by Terry Foody, Kentucky State Chair, USATF Masters

October 2009

We had a fun and challenging meet at Paducah for the Kentucky Senior Games on October 4th.  Many were there from the usual contestants to some new ones just trying it out.  Every aspect offered had participants, including a race between an 89 year old and a 90 year old, and seniors sailing over the high jump and pole vault.  Throwing competitions also saw award-winning athletes who had recently competed at national venues.

For myself, I had some great middle-distance races with new people.  It’s the first time I’ve run the 800m in a tight unit of three.  The other two were so close for about 300 meters, that I could hear their breathing.  What a thrill!

It will be helpful if the hosts figure out the timing of this event before 2010 (qualifying year).  At first it was listed as Saturday, then changed to Sunday. Before the weekend, it was at 10:00am, then when we got to the meet, they had changed it to 11:00 for running and field events.  Just before 11:00, they announced the running events would be held after the field.  The 100 meter men protested en mass, stating they were warmed up and ready to go and too old to repeat the process at some unknown time.  So, the 100m was held, but other running events went on hold.  I got to the track at 9:00 am and didn’t run until 1 pm.  Plus, this was a cloudy, cold windy day.  When events were held, they were professionally done.  With plenty of participants from Kentucky, Ohio and Indiana, we had a good meet.

Paducah did a wonderful job hosting The Games with a nice Welcome Center and red-jacket ambassadors to help out.  We rode our bikes around downtown, visited museums and the river bank/murals, ate seafood and had a great time.  I also did swim meet and 5K, and these worked out well.  Here’s hoping the kinks for track & field will be ironed out for next year.

Results can be found at www.kentuckyseniorgames.com.