10/17/2002: 99 year-old sprinter

Go man go! This Aussie guy is 99 years old, at the World Masters Games which happened last week in Melbourne. Sporting events for folks beyond prime.

He came in fourth in his event, which was last-place. It was the Mens 90-and-over 100 Metres. He turned in a time of 28.57. The winner of the event was listed as in the 90-94 age category, with a time of 21.54.

Just about blew the guy's doors off.

Ok, happy for him and all, but...

100 meters is about 327 feet. Doing the math, he was chugging at 11.45 feet per second--about 3(?) strides at running pace--per second.

Sure, he's 99, but that's not exactly smokin'. Darn it, I was looking for warm fuzzies about old guys. Instead you're confirming my belief that being old sucks.

I've seen people at 75 and 80 that jog every day and are still pretty fit. That's pretty damn old. But when you get to 99... man, he's almost a hundred! Give him a break!