The National Senior Games in Pittsburgh, held this July, saw seniors as old as 93 years of age participating in 20 sports and nearly 1,200 competitions.
Keith Sime, a young 89-year-old, wants other seniors to know they too can run in a race: “You don’t know what you can do until you try it.” An experienced runner, Sime has long competed in marathons — even since reaching senior citizenship — like the 2015 Boston Marathon, which he ran alongside his eldest son.
The aviation veteran was just one of more than 11,500 athletes ages 50 and up who went toe to toe in this Olympic-style competition for seniors.
“These athletes have found the secret to successful aging,” said Del Moon, 70, media director for the National Senior Games Association and a former participant himself. Moon says the environment of the Olympics-style games fosters “a tremendous amount of camaraderie.”
The competition also aims to promote exercise and vitality in older adults. “I didn’t step foot on a track as an adult until I was 75 years of age,” said Lynne Palmer, an 80-year-old athlete who ran in the 50-meter dash. “I am very grateful I have good health.”
There is one sport that outdid all the others in popularity. “We have to talk about the huge trend in the room and that’s pickleball,” Moon told PEOPLE. “This is the one sport that we have to close the registration. We just didn’t have enough courts for them.”
Helene Myers, 69, of Columbia, Maryland flashed a big smile as she prepped for her track and field event. Moon said Myers’ joy in the competition is not unusual amongst the other women competing, especially given that many of the senior women did not have the opportunity to participate in sports in their youth before the passing of Title IX.
“Some were prevented from doing it, and then they come back as senior athletes and boy, they’ve got their chance to get out there and they mix it up,” he shared.
Pole vaulter Edward Kent, 90, expertly cleared the bar as he competed in the difficult track and field event. “The games have a very special atmosphere to them, and it is motivational,” Moon said of seeing athletes like Kent competing. “It’s about more than winning. It’s being with these people.”
A group of women darted through the 50-meter dash, including (from left) Mary Robinson, 81, Lynne Palmer, 80, Joann Sampson, 82, and Georgia Keitlinger, 83.
“It’s really a community event and being with other people and sharing with them and celebrating with them is part of the joy of being able to compete,” Palmer told PEOPLE.
