Age and ability are often the criteria for determining one’s participation and success in sport, whether on a recreational or competitive level. Sport is often considered integral to the development of the younger age groups. However, with increasing life expectancy, the potential for participation in sport across the lifespan of an individual is now recognised (Baker, Fraser- Thomas, Dionigi et al).

This theory was indeed actualised by the late Lynette Luces, aka ‘Granny Luces’, who became a metaphor for excellence when she began participating in marathons at age 56. One of her daughters recounts that Granny Luces enjoyed running from an early age and would often complete her mother’s errands this way to ensure they were done as quickly as possible. Her love for running grew, and being a person who never sat still at home, Granny Luces believed she possessed the strength to compete in long-distance running at that late age – and that she did.

Granny Luces was arguably the main attraction at The UWI SPEC International Half Marathon in the early years of the race. She remains the oldest female runner to have participated in the UWI Half Marathon to date. She competed in the very first race in November 2004 at age 77. She would continue to compete until the 2011 edition in the Over 70 and Over 80 categories, copping first place every time.

When competitors assembled at the start line for the 13.1-mile course, many audible whispers would be heard running through the assembly: “Doh let Granny beat yuh eh! Doh let she pass yuh!

Is real talks we go get if Granny beat we!” On the other hand, the crowd would be spurring her on in eager anticipation, shouting, “Show them, Granny! Show them!” As the race progressed along the traffic-free Priority Bus Route, Granny would be accompanied by the spectators’ thunderous clapping in sync with her every stride.

Age and frailty seem to be inversely related at the societal level, as it is assumed that performance gets weaker as age increases.

However, Granny - diminutive in stature but always a resolute competitor - defied this assumption at the 2007 edition of The UWI SPEC Half Marathon, when she bettered her time from the previous year.

In 2009, she recorded a faster time than at the 2008 edition. At the 2009 edition, the veteran road runner was honoured with a Lifetime Achievement award by The University of the West Indies, St Augustine.

At that presentation, Granny recalled the beginning of her participation in marathons. She remembered her first marathon – the T&T/Mirror Marathon in 1984 and noted the low number of female runners: “When I began to run in 1984 with the Mirror marathon, it was eight ladies.” This led her to wonder: “But where are the ladies?”

Luces noted that since then she had begun to see ladies and school children participating more. She would later have the privilege of running alongside her two granddaughters, who successfully competed in the Half Marathon.

Running in a half marathon is a gruelling task, even for trained runners, but at the time of her transition, she would have been immensely proud to know that since those early days, the number of female participants in road races had significantly increased.

At the UWI Half Marathon in 2019, of the 1,600 registered participants, over 500 were females.

Granny’s love of life and people, combined with her sheer determination and passion for running, was the perfect formula with which she inspired generations of female road runners.

She described her running as a gift. It was as if the odd ache or niggle she experienced here and there would disappear as soon as she put on her running clothes, ready to hit the track. She defied age and gender and used her athletic prowess to inspire scores of women of all ages into action.

Granny’s endurance in the long-distance arena is a life lesson.

She would have encountered fatigue and difficult patches during different races, but she persevered until her last race in the ninth decade of her life. Her deliberate planning of practice, rest and recovery helped her to come back stronger each time. She showed us that we are capable of being more than the stereotypes with which we are saddled.

Speaking on her passing, Pro Vice-Chancellor and Campus Principal, Professor Brian Copeland, recalled her affable nature, her passion for her craft and her infectious joie de vivre. Head of the Academy of Sport at UWI St Augustine, Professor Funso Aiyejina, noted that it would never be possible to speak of long-distance running in Trinidad and Tobago without a mention of Granny Luces’s larger-than-life personality.

We join her family in celebrating her exemplary life. Granny Luces, transition with the same flair and confidence with which you ran your earthly races.

Nadra Dwarika-Baptiste is the Administrative Assistant with responsibility for Facilities and Events at the St Augustine Academy of Sport. She is the T10 and T20 captain of the UWI Women’s Cricket Club and can be reached at Nadra.Dwarika- Baptiste@sta.uwi.edu