Taking lessons from the people who have lived the longest

80% of how we age is down to our how we live our lives. Meet the people who stay vital through exercise and community and who say 'ageing is mind over matter'

Sisters Anne Sheehy (left) and Carmen Burns at Tramore Valley Park, Cork. Picture Denis Minihane.

Nobody could accuse sixty-five-year-old Carmen Burns of inertia since taking early retirement from her job at the South Infirmary/Victoria Hospital when she was fifty-seven. Not only has she learned to swim but she also took up running and she is a member of the Sanctuary Runners with people in direct provision.

Carmen took the lead from her sister, Anne Sheehy, who is a very active sixty-four year old. "Anne has done the Lee swim. When I retired and saw her doing it, I said I'd love to be able to do something like that as well. I decided to make the Lee swim my goal. Anne was showing me how to swim and I got some lessons as well which helped my technique. I did the Lee swim in 2013. It's 2km and I did it in about fifty minutes which was good going for me. I was on air. It was one of the best feelings I've ever had. I kept going with the swimming. And for my sixtieth birthday, I decided to do a 5km run. Through the 'couch to 5k' programme over eight weeks, I worked it up. I did the Run in the Dark (for the Mark Pollock Trust) in 2015 in thirty-three minutes. That was good for me as I was never fast at anything. I encouraged Anne to take up running and now she's better than me at it."