Minnesota woman, 87, still curling nearly 70 years after learning the sport
Being on the ice is where she belongs; 87-year-old Myrna Mackinnon proves there are no limits to doing what you love.
"I started [curling] in 1956, and I've been curling on and off since then," MacKinnon said.
She continues to curl to this day, often at Moe's Ice House at Fogerty Arena in Blaine, Minnesota, with others who are just as passionate for curling as her.
MacKinnon takes on the role of skip, better known as the team captain.
"The skip is down and directs the play," MacKinnon said. "You throw the last rocks."
MacKinnon grew up in Nova Scotia, Canada, where she first learned how to curl from her father. She wanted to compete, but wasn't able to at first.
"The boys had curling, so I wanted to get a girls team, and so I did do that," said MacKinnon, who went on to start a girls' curling team at her high school.
MacKinnon eventually moved to Minnesota, got married and had kids, but never stopped curling.
In 1983, she helped lead her team to win the U.S. Women's Curling Association championship, which at the time was the peak for women's curling, as it wasn't an Olympic sport yet.
MacKinnon went on to win two more championships, but hoisting trophies was never about pride for her.
"I was playing for fun, and that's the best way to do curling," MacKinnon said.
MacKinnon is an all-around athlete who plays golf in the summer as well.
While she was becoming a national curling champion, she was also a nurse.