Tuna Toss Champion Althea throws herself to the challenge.
Althea Mackie is well travelled. South African by birth, a New Zealander and an Australian by citizenship, and a Pacific traveler. When she steps into the throwing circle at the Oceania Athletics Championships in Darwin, it will be another stop on a Masters journey that began in 2011 and has not slowed since.
“My first one was Tahiti in 2011,” she says. “Then Fiji, Tonga, Bendigo, Tauranga. I’ve done most of them. I’ve been across the Pacific a few times.”
In Darwin she will line up for the full throws programme: hammer, weight throw, javelin, discus, shot put and the throws pentathlon. She has also, on a whim, entered the 60 metre sprint.
“You have to do shot for the pentathlon, even if you’re not very good at it,” she laughs. “And the 60, well, we’ll see if I actually line up. If I’m the only one entered, I’d be silly not to.”
Mackie’s throwing career started with turning up to an athletics track in Auckland, after attempting some of the throws disciplines, she found her way into the hammer circle.
She joined North Harbour Bays, an athletics club in Auckland, and Frenchman Didier Poppe took her under his wing. Within a month she was throwing three turns. A year on she had moved across the Tasman and started working with coach Brett Green, who has been with her since 2012.
By 2015 Althea was heading into the World Outdoor Masters Championships in France ranked eighth in her event, Mackie won the W45 world title in the Weight throw and added a bronze in the hammer two days later.
“The Europeans didn’t see that coming. They were a bit upset,” she says. “It was a stacked field. The best of Europe and the Americans were there. It wasn’t an easy comp.”
Sitting alongside the world title is a slightly more unusual accolade. Mackie is a four time World Tuna Toss Champion, the annual Port Lincoln contest where competitors sling a 10kg rubber fish for distance.
“A friend of mine in WA won it. He’s also a Masters thrower,” she says. “I signed up the year after, won, and I’ve won it four times since. There’s a thousand dollars prize money, so it’s a bit of an incentive.”
It also draws more attention than her world title does.
“It’s more relaxed, more fun, but it gets far more air cover. It’s on the local TV the same night and on the front page of the Advertiser the next morning. Such a novelty.”
For Mackie the Oceania Events are more than a competition calendar dates. It is a way back to a part of the world she has fallen for over and over again.
“I’m a big fan of the South Pacific. I’ve been to Rarotonga ten times. The vibe, the cultures coming together, getting to represent my country. I adopt the country. I’m originally from South Africa but I’ve also got New Zealand and Australian citizenship.”
Her goals for Darwin are straightforward: hammer, weight throw and the throws pentathlon. The schedule helps her stack up well.
“It’s typically only one event a day,” she says. “You can rest up before each one.”
Her message to women who haven’t started
Now well into her Masters years and balancing throwing with a parallel life as a competitive Olympic weightlifter, Mackie has become a quiet champion for getting more women her age into athletics. Particularly into the throwing circle.
“Consider giving it a go. If you’re worried about injuries, throwing is a really good place to start. We’re a bit less injury prone than the sprinters. I got shin splints when I sprinted in earlier years. With throwing my body copes much better.”
“It keeps me strong, keeps me active, keeps me reaching for goals. You meet wonderful people. There’s always someone willing to lend a hand, someone who’ll teach you the basics, and from there you find a club and a coach and you’re off.”
–ENDS—