.26. In fact, Polosa is the first man over 90 ever to tackle the challenge in a sanctioned race.

Before the race, Polosa told a reporter he was hoping to finish in around 10 minutes. He finished just over that, but was the first 90-year-old to set this mark, according to Canadian Masters Athletics.

Last fall, Polosa set the 90+ 5K Canadian record of 36:30 and followed up his performance with another Canadian record over 8 km and 10K in the spring. “I had a good race yesterday,” says Polosa. “I was happy to have the support of my wife, Lynne, and the enthusiasm from local runners too.”

In a post-race interview, Polosa said he was glad the mile was over with, but happy with his performance, given his recent hiccups in training. After setting the three age-group records earlier this spring, Polosa was eager to run a half-marathon in the fall. He was a month into his training when Lynne noticed he was losing some muscle mass. “He was training around 15 km several times a week, but was not fuelling enough for his runs,” Lynne says.

Unfortunately, Polosa halted his half-marathon training to figure out his nutrition. He, his wife and his doctor came to a solution to increase his calorie intake. Since Polosa refuses to drink protein shakes and smoothies, he found a solution with Lynne’s special homemade brownies.

“I make killer brownies,” Lynne claims. “It managed to do the trick.”

Polosa resumed training in mid-August and organized this one-mile race for the end of September. He’s currently training for a 5K at the end of October.

Polosa began running during his retirement, at age 60. “For eight years or so, I ran 10K’s, then I became interested in longer distances,” says Polosa. When he moved to London, he joined the London Pacers Running Club, which inspired him to run three marathons during the ’90s. Now at 93, Polosa continues to run and sets Canadian records in every race he enters.

When he is not running, Polosa enjoys working out at the gym, where he uses the cross-trainer and weight machines.

“I think he gets all his energy from afternoon power naps,” Lynne laughs. “Canio also loves to read about science and the news on the computer.”Most of all, Polosa enjoys spending time with his loved ones and Lynne, his number one fan.

posted Thursday September 29th
by Marley Dickinson