Here’s the best way to find fitness, health, speed, staying power and personal confidence for those who’ve arrived at man’s estate (women’s included, as ever). Is there else anything you’d want? Of course there is, it’s something so important it could never be left out, yes, bloody good sex. (Should that be effing good sex?) All guaranteed!

While you’re eagerly waiting there for an answer, I’ll hold you up just one more moment to update you on my smoking story of the last couple of weeks: there’s been a devil of a lot of reaction, I’ve found Professor Tim Oliver who is heading a major piece of research into exactly the same theme as mine and is in touch with the great and the good – how we athletes can save millions for the nation. At least that’s the news I get from his material. And an answer too to the non-smoking lobby who claim, in a rather sadistic way, OK some people suffer and die from their cigarette habit but just think of how much those that smoke pay the government in tax on every fag they buy. Back to all that later.

Right, so the best way to get all those great and grand wonders is by joining one of the dedicated Veteran or Masters clubs that exist in most sports, I can’t think of one that doesn’t have it. The one I know best is the British Masters Athletic Federation (logo pictured). This is a federation of a couple of dozen masters or veteran athletic regional clubs throughout Britain, with total membership of many thousands, the oldest established more than 75 years ago.

Let’s sum up the costs and benefits to you in joining a club. The costs are a few quid a year in membership fees, and another very few in entrance fees for championships. The benefits are incalculable:

(1) You get encouragement, coaching and friendship.
(2) You absorb athletic know-how.
(3) You get the discipline to keep you from back-sliding.
(4) You get access to friendly runs locally, and to peer-group competition locally, regionally, in Europe and at world level. A superb way to spend hols overseas.
(5) This one’s the main thing of course - you begin to participate in all those wonders and joys as listed above.

For me personally, when I joined the original Over-40s running club, the Veterans Athletic Club, started up in 1931, was a boost to my personal confidence.  I had entered a rather depressed period in my forties, my flaming, effing forties. Somehow everything was going wrong for me, I was having trouble building up my business, family affairs were in a bit of a mess, I’d become addicted to poker (itself a sign of depression), I couldn’t get on with my next novel and social life had gone to pot.

Well, better than spill out all that personal story at the moment, I propose telling you how, once I’d joined that club, I became one of those in at the birth of the veteran movement and its spread world-wide.

The first stirrings were in the US, Germany and France as well as here in Britain, though starting later than the 1930s in those other places. The little newly-formed US club, located in California, very enterprisingly decided on a limited European tour, calling at Cologne, somewhere in France and then London where there was a meet at Crystal Palace, 1972, the first ever, rather grandiosely-named, international. By the last lingering length of my suddenly-overstretched hamstring muscles I managed to be in it...

More next time, with stories also of that wonderful old Scot, Duncan McLean, the Tartan Flash, then in his 80s, and Jack Fitzgerald now in his 80s and still hardly missing a week without another marathon to add to his anecdotes.

	Author:	Sylvester Stein (Sylvester Stein's profile, Sylvester Stein's blog)
	Posted On:	Wednesday, 11th July '07, 2:41pm
	Tags:	Field Events, Running, Sprinting, Swimming, Training Programs, Triathlon and Veterans
	Comments:	0 comments, go to comments

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