A 99-year-old named Champ to race 100-year-old at the Penn Relays
The Penn Relays, the oldest and largest track competition in the United States, will feature two special guests in the mixed masters 100m on Saturday.
The Penn Relays, hosted by the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, is the oldest track competition in the United States and will feature a very special 100m event on Saturday with two veterans of the sport.
Champion Goldy Sr., a 99-year-old from New Jersey, and 100-year-old New York City resident Ida Keeling are two entrants in the mixed masters category for the April 30 race. There will also be a 95-year-old, George Scott, in the race as well as six others between the ages of 80 and 88.
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The over-80 race will take place at 3:45 p.m. EDT on April 30 at Franklin Field, formerly home to a National Football League team, in Philadelphia. The race regularly attracts more than 10,000 fans and the Penn Relays is the largest track competition in the United States.
“You see so many older people just sitting around — well, that’s not me,” Keeling told The New York Times.
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The centenarian only got into racing in her late 60’s and age has not slowed her down. The New York Times‘ profile on Keeling can be found below:
Keeling is one of the world’s most accomplished masters runners and has broken numerous world records including in the 60m and 100m events. She ran 59 seconds for the 100m at 99 and hopes to set a new record for women in the 100-104 age category.
At the age of 99, you would think that Goldy Sr. would be the oldest competitor in the race but Keeling has one year on him.
Goldy Sr. told Flotrack on Wednesday that although he doesn’t quite have the speed that he did at 98, he says that racing at the Penn Relays is “a good feeling to let yourself go and to see how fast you can go.”
Goldy Sr. was featured in a NBC Sports short film, entitled Top 5 Finalist: Going the Distance, back in February. The video can be found below:
The 99-year-old has previously raced five times at the Penn Relays and ran 33 seconds for the 100m at the event in 2015. He began running when he was 70 and was a Methodist minister for much of his career.
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