This elderly 107-year-old woman, known as «the Hurricane,» has not allowed her age to limit her talents!
In actuality, Julia Hawkins broke a new world record for the fastest 100-meter run in November 2021, at 105, in the Louisiana Senior Games, a tournament for people over 50.
She is now 107 years old and shows no signs of slowing down! Hawkins told WWNO that she hasn’t always been a runner and that when she reached 100, one of her daughters recommended she attempt running the 100-yard sprint in under 100 seconds. «And I did it in a lot less time than that,» she adds.
She aimed to run the dash in under a minute at the 2021 Louisiana Senior Games, but she ran it in a little over 62 seconds. «I have done much better than that,» she conceded. «It was cold, cold, cold.» But it seemed like the best I could have done on that particular day given the circumstances.»
Hawkins, a retired teacher, had several of her former pupils cheering her on from the sidelines, which was one of the most uplifting elements of the marathon! «I had three different children from three different schools from where I taught at that race.» They’re also 90 years old. They were in fourth grade when I taught them, and they are now 90! «It tells you how old I am,» she explained.
While she was upset that she didn’t run the dash in under a minute, she did win the quickest 100-meter dash in the 105+ years category (though she wasn’t shocked). Her family was happy that she was able to take home the gold for the race and that she broke the world record for her magnificent achievement!
«Well, I knew it was a possibility because there are not that many older people doing things like this,» she said. «When I first started running, there were only a few of us, and they weren’t exactly athletes.» Simply elderly women attempting to do something unusual. So I generally defeated the ones who weren’t really athletic.»
Aside from running, Hawkins enjoys gardening and spending time with her children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren.
She also enjoyed spending time with her husband, Murray Hawkins, to whom she had been married for 70 years until his death a few years ago. “He was from New Orleans, and I was from Ponchatoula, which was a little town. When I saw him and met him and saw how smart and good-looking he was, I went home and wrote about him in my diary,” she said of the early days of their relationship.
Eight years later, they married over the phone. “He was in Pearl Harbor when it was bombed while he was out there working for the Navy. So when they sent him out there, we were married by telephone. Which was unusual at that time. My father-in-law went with me to Baton Rouge to see if it was legal in Louisiana. And it was. So we were married by telephone,” she said.
As she grows older, Hawkins has some words of wisdom for others, saying that we should always strive to find the “magic moments” in life. “Magic moments are something you see that you hadn’t seen often before. Like a sunrise that was especially pretty, or a sunset or a shooting star,” she said. “Amazing things like that are worth watching for. You don’t have to be wealthy to get to see them. You just have to be observant and keep a watch on what’s out there.”
