Grace Chambers, aged 97, has become Europe's oldest Parkrunner to reach the 250-run milestone.
She completed the 5k run at Ormeau Park in south Belfast – after having heart surgery four weeks ago but that didn't stop her taking part in the run. On completing the run Grace said: “I am over the moon to have finished the race.
"I feel glad that I did it as there was always a possibility that I wouldn't. But I never look negatively at things, if I set a goal, I try to achieve it and if I don't do it the first time I try it again and again and again."
For many people, never mind an 88-year-old recovering from serious, invasive surgery, running is not top of the to-do list. But Grace's Parkrun journey began when a staff member on her rehabilitation team, who volunteered at Ormeau Parkrun, suggested she might enjoy coming along.
With a bit of encouragement from one of her daughters, Grace went to do her first Parkrun in 2016 and said she became the talk of the event. "Everyone kept saying: 'This woman in her 80s has turned up thinking she can do a parkrun.'
“Well, I certainly showed them." Grace became a regular at the community event and broke numerous records for runners in her age category in her first year.
"I just love it, all the people you meet, it's just wonderful - people from all over Northern Ireland come and mix at Parkrun and you wouldn't have had people from all the communities mixing like that when I was growing up," she said.
The former teacher, who professed a love of mountain hiking and golf, said not even the suspension of Parkruns in 2020 due to the Covid pandemic slowed her down. "I just went down and did it myself anyway," she said.
Grace recorded all of her times and got her daughter to send them all to Parkrun afterwards. "I've probably done a lot more than 250 Parkruns, but the ones during Covid don't count," she added.
Not even a broken leg, suffered while out walking during the pandemic, stopped her, as she bounced straight back to Parkruns after recovering. She's now assisted around the course by her two friends Cathy and Sue.
"I wouldn't be here without them, they take me to the run each week and go round with me." Grace now has a bench named after her on the finish line with a plaque that says ‘Grace's Bench, Park runner extraordinaire’.
