Opening today for two days of competition, camaraderie and fun, the 28th Annual Northwest Michigan Senior Games offers something for everyone.
Based at the Traverse City Senior Center, events span the spectrum from dedicated athletes to more sedentary competitors with activities ranging from a bike race, a 5K run, a triathlon, track and field events, swimming and golf to table tennis, bowling, shuffleboard, horseshoes and pool. An estimated 150-200 seniors will join in the games.
"It's big excitement, we have so many events,” said Lori Wells, director of the senior center. "It's just a fun thing, not a qualifying event, although some people do participate in the state games and even the national games. Particularly the swimming and the cycling, it's not just a hobby for them, it's part of their lifestyle.”
Jill Burleson typifies the lifestyle of a senior athlete, training seriously for her sport: a triathlon that combines cycling, running and swimming.
Now 58, she ventured back from a rocking chair grandma thanks to the Senior Games in 2001. A former triathlete in her 30s, at first the distances for the run, swim and bike events seemed daunting. When she realized that the triathlon included breaks in between events, unlike the ones from her younger days, she signed up.
Six years later, she's qualified for state and national events — the latter twice — in the triathlon, made new friends and found her passion.
"It's so gratifying, immensely gratifying, because I didn't sign up for this for a medal, a ribbon,” said Burleson, who has dropped and kept off 30 pounds since she integrated training into her lifestyle. "I've met some of the most extraordinary people, I say, 'I want to be them when I grow up.'”
Shoehorning in a session of road training on her bike Saturday morning before a day of family events, Burleson over the years has honed her competitive spirit — with herself.
"I think the mentality suits me because I never had anybody say to me, 'Go faster!'” she said of training. "There's no one cracking the whip because I always want to go faster and farther so triathlons are discipline. I like that because it gives me discipline and patience in life.”
"I think it's much easier to overdo at 58 than 30,” reflected Burleson on a cautionary note.
Deeming herself not athletic in the least, Jenny Strait of Traverse City will be joining in the Senior Games this year for the first time. She will participate in shuffleboard, a game she picked up only recently through playing at Senior Center courts.
"I had never been involved in them at all,” she said of the Senior Games. "I thought it was only for athletic people.”
Manistee resident Gary Makinen is also going to play shuffleboard but he has other plans over the next two days, including the basketball shoot, Frisbee and softball toss.
"The Traverse City Senior Games don't qualify you for anything but it's just the experience and the helpfulness involved,” said Makinen, 68. "The reason that I'm going there is we don't have shuffleboards here in Manistee but the city is going to build two of them.”
Makinen has also competed in shuffleboard at the state and national Senior Games level, most recently in the national games in Louisville, Ky. He terms the intense competition at these higher level events "cut throat.”
"When you run into people at competitions from Florida, where they can play year round, at least if I don't win I can pick pointers up,” he said.
Participants are still welcome to join in the 28th Annual Northwest Michigan Senior Games; call the Traverse City Senior Center at 922-4911.