At 91, Oak Bay’s Alan Day isn’t just marking time — he’s setting athletic records.
Last weekend in Calgary, at the Western Canada 100% Raw Powerlifting Competition, Day bench-pressed 144 pounds, a Canadian record for a person that age and weight (he is 164 pounds).
According to competition chairman Herb Veckenstedt, it’s also beyond any U.S. record for a person that age. After Veckenstedt checked with colleagues in Ukraine, he said it’s believed to even be a world record.
“I was quite surprised because [Day] doesn’t look muscular, although he looks fit,” Veckenstedt said from Calgary.
“So when he did it, the crowd cheered like crazy,” he said. “It was incredible.”
Day said he can actually lift more. But the strict rules of the powerlifting competition made it tougher: no gear was allowed except for belts and wristwraps, and positioning and posture had to be perfect, or he would face disqualification.
“I didn’t realize how strict they were,” he said in an interview at his home.
“You can’t raise your buttocks. You can’t shift your feet. The lift has to be a clean press and in a certain position,” he said.
“I could have bench-pressed a little more if they had allowed me to shift a little.”
Day was born and raised in Victoria. Since he was 16, he has exercised regularly, always with weights. These days, he also walks regularly.
Day eats conscientiously, a diet that he said would be boring for most people: two meals a day, with muesli, yogurt and possibly a poached egg to start, and meat and three vegetables for supper.
He has spent almost his entire life in town save for four years in the Royal Canadian Navy at the end of the Second World War and two years in Vancouver. His war service included convoy duty in corvettes.
But chronic seasickness meant that, even on watch (he was a radio operator), he carried a small bucket with him at all times.
After he was released from sea duty, he was made a physical fitness instructor. When his service ended, Day entered the fire service, working for Saanich Fire Department, the provincial fire service and, finally, the Department of National Defence dockyard, where he worked until he turned 65.
Now, he is just happy to be called a veteran. “It’s great, you get all kinds of good freebies.”
Day has more hair than many men half his age. He has his own teeth (save for three implants). He doesn’t wear spectacles, not even for reading, and he takes only a single daily pill, for a nerve/balance condition. He also continues to drive, except after dark.
His wife, Jean, died 12 years ago after contracting hepatitis C from an emergency blood transfusion years before.
She left him a suburban garden and small bungalow, which Day maintains himself.
The couple had two sons and a daughter.
Day is not all about physical activity. He has three television sets and still enjoys a beer at the Legion on Saturday evenings.
“It’s pretty nice there and I like it,” he said.
“But all the people there are so old now.”
