A silver medal performance at the Canada 55+ Games is enough to keep Alberta's Florence Storch striving to be the best in the javelin throw … at age 101.

In the 85-plus bracket, Storch was bested only by 87-year-old Doreen Erskine of Moose Jaw, Sask., who had a javelin throw of five metres to Storch’s three metres in Sherwood Park, Alta.

“Never too old,” says Storch, a native of Hanna, Alta., who has been throwing a javelin for 15 years. She is the eldest of the 2,300 athletes at this year’s Games, with 77 over age 85.

“There [is] a demographic at [age] 90-plus, crazy,” says Margaret Marciak, chair of the Canada 55+ Games.

Organizers say more older athletes are competing in part because they see the benefits to mental and physical health.

Athletics have long been a passion of Storch, whose 70-year-old son Ed has also competed at several seniors games in the sprint event.

Florence Storch was raised on a farm and worked as a teacher at a rural schoolhouse, where she often participated in sports with her students.