What an exciting speaker we had at our February meeting. Bruce Bodsworth is the president of the Queensland Masters Athletics Association and what an illustrious and varied career he has had.
In 2023 Bruce’s Oceania M70-74 rankings were – 1st in 60m hurdles, 2nd in 300m hurdles, 3rd in the pentathlon (long jump, javelin, 200m, discus, 1500m) and 7th in javelin.
At the Australian Masters Athletics Championships held over 4 days in Brisbane in 2022 Bruce achieved the following in the M70 age group – 2nd in the 400m, 1st in the 80m hurdles, 2nd in the 300m hurdles, 1st in high jump, 1st in long jump, 2nd in javelin and 1st in the pentathlon.
Bruce started as a member of Thompson Estate Eastern Suburbs Athletics Club in Carina. The remarkable thing about Bruce is his ability to tackle most events, sprints, middle distance, distance events, hurdles, jumping, throwing, the pentathlon and the decathlon. Not bad for his age – actually, not bad for any age!
He ran his first mile at just twelve years old – that was over sixty years ago. From 1977 until now he has run, jumped and thrown almost every event on the IAAF schedule of events from 60 metres to marathon. He has held many administration positions on athletic committees, and has coached both able-bodied and disabled athletes for over forty years. He is a Life Member of TEES and Queensland Athletics, a Board member of Australian Masters Athletics and has been the race director of numerous fundraising Fun-Runs.
He now resides at the Gold Coast, and travels to Brisbane to continue to enjoy healthy competition in a variety of events.
Our next meeting on Tuesday March 12 will be our Annual General Meeting. Visitors and those who would like to “try before you buy” can attend to see what Probus is about and if it is right for you. For details and contact information visit our website at https://forestlakeprobus.com
