June 8, 2005
Athletes attend Senior games
Gene Rundell and Dick Graves compete at Senior Olympics
By Carol South
Herald contributing writer
Traverse City will be fielding two elite athletes in their middle 70s during the 2005 Senior Olympics, which began June 3 in Pittsburgh.
Gene Rundell and Dick Graves will give their personal best during the next ten days as seniors from around the country compete in 18 events that range from archery to volleyball. Rundell will ride in four bike races while Graves will enter the triathlon and swim in the 50-,100-, 200- and 500-yard freestyle events.
The men qualified by first winning locally and then placing in the top three during the state competition last summer.
"The competition gets more intense at each level," said Rundell, 77, who has attended four previous summer national Senior Olympics. "When you compete at the national level you realize how good people are that you've never ridden with before."
Rundell has a specific intent for his Senior Olympics performance this year, one he strives for at each of the bi-annual national competitions.
"My personal goal is to medal in at least one event," he said. "I've done that before and it just depends on who shows up and how I'm riding that day."
Rundell began cycling in 1965, when he and his wife, Marge, purchased new Schwinn touring bikes. He rode what he termed a 'monster' - with fat tires, fenders and a mattress saddle with springs - for five years before moving up.
"I got a French bicycle, a Peugeot, and it was so light - it opened up a new world," recalled Rundell, who has lived in Traverse City 14 years.
Rundell acknowledges that bicycling is addictive to him - he loves the challenge and the work out, plus the rush of crossing the finish line in a race. He has decades worth of patches and medals from rides, races and previous national competitions.
Rundell belonged to a racing club when he lived in Buffalo and is now an active member of the Cherry Capital Cycling Club. He regularly rides the club's Old Mission Peninsula ride as well as a 'muffin ride' to Suttons Bay, where riders stop for coffee and a muffin before returning to Traverse City.
"A 40-mile ride is not too hard for me," he said. "If I'm riding with friends, we tend to make it very competitive, just for the fun of it."
Graves started out as a marathoner runner and has completed the Boston Marathon a few times. Now 76, he has redirected his athletic energies to triathlons, a shortened version that includes a 400-meter freestyle swim, a 20,000-meter cycle and a 5,000-meter trail run. This takes Graves approximately an hour and 25 minutes to complete.
"I have a good time, I like to do these kinds of things," said Graves, who will compete in his fifth national senior Olympics.
Although Graves has always enjoyed sports, he was not involved in them competitively in high school or college. Both Rundell and Graves make sure to watch other events between their races. They enjoy cheering on other senior athletes and are often inspired by other competitors' grit and determination - not to mention their sheer athleticism.
"Some of these guys are really good, former NCAA college champions," Graves noted. "It's amazing how well some of these people can hold pretty good speed, some of these guys at 60 years old could take first on a high school team."
"They do the full range of track events and to see a man 65 or over doing a pole vault is inspiring," he added.
Graves has a goal to take first in his age group for the triathlon. In the swimming races, however, he has far humbler hopes of placing maybe eighth or tenth.
Competing in the senior Olympics is a hobby for Graves. Instead of watching television, golfing or having a boat, he works out. He swims twice a week at the Civic Center with a group of competitive swimmers as well as bikes and runs regularly.
"We'll have fun and I guess that's what counts," he said of the Senior Olympics.