Track enthusiasts across the world travel to one of the largest meets around – the Penn Relays.
According to the Penn Relays’ website, “Each spring, more than 15,000 student-athletes from high schools and colleges around the nation visit Philadelphia to compete in the Penn Relays. [More] than 100,000 fans annually attend the action at Franklin Field.”
Amid these athletes and fans, one of the most popular races each year is the 100m dash for athletes 75 and older.
We stumbled across this 10-minute short film, “Going the Distance” produced by NBC Sports on Greatist.com. If you don’t have time to watch the full 10-minute clip, Greatist outlines the best spots to fast forward to:
- 1:20: See Champ Goldy, a 98-year-old (!) runner, practice on the 100-meter strip of road he’s marked out in front of his house.
- 3:40: Watch Betty Leander train with her granddaughter. At 85, Leander is the first woman to compete in the over-75 category at the Penn Relays.
- 7:06: Check out 87-year-old Ed Cox’s race. His killer time makes him the second fastest in the world for his age group!
Watch the fun, sweet video below. If you’re not inspired to lace up your running shoes right after watching this, you could wait another 30 or 40 years, but your competition will still be pretty tough.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NKsx9mvowbY
