The Senior Olympics were held in Keyser, WV, June 6th through 9th. At the Olympics you compete with participants in your age groups in many events.
Events include baking, crafts, spelling bee, lacrosse, football toss, baseball throw, archery, 20 yd. dash, bocce ball roll, horse shoes, softball throw, wiffle ball toss, soccer ball kick, bean bag toss, corn hole, bowling and standing long jump. You only participate in the events you enjoy.
Your free time is filled with bingo games, listening to musicians as they play many selections, playing cards, making new friends and visiting with old friends. There is a pizza party and dance, a picnic and a banquet. On Thursday night there is a Talent Show. Everyone who registers received at shirt and a backpack full of goodies.
As you can see there is plenty to do at the Olympics. Some people attend just to cheer on their friends and fellowship with everyone they have met in the past.
This year there were 125 competitors from 14 counties and 2 states who received 600 medals and 10 trophies. There were 6 competitors age 90 and above including the first 100 year old. There were between 60 and 80 volunteers who helped in all aspects of the Olympics.
The Tucker County team had a very good showing. They came home with 54 medals, 1 trophy and 2 new records. Their top performer (and only man on the team) was Jim Buddingh who brought home 15 medals and a trophy for the runner-up overall male performer. Next was Meg Buddingh who came home with 13 medals. The next highest total was Linda Bonner who won 8 medals and set a record for the bean bag toss with a perfect score of 110. Caroline Pell received 7 medals and bested her own record in her age group for bowling. Her score for 2 games was 302. Mary Mullenax brought home 5 medals, Shirley Cassidy got 3 medals and Barb McClung won 3 medals. The teams totals are Gold = 20, Silver = 15, and Bronze = 19.
Everyone on the team had a great time and would love to have others join us next year (usually the 1st full week of June) for a fun time of competition and making new friends. If you are at least 55 years old, please consider joining Team Tucker.
