Meet Anne Gilshinan: the fastest over-55 woman in history at 800m, 1500m and the mile

The Cavan woman is 58 years old and has six masters’ world records – "I never think of slowing down.”

RECORD BREAKER: Anne Gilshinan of Slaney Olympic A.C., Co Wexford. Photo by Sam Barnes/Sportsfile

Athletics is sometimes too complex a sport for outsiders to fully appreciate – its insular nature, diversity of events and obsession with numbers meaning great achievements can often get lost in the statistical fog.

In masters’ athletics, with its deluge of age categories, it becomes even harder to separate the good from the bad, then pick out the genuinely all-time great. But Anne Gilshinan, a retired maths teacher from Munterconnaught, Cavan, belongs in the latter category.