Lorna aims for masters event at 85
Lorna Lauchlan's times have started dropping again because she's working towards a goal - the World Masters Athletics Championships in France.
Next month, Ms Lauchlan will celebrate her 85th birthday and in August she hopes to be limbering up and waiting for the starting gun at the stadium in Lyon.
The Mt Claremont mother of five is competing for the challenge and camaraderie but if she can go one better than the silver medal she won in the US in 1989, it would be a welcome bonus.
Ms Lauchlan was a late starter in athletics, first running competitively in Perth in her late 40s.
She took up jogging in the late 1970s to improve her fitness for squash but squash took a back seat when she fell in love with running. "At first, I was staggering through 100m and I was never going to be able to do it," Ms Lauchlan recalled.
"I persevered, though, and all of a sudden I thought, 'I can run'."
After decades of hard running, from sprints to marathons, problems with sciatica led to back surgery and Ms Lauchlan switched to walking events.
She holds seven State age records for walking but far from resting on her laurels, she is stepping up her training regime.
Competition aside, there is a greater motivation for Ms Lauchlan's training - her health.
"You do slow down if you don't maintain some level of exercise," she said.
