We chat to the 91-year-old record holder, who came late to running but is well and truly making up for lost time as AW Readers’ Choice British Masters 2025 Male Athlete.
The French 400m runner and his Italian counterpart were quite disappointed. As they prepared to compete in the M90 ​​age groups at the European Masters Championships in Madeira in October, they were under the impression it would be a straight shootout between the two for gold. But they had reckoned without Colin Spivey coming.
The 91-year-old man was trying something new. From 2012, on regular runs to his local park in Huddersfield, after being persuaded to step up by his daughter, he found himself one of the fastest athletes in his age group.
Last year he represented Great Britain for the first time at the World Masters Championships in Gothenburg over 5,000m, the first race of his life and his first trip abroad since he was a teenager. He was fourth and his competitive appetite was whetted.
It was suggested that he consider taking up the decathlon afterwards. “My mind said yes, but my fitness and ability said no,” Spivey says, but he started thinking about growing his athletic vocabulary.
“I thought I could do shorter distances after coming back from Sweden last year,” he tells AW. “I just thought if I could do the 5,000m then I could easily do the 3,000m, that would be deafening, so earlier this year I went to Sheffield in the 3,000m indoors and set a world record which absolutely blew me away. I had no idea. It just went on from there.”
And so it was that Spivey headed to the European Masters with four races on his agenda: the 400m, 800m, 1500m and 5000m. He beat them all, breaking British M90 records in the first three.
“I felt sorry for the Frenchman,” he admits. “In my first race, the 400m, there were two of them, him and an Italian guy, and they thought: “We are the only ones who will achieve gold and silver between us.” They were good players. I also raced the Frenchman in the 800m and 1500m, but he got a silver each time, which is too bad.
Spivey laughs heartily as he tells the tale, but there is no hint of swagger. In fact, if anything, he seems as surprised as anyone by his success despite the mounting accolades. “It’s just one thing after another, I’m a little embarrassed,” she says after the news of the name. AWs British Masters Male Athlete of the Year.
But his performances make an impact. Speaking the day after winning the 5km road race in his age category, he adds: “There were so many people who wanted to take pictures with me, congratulating me and saying, “My dad’s 95 years old and he wouldn’t go out and do anything, but he’s inspired by you and he’s going to try” and all that is nice to hear.
It’s at shorter distances where Spivey feels most content and comfortable; “Because it’s more competitive and I’m running with similar age groups.” And it was his 800m win of 4:17.60 in Madeira that stood out from his European medals.
“It was really good, especially going into the straight in the last lap,” he says. “The crowd was so loud and just booing the other guy who was in the lower category than me… I loved it.”
Spivey claims he’s “lucky,” but the secret to his success is just keeping going. Parkrun has become a weekly fixture, but other than that, what’s the rest of its mode like?
“Every morning I do 30 or 40 push-ups and sit-ups and some stretches,” he says. “I go for an hour or two’s walk most days and go to Edgerton Tennis Club in Huddersfield to play sponge ball for about 90 minutes a week. Every fortnight I will run along the canal from my house to Slatthwaite, which is about a few miles away, and back. That’s about as far as I hit it out of the park.”
He is already thinking about what will happen next. Spivey admits he is in a privileged position to be able to afford to compete for his country. there is no funding support for Masters athletes, but next August’s World Masters in Daegu, South Korea is a definite target. “I must go on now.”
He also suspects there are many other seniors out there with untapped athletic potential. So what is his message to anyone who might be thinking of following his example in the sport?
“We’re only here once, so the sun is shining to make hay,” Spivey says. “They have to start somewhere, not just sit at home, and one of the best places I think is parks because you can just walk and meet other people to get out and enjoy the fresh air.”
As for his own efforts, he adds: “Now this is a new career. I’ve gotten to the point where (in this case it’s) what the hell. do it as long as you can.”
