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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Lifestyle
Paula Cocozza

A new start after 60: I did my first pull-up at 63 – then fought to be a ninja warrior

Ginny MacColl in Oak Island, North Carolina.
‘I try to look at failure as a motivator’ … Ginny MacColl in Oak Island, North Carolina. Photograph: Allison Joyce/The Guardian

Ginny MacColl was 63 when she accepted her daughter’s challenge to complete a pull-up. It took nine months to nail it. Now, a decade on, MacColl can pump out 17 of them in a row. It’s hard to argue with her when she says: “You can get stronger with age.”

MacColl has since competed three times in the reality TV show American Ninja Warrior. She’s the oldest person to complete an obstacle, and the oldest female ninja athlete, according to Guinness World Records. It was watching her daughter, Jessie Graff, a stuntwoman, compete on the show that made her want to grow stronger herself.

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