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![\"RUTH](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/4313016_web1_260616-Father-s-Day-1--.jpg\")
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tRUTH BONNEVILLE \/ FREE PRESS <\/p>\n
After concluding he was out of shape in his 30s, Ray Elliott has dedicated the last six decades to physical fitness, which has included competing in marathons and triathlons.<\/p>\n
Elliott\u2019s marathon days are long gone. Still, he reserves time for physical activity of some sort, every single day. The former Great-West Life manager typically gets up at 5:45 a.m. to go for a brisk walk through his neighbourhood. Then, after he has breakfast with his wife Lillian at her personal care home next door to where he lives, he heads to the YMCA-YWCA to jog around the track for an hour or so. He also bikes, swims and golfs \u2014 last week he shot one stroke better than his age at Kildonan Golf Course \u2014 and in April set a new provincial record for men ages 90 to 94, when he bench-pressed 42.5 kilograms at a powerlifting competition held at Glenlawn Collegiate.<\/p>\n
\u201cAfter turning 90 in November 2024, I thought I had a great chance of breaking the Canadian 100-metre (running) record for my age group only to tear one of my Achilles (tendons),\u201d says Elliott, who stands five-foot-eight and tips the scales at 138 pounds. \u201cI lost a lot of aerobic capacity during my recovery, but that record is still on my to-do list.\u201d<\/p>\n
Elliott, the youngest of three brothers, grew up in Bangor, County Down, in Northern Ireland, about 20 kilometres east of Belfast. He took up swimming as an eight-year-old but gave the sport up when he dropped out of school at age 16 \u2014 also the age he started smoking \u2014 to work full-time at a lumber yard.<\/p>\n
\u201cI wasn\u2019t a particularly good student, though I don\u2019t think my parents could have afforded to send me to university even if I had been,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
Prospects in his hometown were few and far between, so shortly after turning 21 in 1955, he made the decision to move to Canada, mainly because his mother had visited the country when she was young and always spoke glowingly about her time in Toronto.<\/p>\n
He convinced his brother David to join him. Following a series of jobs in and around Toronto, the two of them were hired by a construction company based in Ontario\u2019s Elliot Lake area, in a town called Spragge. They stayed in Spragge for two years before travelling to Winnipeg, to visit friends of David\u2019s who had relocated to Manitoba from Scotland. That was when Elliott heard about opportunities at a nickel mine that was opening at Moak Lake, close to the present-day city of Thompson. He lived in northern Manitoba until 1959, at which point he\u2019d had \u201cenough of the bush.\u201d He returned to Winnipeg that fall and has been here ever since, he says.<\/p>\n
Three years after he and Lillian tied the knot in 1961 \u2014 they met in the administration offices of the Hudson\u2019s Bay Company and it was love at first sight, he gushes \u2014 Elliott was shovelling snow at their home on Macaulay Crescent in North Kildonan. Their driveway was almost 30 metres long and because he still smoked, he found himself unable to catch his breath.<\/p>\n
\u201cI reached the end and thought, \u2018My god, I\u2019m so out of shape it\u2019s ridiculous,\u2019\u201d he says, guessing he weighed around 175 pounds at the time. \u201cI ended up quitting smoking and joining the downtown Y, where I started off by running two laps, then walking two laps.\u201d<\/p>\n
Elliott, who became Great-West Life\u2019s manager of client services after earning a degree in accounting via night school, ultimately started running outside during his lunch hours. There was a period when he ran to and from work three times a week \u2014 a distance of 25 kilometres, there and back \u2014 in addition to late-night jogs after helping put the kids to bed.<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t Elliott on his gym equipment doing a chest press which he trains on everyday.<\/p>\n He smiles, recalling another circuit he used to cover in the vicinity of Lac du Bonnet, where he and Lillian owned a cottage. It was a circular route, about two kilometres in distance, and their dog Angel, an Australian Shepherd, often accompanied him. Except when she grew tired, she\u2019d plunk herself down in the grass for a lap or two, waiting for him to come back around the bend.<\/p>\n Elliott entered the inaugural Manitoba Marathon, staged on June 17, 1979. He was 44 years old and made it to the 21-mile mark before hitting the wall.<\/p>\n \u201cI had to sit down, I couldn\u2019t go any longer, but despite my discomfort, I vowed to try again the next year,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n He did just that, finishing with a time of 3:23:00. His best result came when he was 52 and crossed the finish line in a time of 2:48:58 \u2014 a number tattooed on his left arm.<\/p>\n \u201cOne of my grandsons is running marathons now. He entered one in Eugene (Ore.) a few weeks ago and came up 14 seconds short of my best time, so I still have bragging rights \u2014 at least until he runs in Berlin in September.\u201d<\/p>\n Derek Elliott, the grandson-in-question, was too young to see his \u201cpapa\u201d run any of his 11 Manitoba Marathons, but he credits him as the reason he decided to take up running five years ago.<\/p>\n \u201cI wouldn\u2019t say either of us would be considered a natural athlete. It\u2019s more a case of loving the work that goes into improving your performance and the personal satisfaction you get from achieving your goals,\u201d Derek says over the phone, while running through the streets of Fort Garry. \u201cIt\u2019s very clear when you talk to him that he really enjoys getting out there, even if nowadays it\u2019s just a few laps at the Y.\u201d<\/p>\n Derek, who is getting his grandfather\u2019s top marathon time tattooed on his own knee so he can stare down at it for inspiration during a race, says he of course loves all the members of his family, but \u201cmy Papa is such a special guy.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhen I go with him to visit my grandmother, people approach me to say how he helps everybody in the care home any way he can. If they can\u2019t cut their food, he\u2019ll cut it for them. If they need their wheelchair moved, that\u2019s not a problem. He definitely uses his strong health and fitness to look out for the people he cares about.\u201d<\/p>\n
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tRUTH BONNEVILLE \/ FREE PRESS
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