Commonwealth Games bowler Sue Curran is living proof you can be an elite athlete regardless of age or disability.
At 75, Curran is the oldest athlete representing New Zealand in Birmingham – and will be the oldest to ever represent the country at a Commonwealth Games – and as you read this, she’ll be winging her way there.
“It’s quite an honor to be able to still play a sport at that age and get acknowledged in a New Zealand team. It’s just absolutely brilliant,” she said.
“Bowls, it’s a sport with a disability, or without a disability, you can play at an older age.”
She’s competing in the B2-B3 mixed pairs competition, with Gerald Brouwers, and their directors Bronwyn Milne and Kevin Smith. Brouwers replaced Curran’s original partner, Deane Robertson, who was ruled ineligible when an eye test revealed that he could see better with special lenses.
Greg Bowker
Sue Curran is representing NZ at the Commonwealth Games for a third time.
Curran is completely blind in her right eye, and has impaired vision in the left.
She first had glasses as a child, after the teacher reported to her parents that she couldn’t see the blackboard. All was OK until her mid to late 30s when she was told she had retinitis pigmentosa, a deterioration of the retina, which causes slow blindness. She didn’t know up until that point that she could go blind. Total blindness is still a possibility, but her vision has been stable for a few years now.
Regardless, her disability hasn’t stopped her from achieving great things. She was a New Zealand indoor bowls champ, and has represented the nation at two Commonwealth Games. She placed fourth in Glasgow, and fifth on the Gold Coast. The Gold Coast Games were meant to be her last, but the result spurred her to keep going. It’s third time lucky in Birmingham, where she is determined to bring home a medal.
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“You’ve got to get out and get on with your life,” she said.
“You don’t get over things, you get on with things. That’s always been my motto.
“The motto of the blind is ‘don’t let what you can’t do, stop you from doing what you can’.”
The Hamilton-based bowler, who now lives in a retirement village, used to play golf – her late husband was a golf professional – but when her sight impacted her ability to play, she switched to a different type of green, a bowling green.
Her late stepfather also kept nagging her to take up lawn bowls too, so she decided to give it a crack. Within 18 months she was in the New Zealand blind development squad.
“My stepfather always said I had the talent for bowls,” she said.
“Sadly he died before he saw me actually in the team.”
Greg Bowker
Sue Curran (left) with best mate, and director Bronwyn Milne.
She has a joie de vivre that is infectious when she talks about her sport, and her 30-year friendship with her director Bronwyn Milne, who will be her eyes in Birmingham. And what’s the secret to longevity in friendship?
“Understanding each other. Trusting each other and giving each other space,” she said.
“Don’t live in each other’s pockets, but I do admit Brownyn and I are at the moment! She’s my eyes.”
On the green, Curran knows where to put the bowl because of Milne’s guidance on the distance and line to bowl to, where the opposition bowls are and where the jack is placed.
“I bowl to her foot… she has to move it in a hurry. It’s something we experimented with a few weeks ago, and it works well. I’m getting a better line, especially on the heavy greens,” she said.
“You’ve just got to trust your director that she’s giving you the right information and just do the best you can.”
The duo have been practicing on the Hamilton East slow croquet greens. They are closer to what they will experience in Birmingham. It takes a lot of energy and fitness to play on slower greens, Curran said.
“36 meters on a heavy green, even for young people, is hard work… you’ve got to be fit,” she said.
“Fitness does come into it a lot. We do a lot of walking, a little bit of weight. You’ve got to do a bit of strength work in the upper body and arms.”
In Birmingham, she’s looking forward to catching up with athletes from around the world she has met previously and getting together with the NZ team.
“I can’t believe I’m doing it again at my age! Even the last one, at Gold Coast – I was the oldest there, but I was the youngest of the bowling squad in bowling years. I’d only been playing for six years. The youngest athlete in the bowls was in her 20s, but she’d been playing for 12 years. I was classed as the youngest bowler but the oldest athlete,” she smiled.
“The realistic goal, and the way we are performing at the moment, I’d like … the para-vision impaired team to bring back a medal. I think we’ve got a good chance. We have a very strong combination, and a very good attitude.”
