The World Masters Games end in Sydney this weekend having shown age is no obstacle to enjoying sport.
Over 28,000 participants from 95 countries, aged 25 to 101, converged in Sydney for the seventh World Masters Games, the world's largest multi-sports event that is twice as large as the Olympics and held every four years.
The death of an Argentinean in his late 40s of an apparent heart attack while taking part in a 21-kilometre canoe marathon was the only incident to dampen the otherwise high spirits at Sydney Olympic Park.
A star of the games was 100-year-old Ruth Frith, a great-grandmother from Brisbane on Australia's east coast. She broke the world record in the over 100s age group for the shot put, and also took home three other gold medals..
Olga Kotelko, 90, from Vancouver, Canada, was described as the oldest known long jump competitor in the world.
The Games' closing ceremony will be held at Sydney's Darling Habour tomorrow, with a handover to the next host city, Turin, in Italy. (Reuters)
Clean getaway
Thieves made a clean getaway when they broke into a lorry and made off with 200 vacuum cleaners, police have said.
The equipment, valued at more than £50,000, was taken from a lorry in Cressex Business Park in High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire. The Sebo X4 Extra vacuum cleaners usually retail at £269.95.
Thames Valley Police urged anyone offered a vacuum cleaner at a substantially reduced rate to contact Detective Constable Jane James at High Wycombe police station. (PA)
Pot head
Police arrested a drug user after they spotted him wandering around with a small plastic bag of marijuana stuck to his forehead.
Cesar Lopez was looking inside his baseball cap for the drug at a convenience store in Pennsylvania unaware of where it had ended up.
The officer peeled the bag off Mr Lopez's forehead and placed him under arrest. (PA)
Royal touch
A five-year-old was amazed to receive a personal message from the Queen after she picked up his balloon while out walking her corgis.
Charlie Castle was one of around 50 schoolchildren who released balloons during an end-of term farewell at Little Marlow infant school in Buckinghamshire in July.
When the youngster returned to classes this term, he was delighted to receive a letter from the Queen, who came across his green balloon about 14 miles away, in the grounds of Windsor Castle. The Queen spotted the numbered ticket, naming the little Church of England school, and took the balloon back to the castle. (PA)
Queen slips into West End play
The Queen stunned theatre-goers in London this week when she and her husband slipped in to see a play unannounced and at the last minute.
The Queen and Prince Philip apologetically squeezed past other theatre-goers to get into their seats for the West End production of World War I play War Horse in London.
"The Queen and the Duke sat down as the lights dimmed and it was a huge shock when people realised who they were," said a journalist at the show.
The Queen and Prince Philip often make incognito trips to the West End, but are rarely spotted, a royal aide told London's Evening Standard. The journalist from The Lady said the queen appeared to enjoy the performance, disappeared during the interval and then reappeared discreetly. (Reuters)
Mexican police put on diet
Authorities in Mexico City are putting the police on a diet, in a health campaign in the world's second-most obese country, after the US.
Some of the 1,300 police officers taking part in the new scheme, were weighed, measured and examined in a public ceremony on Thursday.
"We can't ask them to stop eating tortas (big Mexican sandwiches) and tacos," said Nora Frias, a local police official. "We can tell them that if they eat a torta today, they have to balance it in the next meal with some vegetables."
Seven out of 10 officers are obese in the Mexican capital, which is strewn with street food stands, according to official figures.
Police officers will undertake monthly medicals under the new campaign, and be weighed again in six months' time. (AFP)