At 88, Best Friends Nola and Maggie Are Still Lining Up to Race Each Other

There were plenty of fast athletes at the recent Oceania Athletics Championships in Darwin. Two of them were 88.

Nola Brockie and Maggie Roberts have been best friends in Darwin for years. They both lined up for the women’s 30-89 Masters 60m sprint at the championships, which meant sharing the track with athletes young enough to be their grandchildren. Nola finished in 16.08 seconds. Maggie finished in 20.86. Nola won the head-to-head. Neither of them seemed bothered about the times, placings, or whether anyone else in the field had finished long before them.

“Even looking at everyone’s run because you are last doesn’t matter, because you are there,” Nola told Australian Athletics.

A friendship built on a Wednesday and a Sunday

Nola and Maggie train with a Darwin running group called the MAD Frogs, short for Mature Athletes Darwin. The group meets every Wednesday and Sunday in the Top End of Australia. Nola runs three times a week. Maggie runs the same and swims on top of it.

Ask Nola why she keeps showing up and the answer comes back fast.

“The open air, the fact we can swear without being heard, that’s a good thing,” she said, laughing. Then a little more seriously, “It’s the freedom of it. It’s keeping us going.“

Maggie put it her own way.

“It’s keeping us fit, and on the move, which is such a good thing,” she said. “I would recommend running and moving to anyone at our age, it doesn’t matter how slow you are, at least you are moving.”

Nola jumped back in with the line that probably captures their whole philosophy in nine words.

“Even boiling the kettle, you can move!”

The next MAD Frogs session is on Wednesday. Both of them plan to be there.