In actuality, Julia Hawkins broke a new world record for fastest 100-meter run in November 2021, at the age of 105, in the Louisiana Senior Games, a tournament for persons over 50.
She is now 107 years old and shows no signs of slowing down!
Hawkins told WWNO that she hasn’t always been a runner, and that when she reached 100, one of her daughters recommended she attempt running the 100-yard sprint in under 100 seconds. “And I did it in a lot less time than that,” she adds.
She aimed to run the dash in under a minute at the 2021 Louisiana Senior Games, but she ended up running it in little over 62 seconds. “I have done much better than that,” she conceded. “It was cold, cold, cold.” But on that particular day, it seemed like the best I could have done given the circumstances.”
I had three different children from three different schools from where I taught at that race.” They’re also 90 years old. They were in fourth grade when I taught them, and they are now 90! “It tells you how old I am,” she explained.
While she was upset that she didn’t run the dash in under a minute, she did win the quickest 100 meter dash in the 105+ years category (though she wasn’t shocked). Her family was overjoyed that she was able to win the event and that she broke the world record for her wonderful feat!
“Well I knew it was a possibility because there are not that many older people doing things like this,” she said. “When I first started running, there were only a few of us, and they weren’t exactly athletes.” Simply elderly women attempting to do something unusual. So I generally defeated the ones who weren’t really athletic.”
Aside from running, Hawkins enjoys gardening and spending time with her children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren.
Leave a Reply