The Bournemouth Bullet

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This article was published 01/08/2023 (838 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Paul Jenkins is 77 and has participated in the World Police and Fire Games for nearly three decades and has no intentions of bowing out anytime soon.

Jenkins is a retired corrections officer who lives in Bournemouth, England. He has gone to each of the last 15 WPFG dating back to the 1995 games in Melbourne, Australia. Long distance running is Jenkins’ thing. He won gold in the half marathon and set a WPFG record for his age classification in the 2022 games. He broke that record Sunday in this years race to go along with another gold.

“It went quite well, I beat my record by 27 seconds, and took home a gold. It’s a lovely medal for the half marathon with the Winnipeg logo on it,” said Jenkins.

The half-marathon was not enough for the 77-year-old who will also compete in 10,000-metres, 5,000m and cross-country events at the games all within the span of a week.

“I just take it as it comes,” he said.

The stressfulness at work was what got Jenkins into running in the first place.

“I like long-distance running. It gets you away, I was a corrections officer and I liked to run back and forth to work and I used to run home and by the time you had run home all the stress had gone.”

Jenkins enjoys the competition aspect of the games and has a habit of finishing atop the podium, having won four golds at the last games in Rotterdam. While the golds are certainly a nice bonus, Jenkins returns to the games every couple of years because of the people he has had the chance to meet along the way.

“I like competing,… (but) these games are more than just games, it’s a family. We’ve met people from all over the world, some have passed on, some have stopped running but some are still here who I know,” said Jenkins

As the retired corrections officer has gotten older, family members regularly ask him when he will stop running and competing and Jenkins’ answer remains the same.

“My family back home in Wales will say, ‘When are you going to stop?’ with their pot bellies and while they’re drinking pint beer, and I say, ‘I’ll stop running when I stop enjoying it,’ and I still enjoy it and I enjoy these games.”

Fellow Brit Lesley Yearly is one of the people who Jenkins has met through the games. Yearley is also retired and worked in prison services. She competed in the half marathon on Sunday and in the 5,000m race walk Tuesday morning at University Stadium. She has attended the last 10 WPFG.

Yearley and Jenkins are a part of a larger group of runners from Great Britain that attend the games every two years.

“Most of us are runners, and that’s what brings us together,” said Yearley.

The bond is certainly a strong one. All the competitors from Great Britain support each other at their events. That camaraderie is what is so appealing about the games for Yearley. She is not interested in the Games for the competition aspect as much as Jenkins, she simply enjoys the atmosphere and the incentive to stay in shape.

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“It’s good because it gives you something to work towards and something to keep you fit in between games and it’s just fun.”

“I’m not serious, I’m not going to break any records, that’s for sure,” Yearley said with a chuckle as she glanced up at Jenkins.

The WPFG are also a chance for participants to travel and discover new places and Yearley has taken advantage of that opportunity and has loved her time in the Prairie province capital.

“I’ve really enjoyed it, It’s been great. I love it down by the river, we went on a boat trip yesterday… the people have been really friendly and helpful, it’s a good place.”

donald.stewart@freepress.mb.ca