Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, April 18, 1991 TAG: 9104180188
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-2 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE:
DATELINE: RADFORD LENGTH: Medium
"I think it's admirable to be up and around and trying to keep physically fit," said Austria native Otto Krammer, 67, of Christiansburg, a retired mechanical engineer competing in his first event.
"We're not being a burden to society. On the contrary, we're contributing something," he said.
Krammer and about 30 friends from the Christiansburg Senior Center joined seniors from Pulaski, Floyd and Giles counties and Radford for shuffleboard, Frisbee, discus, horseshoes, walking, checkers and rifle events at Radford University's Dedmon Center. Anyone 55 years and over could attend.
The olympics, which began last week with card games, will conclude next week with a bowling tournament.
The New River event and the state competition - which will be held at Virginia Tech in May - are held annually, while the national competitions are every two years.
"These competitions were set up about four years ago as a lead-in to the state olympic event," said Rick McWhorter, a recreation and leisure services professor at Radford University, who coordinated this event.
And many seniors are thankful for the practice, even if they never get to the nationals.
"I haven't received any medals in the nationals," said Janice Hixon of Christiansburg, who will soon turn 61. She has spent six years competing in the olympics. "It's really tough."
Hixon, who won the quarter-mile walk and horseshoes for her age group Wednesday, considered herself an armchair athlete before competing in the senior olympics. Last year she brought nine medals home from the state competition in Danville. Now she laughs and says she's addicted.
"It's great. It's fantastic. I mean, you can't just sit around and vegetate because you're getting older," she said.
Carl Patteson, 79, a member of the Giles County Senior Center and the New River Valley Agency on Aging, walks every day and does stretching exercises to limber up.
"I can't do aerobics and all that jumping around stuff," said the first-place winner of checkers and the mile walk. "I stay active by stretching and being involved in civic groups."
"The people you meet and the young people you meet here are great," said Leola Pearson, 80, who recently moved from Orlando, Fla., and belongs to the Radford Senior Center. "Just being here keeps your mind active."
Pearson, a tall, commanding woman with bright eyes, placed first in her age bracket in riflery, a sport she took up in her native Oregon when she was only 5.
Her keen eye is focused on aging, too.
"As you get older, there's a strata of depression that's always there," Pearson said. "You've got to stay above that and learn how to fly above the clouds. I think just being here really helps us to do that."
Most of the seniors, like 83-year-old Thelma Lovins of Floyd, participated in more than one event.
Lovins, who retired as a Floyd County teacher after 44 years, has competed in the olympics for three years. She she brought home a medal last year in horseshoes and hopes to do it again this year.
"It's going fine with everybody but me today!" she exclaimed Wednesday during the horseshoe competition. "I'm not winning!"
But Lovins placed in the quarter-mile walk, which she considers her best event. "But I want to do well in basketball, too, and I want to do it before lunch."
Why?
"So I can have a good lunch!" she said.
by CNB