Albany runner Kathleen Hannig, 86, claims gold and national record in WA Masters Athletics Championships

Albany runner Kathleen Hannig now holds both the WA and the Australian records in the 10km race for a woman over the age of 85.

The 86-year-old competed in Perth at the WA Masters Athletics State Championships on March 19, bagging the gold medal for the women’s 10km race in the over-85 age category with a time of 1hr 52min.

Though she says she doesn’t consider herself any sort of elite athlete, the octogenarian is a veteran of the state championship competition, and the World Masters Games.

She has held multiple running records in her time.

This year, she said she saw a “blank space” in the records for the over-85 category, and pushed herself to finish her record-breaking run.

“When I went to Perth, I hadn’t actually run a 10km in about three years, I had recently done 8km, but not the full distance, but I thought ‘it’s only two more’,” she said.

“I knew I was going to get to the finish line, but I wasn’t quite sure how.

“The plan was to complete it in about an hour and 35 minutes, but it was over 36C in Perth when we went up, so that wasn’t going to be doable.

“My granddaughter travelled up with me, and she was my biggest supporter.

“’One foot in front of the other grandma’, she kept telling me all the way round.

“I may not have been fast, but I’m quite proud of how I did, and I can say it was fun, in the end.”

Ms Hannig contracted COVID-19 in 2020 and later developed Functional Neurological Disorder, which stopped her being able to walk or run.

FND impacts the way a person’s brain sends and receives signals, including those to and from their muscles resulting in spasms caused by certain movements, lights, colours, and a range of other stimuli.

Ms Hannig said initially the diagnosis — which is relatively rare after COVID-19 and for which there is no cure — was hard to live with, but credits running with getting her back on her feet.

“Running saved my life, there’s no doubt about it,” she said.

“After I developed FND, running was the first thing that came back to me, faster than walking even.

“They tell you that if you don’t keep your muscles moving and strong with FND, you end up in a wheelchair, and I don’t plan on being there for a fair while yet.

“I cope with it in my own way, I’m quite adapted to it, but I just thought, I’m not going to let it take over my life.

Ms Hannig’s goal is to run in the World Masters Games, which will be held in Perth in 2029.

The Games will take place about a month before Ms Hannig’s 90th birthday, and she said she’s more determined than ever to make it a gold medal outing.