At 92 it is on top of the wave. The secret is the diet

“I’m getting old, but I don’t feel old.” 92 years Nancy Mehrn Every day confirms how true this statement is. Young people swimming in the waters of Scarborough Beach, waiting for the right moment to hop on a surfboard and surf, know well this lady of slender physique and white hair who joins them every time the sea swells. road.
Nancy is the oldest female surfer in the world new Zeland, and perhaps the whole world, and she doesn’t seem at all ready to retire, despite her age: “I will continue as long as the physicist gives it to me,” she explains. Surfing is a moment of pure joy for her: “I love it when you get up to speed. It’s moving really fast, it’s beautiful.” Nancy still uses the same board she learned to surf with when she was 50. It was on the table of one of his three sons: “I borrowed it, and I never brought it back.”

Ferravanti, surfer, Roman in round two: ‘I’m crashing, the road goes on’

It’s a secret

The painting is old, distorted, but Nancy She is in love with it, as it often happens to surfers, who find it difficult to separate themselves from the board on which they first braved the ocean. At the surfers club in Sumner, the small town in southeastern New Zealand where Nancy lives, admitted their elderly fellow “is an inspiration to all of us, but also an uplifting one for everyone.” The club’s director, 63-year-old Simon Brown, admits he is very skeptical that he, too, will be able to surf to Nancy’s age. The secret of Ms. Mehern’s resilience lies in a constantly active life, from vegetarian, and emphasizes – “to avoid sugar from an early age.”

She started her life in an adventurous way, in 1952, after graduation, she left her small town in the New Zealand outback to explore the world. For three and a half years he traveled Great Britain and France and the rest of Europe, afterwards to reach Syria, LebanonAfghanistan, Pakistan and India. He traveled by strolling, occasionally sneaking into freight trains.

She supported herself by teaching Einglish. But she was always tied to money. He slept in a hostel, but also in the open countryside and even once in a cemetery in France. In 1956, at home, she met and married her husband, Doug, with whom she had two children and adopted a third. The rest of Nancy’s life was quiet, but certainly not boring: a teacher and passionate about gardening, she taught all her school children to grow gardens and grow their own food: “You have to make teaching fun, if you want the kids to follow you” advises from the top of over 40 years of teaching .
Nancy is also a talented musician and has composed operas for her students, all based on the story of some New Zealand character. To this day, he continues to teach music to a small group of children.

Excellent swimmer

A strong swimmer, she was also a lifeguard beaches From her hometown, she was initially tasked with controlling the surfers who flock to the long beach where she herself goes surfing today. A longtime retiree, Nancy is definitely not a settled person. Walk and bike, go to one Sport club And makes GardensAnd when the weather allowed, I ran ashore to wait in line alongside dozens of other surfers, ready to “fly”. Nancy no longer dares to jump over the table, but lies down on it and becomes one with the water: “I let the little waves go, they last too short. I’m waiting for the adults. I like being close to the water, to feel like it’s taking me fast.”

for him Date Across the world, at a time when seniors seem more determined than ever to prove that “getting old doesn’t mean feeling old,” to use Nancy’s own words. Last November, Julia Hawkins, the 105-year-old sprinter from Louisiana, broke the world record in the 100m flat for the 100-105 age group and, like Nancy, said she intended to continue with his favorite sport for as long as he was allowed to. his body.