Older first time triathletes

[Deleted]

I did a local sprint triathlon on Sunday. At this race, they give an award to the oldest first time triathlete. This time, the award went to a guy who is 72 years old! That's so impressive. 

There's no real point to this post, just sharing something interesting. 

Also, out of a pool of 200ish athletes, there were three men in the 70+ age group.

[Susie]

That's awesome.

I have been to open water races where they've done an oldest participant/finisher award. I remember one dude who did a lot of the races in the circuit who was about 91, back in the day. :Y:

[shorewife]

I was just at age group triathlon national championships and got passed like I was standing still by a 70 year old guy. And if I didn't see his age on the back of his leg I would have sworn he was 20 by his killer bod!!

[mrs.jacinthe]

A sprint tri I volunteered at a few months ago had a lady finish at age 70 for her first time. They told her story in the finish area as she was moving towards it and people were literally sobbing.

Apparently she had been REALLY overweight and needed a knee (or hip, I can't remember) replacement. Her doctor told her this was just the beginning if she didn't DO something about her weight and physical inactivity. So she started training with her son and a year post-operative, finally finished her first. She was slow, but she did it and she was SO proud of herself. It was really inspiring.

[howardandbear]

My first sprint tri I was just starting the running portion when I was chatting/running with an older man. He was bitching bc his friend was once again beating him. They were both 81.

[Deleted]

Aug 15, 2013 10:34:39 GMT -5 mrs.jacinthe said:

A sprint tri I volunteered at a few months ago had a lady finish at age 70 for her first time. They told her story in the finish area as she was moving towards it and people were literally sobbing.

Apparently she had been REALLY overweight and needed a knee (or hip, I can't remember) replacement. Her doctor told her this was just the beginning if she didn't DO something about her weight and physical inactivity. So she started training with her son and a year post-operative, finally finished her first. She was slow, but she did it and she was SO proud of herself. It was really inspiring.

That's a nice story.

The other crazy thing from this race is that the 2nd and 3rd place overall finishers were twin guys, who had times 7 seconds apart.

[emilyj]

I love watching the older athletes cross the finish line. I want to be them when I'm 70+!

The best thing I have ever seen is the 91 year old man that competed in a Masters meet in February. He waves at his wife while doing turns, and blows kisses at the lifeguards. He was adorable.