Rodney Stevens, Clarence Valley Independent
Maclean athletics legend Tom Hancock is showing no signs of slowing down at age 86, recently breaking four Australian Records and winning male athlete of the Australian Masters Athletics Winter Throws Championship.
The Master’s Games stalwart competed in the throwing only event from October 1 to 3, against 60 of the nation’s best, experienced athletes, aged between 30 and 86 – making him the eldest competitor.
“There was no running or jumping types of athletic competition, it was just throwers, and it was at the Queensland Sports and Athletics Centre stadium at where the Commonwealth Games were held,” Mr Hancock said.
“The Australian Masters Athletics have the throws championship once a year, and this was its 26th year, it used to be held in Canberra, then Wollongong and now in Brisbane.
“There were 60 throwers from various states who attended the event, we had a mix of about 35 male competitors and 25 females.”
Throwing further than some of the younger competitors, Mr Hancock broke four Australian records in the age 85 to 90 throws pentathlon (hammer, shot put, discus, javelin and weight throw (5.45kg)), the weight throw (5.45kg), the heavy weight pentathlon (where you throw 5 progressively heavier weights 3kg, 4kg, 5.45kg, 7.26kg and 9.08kg) and the super weight (11.34kg).
This just adds to the dozens of other records, medals and trophies Mr Hancock has collected during a decorated 46-year Masters Athletics career.
In 2018, Mr Hancock was awarded an OAM for his “service to athletics”, which recognised his achievements as a throws coach for Australian teams, including coaching eight-time Australian discus champion Werner Reiterer to gold at the 1994 Commonwealth Games in Canada.
At this year’s Masters Games in April, Mr Hancock won every event he entered, shotput, discuss, javelin, weight, hammer and the throws pentathlon and high jump.
To cap off another successful Masters Athletics Throws Championship, Mr Hancock was also awarded the trophy for the Champion Male Thrower of the event.
“I didn’t realise I’d won the champion male trophy,” Mr Hancock said.
“They called my name out and I got a bit of a shock when I was announced as the winner.
“Some of the records I broke were set more than 15 years ago.” Mr Hancock said while he feels honoured to break the Australian records, he said ‘records are meant to be broken’.
“I’ve probably broken about 25 Australian records over the years and won five world championships, I still hold quite a few in the 80 years age group and even some way back to when I was 65, so some of the records I’ve held for 30 years,” he said.
“I feel that I’m very lucky to still be able to do it, because in my age group, guys who came in when I was 40 have long since disappeared.”
There’s no sign Mr Hancock is stopping striving for athletic excellence any time soon.
“I go on until I can’t do the things I need to do to compete,” he said.
“I can still run and do high jump and I play tennis twice a week.
“I go to the gym three times a week because if you haven’t got good skeletal strength, you wouldn’t be able to do these events.”
This article appeared in the Clarence Valley Independent, 19 October 2022.
