A PAIR of Alexandra Hills indoor rowers with a combined age of 180 have taken out gold medals at the Pan Pacific Masters Games on the Gold Coast.
The oldest competitor at the Pan Pacific Masters Games, 93-year-old Vincent Home, is sharing his love of sport with his 87-year-old wife Beryl.
Mr and Mrs Home are taking part at their third Pan Pacific Games together in the sport of indoor rowing being held at the Gold Coast Convention and Exhibition Centre.
On November 7, they won gold medals in their age groups with Mr Homes clocking 10:26 in the 2000m and 2:11.4 in the 500m and Mrs Home completing her 500m race in 2:37.5.
The couple, married for 68 years, have been playing sport together since 1950, with indoor rowing their latest pursuit.
“We enjoy competing together and I help him hear (Vincent has hearing difficulty) when his races begin but Vince is definitely better than me still,” Mrs Home said.
“We’ll have been married 69 years in January and first met on the tennis court,” she said.
Living out in the country with three children, Mr and Mrs Home learnt that playing sport together fitted into their lifestyle.
They were regulars on the golf course and tennis court while Mr Home also played club cricket.
“Sport has always been a part of our family – our eldest son played baseball for Australia for over 10 years, our other son plays cricket and does rowing, and our daughter is the CEO of Softball Queensland,” Mrs Home said.
The couple were introduced to indoor rowing six years ago and bought their own machine to train on.
They both believe the sport has been vital in keeping them young.
“Being competitive is our secret to staying active and fit,” Mrs Home said.
“We do a lot of caravanning and love the outdoors but we really make an effort to be active especially as we age.”
While they will not be attending the nightly entertainment at the Games Village, the couple love the spirit of the games and the people involved.
“It’s just doing the best we can now,” she said.
“It’s not about chasing records but giving it a go. We’ve met such nice people here and we watch them all compete too.”
Mrs Home also provided some tips for newcomers to indoor rowing. “If you want to try indoor rowing, you have to get the technique right first. You can tell if someone is properly trained,” she said.
