Ted James may be the youngest 92-year-old you will ever meet.
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Mr James is competing at the 2018 Australian Masters Rowing Championships at Lake Barrington from Thursday until Sunday and has some incredible achievements to his name.
Mr James is from Renmark in South Australia and has broken two world records.
When he was 70-years-old he rowed from Renmark to Goolwa and back which is over 1200kms and before that he rowed from Renmark to Mildura.
“It was just beautiful. I had a houseboat looking after me with my wife and in the afternoon we fished or yabbied,” Mr James said.
He said he had only been rowing for 25 years and started because he lived 200 “yards” from the boat shed.
“It is just lovely and I hate walking and I hate standing.”
You cannot get a bed for love nor money in the Kentish community at the moment.
- Rob Prescott
He said he used to play football, cricket and also water ski but rowing was more gentle on his body.
Mr James said he would like to keep rowing but does not know how much longer he would be able to continue because he has prostate cancer.
“It doesn’t worry me, if you go to bed and don’t wake up in the morning you are dead. That’s all it is,” Mr James said.
He said it didn’t matter where he finished because it was pretty hard to keep up with some rowers.
Mr James is the oldest of the 888 competitors who have registered at the event.
Executive Officer at Rowing Tasmania Rob Prescott said it was a really big economic boost for the North-West Coast especially after the Australian Masters Games.
“You cannot get a bed for love nor money in the Kentish community at the moment,” Mr Prescott said.
“They were pretty much booked out from about 10 months ago and I know there are people staying as far as Ulverstone, Burnie and Launceston,” he said.
“The pub one night did 180 meals and 150 of them were rowers, that is just our weekends.”
Mr Prescott said the Lake Barrington course was unique and that there was nothing like it in other parts of Australia.
“It is well looked after by the community, Rowing Tasmania and a number of government departments,” Mr Prescott said.
The 2018 Australian Masters Rowing Championships will continue at Lake Barrington until Sunday.
