{"id":367445,"date":"2025-12-23T21:12:13","date_gmt":"2025-12-23T21:12:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/367445\/"},"modified":"2025-12-23T21:12:13","modified_gmt":"2025-12-23T21:12:13","slug":"runner-nancy-dickman-83-prepares-for-her-next-marathon-at-90","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/367445\/","title":{"rendered":"Runner Nancy Dickman, 83, prepares for her next marathon at 90"},"content":{"rendered":"

Nancy Dickman is living proof that the benefits of exercise go far beyond physical fitness.<\/p>\n

The 83-year-old from Lake Macquarie, south of Newcastle, is a marathon runner, and has been tackling the 42-kilometre journey at least once a decade since she was 40.<\/p>\n

Her most recent was in 2023, at 80, where Nancy was the oldest competitor in the Sydney Marathon and ranked 15th in the world for her age group.<\/p>\n

\"Nancy<\/p>\n

Nancy Dickman running in the Sydney Marathon at 80 in 2023. (Supplied: Sydney Marathon)<\/p>\n

“It gives you a sense of achievement, testing yourself,” she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“It just makes you feel good, it’s pretty simple.”<\/p>\n

She has run 15 marathons in her life, including in London, New York and Rome.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“I’m hoping to stay fit enough to do one at 90, but that’s a big ask, because there’s a lot of years between now and then,” she said.<\/p>\n

Physical, mental benefits\u00a0<\/p>\n

Nancy started running when she was 35, while living in Broken Hill working as a teacher.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Initially, she would run the length of a football field, but over time built up her stamina to be able to complete her first marathon at 40.<\/p>\n

While she welcomed the physical benefits of running, she said she was surprised by how much it helped her mental health.<\/p>\n

“It’s been shown now to be good for mental health, but that wasn’t always promoted,” she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Nancy<\/p>\n

Nancy is a regular at the weekly Lakeview parkrun in Lake Macquarie. (ABC Newcastle: Keely Johnson)<\/p>\n

“I thought, ‘I’d like to sort of research that’, and perhaps influence government policy that exercise would be promoted not just for physical wellbeing but mental wellbeing.”<\/p>\n

She was inspired to complete a PhD on the effect exercise has on older women’s self-concept, publishing her work in 2005 on the University of New South Wales Medicine and Health faculty website.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The link between exercise and mental health<\/a><\/p>\n

Experts say there should be more focus on using physical activity, by itself or in combination with other treatments, to treat and prevent depression and anxiety.<\/p>\n

Nancy found that older women who walked regularly either alone or in a group experienced significantly improved physical and social self-concept and more positive perceptions of their bodies and fitness.<\/p>\n

She says she notices those impacts in her own life, too.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“The physical [benefits] I guess it keeps me healthy, I don’t take any medication for anything,” she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“But the biggest benefit is mental.<\/p>\n

“If you’re anxious, go for a run, if you’re feeling a bit depressed, go for a run, If you want to think about something, work out some problems, go for a run.”<\/p>\n

\"Nancy<\/p>\n

Nancy says running benefits her mental health.\u00a0 (Supplied: The Beaches Parkrun)<\/p>\n

‘An inspiration’\u00a0<\/p>\n

She is a regular at her local weekly parkrun at Lake Macquarie and is the oldest female participant.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Lakeview Parkrun director Peter Scotchmer said she was an inspiration to the other runners.<\/p>\n

“You see the young kids just looking at her in awe,” he said.<\/p>\n

“That someone who is old enough to be their great grandmother in many cases is running past them and enjoying it and doing a great job.”<\/p>\n

\"Peter<\/p>\n

Peter Scotchmer says Nancy is the oldest female participant at the Lakeview parkrun.\u00a0 (ABC Newcastle: Keely Johnson)<\/p>\n

“I’m hitting that age myself and I’d just love to be as active and involved and have the mental acuity that she has.”<\/p>\n

Mr Scotchmer said Ms Dickson ran the five-kilometre course in about 32 minutes.<\/p>\n

“For her age she is an exceptional runner, she’s up there among the top runners in the world for her age group.”<\/p>\n

\"Nancy<\/p>\n

Nancy at the snowy parkrun in Sweden.\u00a0 (Supplied: Nancy Dickman)<\/p>\n

Earlier this year, Nancy ran about 225km in 19 days for the virtual charity run ‘Run Against Violence’, and was the oldest person ever to finish the event.<\/p>\n

She has also competed in multiple Masters Games \u2014 both nationally and internationally- which is a multi-sport festival for adults (typically 30+ years) celebrating sport, active lifestyles, and camaraderie.<\/p>\n

“I want to continue running and parkrun of a Saturday,” she says.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“Hopefully I stay fit enough to continue and if I can’t, I can walk maybe.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Nancy Dickman is living proof that the benefits of exercise go far beyond physical fitness. The 83-year-old from…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":367446,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[199249,64,63,199252,199250,199253,85,199251],"class_list":["post-367445","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-83-year-old-runner","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-older-runners","tag-running-helps-nancy-dickmans-mental-and-physical-health","tag-running-marathons","tag-sports","tag-the-benefits-of-running-when-youre-older"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/367445","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=367445"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/367445\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/367446"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=367445"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=367445"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=367445"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}