61-year-old woman holds 5-hour plank — a new world record — at Huntsman World Senior Games

ST. GEORGE — The Huntsman World Senior Games in St. George are well underway, and already a world record has been broken.

On Tuesday, 61-year-old Donna Jean Wilde of Canada broke the world record for the longest female abdominal plank, holding the position for five full hours.

Kyle Case, chief executive officer of the Huntsman World Senior Games, said Wilde told them six months ago that she wanted to break her existing world record of 4:30:11 at the games.

"So we brainstormed a little bit and came up with this idea of partnering and coupling it with the opening ceremonies, and holy cow! Her performance was unbelievable!" he said. "The crowd there and the energy and everybody cheering was just fantastic."

Case said what Wilde was able to accomplish is the "whole point" of the Huntsman World Senior Games.

"It's recognizing where you're at right now and that you don't have to stop; you can continue to do the things that you do," Case said. "Here we work with sports, but there are a number of things that we can continue to do that we love as we age."

The moment Wilde hit the five-hour mark was captured on video and posted on social media, and it has more than 4 million views. Case said it's just proof that age is not always a limiting factor.

"Society might say age might limit us, but that's not true," he said. "We can do things that we love to do, that we're passionate about, and that are good for us and that are good for people around us. We don't have to stop."

Along those lines, Case said that age isn't always a reason to stop doing what you love, and for some, like Utah resident Alta Pierson, it's never too late to try new things.

At 100, Pierson entered her first-ever track meet and set a Huntsman World Senior Games record in the 50-meter dash.

"Isn't that just amazing?" Case said. "At 100 years old, she's deciding to take up a new activity, and the activity she decided to do is track and field. She registered for six different events, and she's already done some throws and some sprints. What a great example of 'It's never too late to try something new.'"

The Huntsman World Senior Games features athletes aged 50 and older and is open to the public. The games run from Oct. 5 to Oct. 17, and the full event list is available on the organization's website.

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