Keep Fit.

It has been truly said that a man is only as old as he feels—some of us would amend that to “as he looks,” but no matter how the adage is twisted, when it is applied to Paddy Hannan, former professional sculling champion of New Zealand, the effect is the same. Paddy has passed his 54th birthday, but is as sprightly as the days when he defeated the former world sculling champions, George Towns, Darcy Had-field and Dick Arnst. Nowadays, a successful businessman in Picton, Paddy invariably pays a visit to Wellington on the annual excursion of Marlborough residents, and renews acquaintances with his many friends. I asked Paddy the secret of his “perpetual” youth, and he told me it was no secret—he had trained conscientiously, when an active competitor, and had continued to keep in training ever since. Too many athletes cease training as soon as they finish their active sports career. This, he declares, is a fatal mistake. Bringing an engine to a sudden halt invariably disrupts part of the machinery—and so it is with the human frame. The slowing-down of training should be a gradual process, ending only with the close of life's span.