AllMovie

Most people regard track and field events as a young person's game, but the participants in the World Masters Athletics Championships have a very different view on such matters. The World Masters Athletics Championships is an international competition for senior citizens, and the men and women who take the field are as strong and determined as any of their younger counterparts. Filmmaker Jan Tenhaven travels to the 2009 WMAC games in Lahti, Finland and profiles a handful of the athletes who have come to test their mettle in the documentary Herbstgold (aka Autumn Gold). Jiri Soukup is a high jumper from the Czech Republic; at the age of 82, he can still clear a meter, though his training makes his wife nervous. Ilse Pleuger, 85 years old and from Germany, is hoping to bring home a medal in the shot put, and has devoted herself to the sport with a new vigor since the passing of her husband. Herbert Liedtke is a runner from Sweden whose favored race the 100 Yard Dash; at 93 he still runs daily and is in the market for a new girlfriend. Alfred Proksch is 100 years old but is still throwing the discus in competitive events; at home in Austria, he devoted himself to painting, specializing in nude studies. And Gabre Gabric, from Italy, declines to state her age on camera, but displays no shyness about her ambitions for the games, hoping to best 13 meters in the discus throw. Autumn Gold received its world premiere at the 2010 Hot Docs International Documentary Film Festival.