20km from Lausanne: at 90, Emma and Manfred were at the start

ThoseGrandpa & Mamy have endurance –At 90, Emma and Manfred form a couple who walks strong

Born respectively in 1935 and 1934, the Mletzkowsky walked every day. Copies, they were starting the 8 km Walking at the 20 km of Lausanne.

Posted today at 2:46 p.m.

Emma et Manfred Mletzkowsky found the fountain of youth. Madame has just celebrated her 90th birthday on April 14. Monsieur will blow 91 candles on June 14. But do not imagine that these nonagenarian alerts remain at home all day in front of their soap opera or in front of “concluded affair”. No, these athletes chain the kilometers on a daily basis, whether it is beautiful or that it rains. “We walk about 7 or 8 kilometers,” replied Manfred. We go there twice a day, but the second time, we walk a little shorter. ” Detail too cute: they always wander hand in hand.

If you are used to walking by the lake on the side of the Pyramids of Vidy, in the Bussigny forest or in Chalet-à-Gobet you have probably already crossed them. “It is said to keep your health, you have to move,” says Manfred Mletzkowsky. And as I have always run since 1974, I don’t see why I would stop. My wife has always practiced Nordic Walking with her friends. Which means that we have always been active. ”

General Guisan walk, Lausanne MarathonForcethon Talent, Train-Savates, 20 km: these are the kinds of races in which this Tandem copy participates.

Even with age, the kilometers are linked tirelessly. “Up to 10 km, it’s going well,” explains Emma Mletzkowsky. We have a lot of fun walking and putting on a bib. We meet a lot of people in the races, it allows us to speak with them. ”

The social bond of the race

The social aspect of walking is very important for the couple of Renens. “When we have worn a bib for so many years, you want to continue,” agrees Manfred. Our outings allow us to meet a lot of people and it makes us happy. So why stop? “

Saturday, at 20 km from Lausannethese health sport followers wore the matrices 70416 and 70417, on the side of Vidy. Sometimes they train Margaux, their granddaughter, on certain races. It must be said that she was at a good school. Her grandpa gave her advice when she played the 2 km, then the 4 km of Lausanne, in the junior categories. “I also trained my grandson who practices football,” said the nonagenarian runner.

Since 1974 and until 2019, Manfred has not missed an edition of Morat-Fribourg. A race he discovered by chance. “One day, I met a man with whom we made the Vita route. He explained to me that the following Sunday, he participated in this event. We were in 1973. I said to this person: “I also come.” But, he replied that to participate in such an event, it was necessary to train. So that’s what I did. And a year later, I ran my first Morat-Fribourg. ”

From 2019, he still participated several times in the Friborg commemorative race, in Walking. And it is also a regular at Lausanne Marathon. This former half-marathon specialist has started 20 km from Lausanne since its creation and has only missed two editions. His reference time? 1:20 am at 70, he cut the finish line in 1 h 34! “Today, I adapt to my age,” he continues. I say to those who make the 20 km they are lucky to be able to go up to the cathedral. ”

In the microcosm of running, Manfred is known as the white wolf and recognized by many participants. Ten years ago, on the train, after Lausanne Marathon, a group of friends of 25-30 years spoke of Manfred aloud. The runners all call him by his first name, with a certain tenderness. Because it is the darling of the peloton and also because “Mletzkowsky” is not an easy name to pronounce. “This is the first time that I have been able to overcome it, I am too happy,” said one of the young runners on the train. “I haven’t had this chance yet, he is always faster than me,” said one of his interlocutors. Manfred has long been the “gauge” for a number of French -speaking amateur runners. Or in any case a reference.

During his most intensive years, Manfred Mletzkowsky competed up to 35 races per year, in French -speaking Switzerland and German -speaking Switzerland. An almost bulimic appetite that almost led him to the New York Marathon in 2001. But the September 11 attacks prevented him from competing for the legendary distance. What does it matter! With his group of Cambegouilles, he trained intensively to be in good shape at the start of running events. He never missed a session, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays and Sunday mornings.

Manfred Mletzkowsky under the bombs of the Second World War

This essential character in running was born in Berlin, where he knew the bombings of the end of the Second World War. He was 10 years old during Hitler’s suicide, precisely in the German capital. “These bombings did not traumatize me,” he explains simply. I lived them with the curiosity and innocence of the child I was. ”

His name of Polish origin comes from his dad, who was born on the German-Polish border. And it was in the 1950s that he arrived in Switzerland. First in Bern, before settled definitively in Renens. “I was a precision mechanic and my trainer offered to go to Switzerland, where his son worked, because we were looking for qualified employees. This son then asked me in turn if I did not want to go to French -speaking Switzerland because his brother was looking for staff. ”

Healthy walking and food

Neither one nor two, Manfred is engaged in Tesa, in Renens, a factory of precision measuring instruments. It was there that he worked until his retirement in 1999. In 1960, during a ball, he met Emma, ​​an Austrian student who came to Switzerland to learn French. Two years later, the duo married. Emma and Manfred become parents, then grandparents, years later.

This couple is working hard in every sense of the word, for sixty-five years now. Their pleasure of moving every day partly explains their longevity. “Going out in nature, breathing deeply, taking steps once or twice a day, that’s our secret,” explains Manfred modestly. And it must also be said that we eat in a balanced way. Especially vegetables, salads. I think it all put together makes a good mix. ”

A healthy lifestyle that carries the Mletzkowsky spouses and which allows them to always put on a bib at 90 years old. Hats off, Manfred and Emma, ​​you are heroes!

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