SUBMITTED PHOTO Bernardine Meulenbroek crosses the finish line at the Scotiabank half-marathon Sunday, May 26, 2019 in Calgary.
rmccracken@medicinehatnews.com@MHNMcCracken
No task is too much for Bernardine Meulenbroek.
Twenty years ago, Meulenbroek was diagnosed with colon cancer, but the avid walker says she never feared the worst, and she never stopped putting one foot in front of the other. Fast forward two decades and the 87-year-old isn’t just still walking, she’s winning half-marathons and clocking personal bests.
“I think I made pretty good time,” said Meulenbroek, who won the Scotiabank half-marathon women’s 80-plus division in 3:47:27 on Sunday in Calgary – four minutes faster than her time from 2018.
“I have walked all my life. Twenty years ago I got colon cancer but I didn’t think I was going to die, I did battle. I don’t know why but I felt I’d get better and I did, but even when I had my chemo I still walked in the park here.”
Meulenbroek says it wasn’t until fairly recently that her daughter suggested she sign up for a half-marathon and put her years of experience to the test.
“I started about four or five years ago with my half-marathon,” said Meulenbroek. “My daughter said ‘Mom, why don’t you try it out, and I said ‘Oh I’m too old.’ ‘No, no,’ she said, ‘you’re never too old,’ So I started.”
Meulenbroek added her daughter and husband are great supporters of hers, and when she came onto the home stretch of Sunday’s half marathon they were there cheering her on to the finish.
“She said ‘Oma, Oma,’ because they call me Oma, ‘You can beat your time by some minutes if you run,’ so the last few hundred metres I ran,” said Meulenbroek, adding the announcer then informed the crowd of her age and accomplishment on her way to the finish line. “The whole thing clapped. There were lots and lots of people. They make you real excited.”
Meulenbroek says she routinely walks six to eight kilometres per day and has no plans of stopping anytime soon.
“I’m just happy that I can do it, that’s all,” she said.
