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The Pacemakers

A group of highly competitive and ambitious athletes, all over the age of 90, compete for gold in the Olympics of OAP sport.

The Pacemakers follows the fun, surprising story of a group of men, all over the age of 90, as they pursue their dream of becoming world champion athletes. Director Selah Hennessy spent a year filming with an international sub-culture of athletes as they prepare for the Olympics of OAP sport: the World Masters Championship.

Charles Eugster, 97, is considered Britain's fittest OAP and he has become a star athlete in the world of senior athletics. A former dentist, he only started running at 95 - but in the space of just two short years, he has managed to ratchet up multiple world championship titles and two world records. Now, spurred by a burning desire to break as many world records as he can, Charles has taken up a new challenge: the long jump. With the intense and unrelenting guidance of his Austrian coach Sylvia, he is training to break the world record.

Meanwhile, 92-year-old Peruvian Hugo Delgado, 92-year-old Jim Sinclair from Australia, Zhiyong Wang from China and Dixon Hemphill from the United States aspire for gold in the 100m.

These are a highly competitive group of athletes, all hell-bent on being champions. They are also very determined old men battling major obstacles - from early onset dementia to terminal lung disease - in order to fulfil their ambitions. In this fun, warm-hearted and intimate portrait, we see the ups and downs as they prepare for two major world championships in Australia and South Korea, where they have the chance to prove themselves on the world stage - and show that we are never too old to dream big.

59 minutes

Last on

Wed 13 Sep 201702:40

Music Played

  • Alexandre Desplat

    The Mystical Union

Credits

RoleContributor
ParticipantHugo Delgado
ParticipantIris Delgado
ParticipantCharles Eugster
ParticipantFederico Fisher
ParticipantSylvia Gattiker
ParticipantDixon Hemphill
ParticipantJune Hemphill
ParticipantCarolyn Langenwalter
ParticipantJames Sinclair
ParticipantJingning Wang
ParticipantZhiyong Wang
Executive ProducerRiete Oord
DirectorSelah Hennessy
ProducerJez Lewis
ProducerRachel Wexler
ComposerJustin Nicholls
Director of photographyLuciana Riso
EditorRupert Houseman
Focus PullerPietro Cusimano
Focus PullerYeonju Kim
Camera OperatorLuke Corbett
Camera OperatorSam Bodhi Field
Camera OperatorBen Howden
Camera OperatorRoss Metcalfe
Camera OperatorWill Storey
Camera OperatorJason Thomas
Camera OperatorMichael Titter
Camera AssistantGeorge Graham
Sound RecordistBarney Brookes
Sound RecordistJason North
Sound RecordistBrett Stayt
RunnerGeorgina Isles
TranslationCarmen Arcos
TranslationJacky Chiang
TranslationAlessandra D'Avanzo
TranslationMaudie Fraser
TranslationTina Sijiao Li
TranslationShi Shengjie
TranslationAurora Vogeli
ProducerRachel Heywood
ColouristVicki Matich
On-line editingAdam Grant
Re-recording mixerMatt Skilton
Production CompanyBungalow Town Productions Ltd

Broadcasts