NZ's fittest gran! - SHARON'S LIFE IN THE FAST LANE

The 71-year-old has a trick for staying young - don't let the old lady in!

- Ruth Jillings

She’s an extraordinary athlete who’s won 13 world championships in four different sporting events, but 71-year-old Sharon Prutton remains incredibly humble.

“Gosh, I have done all those things, but until I start telling people what I’ve done, I can’t imagine doing them all!” she says modestly. “I feel like I am talking about someone else.”

There have also been plenty of national and international wins along the way, outside of world championships, and so many silver medals she “hasn’t taken note of them”.

The grandmother-of-seven’s most recent international event was the Abu Dhabi world age group triathlon championships in November 2022.

A shorter sprint triathlon was scheduled a few days before her event, so Sharon entered on a whim because “it would be good to see the course”.

Convincingly winning her age group world title, she backed it up two days later, taking out gold in her age group in the Olympic distance event. That’s a 1500m swim, 40km bike ride, followed by a 10km run in blistering heat – even the water was 28 degrees.

What’s even more remarkable is the active septuagenarian only learned to swim in her fifties.

She explains, “I’m not a great swimmer, but I’ve improved in the last two years through having a group of friends to enjoy it with. If people beat me on the swim, I catch them on the cycle.”