Auckland Grandmother Running Her Way Around the World

Auckland Grandmother Running Her Way Around the World

Auckland Grandmother Charlotte Nasey loves to run, so much so that this incredible 66-year-old is fast approaching 200 marathons as she aims up at completing at least one on each of the seven continents, with next month’s Air New Zealand Hawke’s Bay Marathon ranking high amongst her favourites.

Nasey has completed an amazing 166 marathons since she first caught the bug back in 1998 and is showing no signs of slowing down, committing to a return to the Hawke’s Bay event on May 13 that will satisfy two passions – running and a love of all things vintage.

“My partner Ernie is a runner and we ride motorbikes,” said Nasey in a rare quiet moment. “He is fanatical about vintage motorbikes. We have managed to fit in motorbike rides with the marathons and that has taken us to places where we wouldn’t have gone to otherwise.

“I did the inaugural Air New Zealand Hawke’s Bay Marathon last year and we have friends there who are bikers. Last year we managed to fit it in with the Art Deco festival. Lots of people we know come to Hawke’s Bay for the riding and of course the Deco weekend which is just amazing.”

Nowadays the running is left to Charlotte however, with Ernie now the official photographer on their many trips, when not riding the motorbike of course.

“Ernie has a heart condition now and is not allowed to run anymore, but he always comes to support me and he takes a lot of photographs. He is happy to catch up with people and play a very important role as a support person.”

Running and visiting new places has become a way of life for the Auckland grandmother, with Hawke’s Bay just one of many on the list this year.

“This year I’m doing the Rapanui Marathon, on Easter island, then come back to do Wellington, with Hawke’s Bay in between. Then I’m off to South Africa to do the Big Five Safari Marathon.

“I have always wanted to do Antarctica, it has always been on my bucket list and then I found out about the ‘seven continents challenge’ and I thought I am nearly there already, so I will have that as a priority goal with Antarctica being the final continent to conquer, hopefully I can achieve that next year.”

Charlotte and Ernie have a keen interest in travel as well as the vintage motorbikes and have travelled around New Zealand and the world meeting friends and combing their passions for running marathons and riding.

Together they have travelled to some amazing places including New York and Beirut.

“New York was a highlight, because of the size and the fact that the boroughs all close down, Athens was hot and sticky and most recently a highlight was Beirut. I ran with a group that Rachel Smalley (radio host) initiated and ran in that beautiful city with bombs going off around us. We were safe though, it is a beautiful country.”

Charlotte says she is not a natural runner but got into marathons through a friend at university nearly 20 years ago.

“I’m a runner by association, I run with all these amazing people who are real runners, I kind of shuffle really. I got into it by default. 1998 was my first one when my friend, a professor at the university, wanted to do a marathon for her birthday, we all laughed, but I said okay, I’ll do it. So we joined the YMCA Marathon Club, which was the only marathon club in Auckland and she got her goal and I stayed on to run the women’s events at the YMCA. That’s how I got tied up in the culture of running and walking and got to travel all round the world.”

The educational psychologist with 30 years teaching experience shows no sign of slowing down.

“I’ve still got the six nations to do, I’m debating that, a group of us mad, fun people, who love journey and adventure are going to do eight in eight days, so in October is Melbourne, after that to Adelaide for seven in a row, if we are still alive we will do Auckland (October) and hopefully Queenstown (November).”

It’s the people they meet and the fun they have that keeps Charlotte and Ernie on the marathon trail.

“It’s a very sociable thing and we’re having an amazing journey. As I said I’m not a real runner, I don’t do fast, but I do something every day, swimming or walking or the gym, it’s just a way of life. We support each other on the track, it is the people that come first.”

ENDS

© Scoop Media