Summit County Senior Winter Games

Earlier this week I participated in the Summit County Senior Winter Games, an annual affair that attracts seniors not only from the Colorado high country, but from all over the US. The friendly competition began with a spaghetti dinner at the Summit County Senior Center on Sunday evening, where we registered for events and picked up our racing bibs. We also bid on silent auction items, and the proceeds benefited needy seniors in the county.

Also, there were door prizes galore from generous sponsors. I won a performance tune from Keystone Sports on my skis, which was very timely, since I've been hitting rocks on the slopes all season so far, due to lower snowpack levels. After carbo- and wine-loading, we all went home to psych ourselves up for the ice-skating events at Keystone Lake (which I didn't participate in) and the alpine skiing events at Keystone Resort on Monday.

I competed in the Giant Slalom (that was also a Nastar event), the Rally Race (where we try to match a time set by a games official), and the goofy Obstacle Race. Below is a photo of me in my race bib, free-skiing between events.


Tuesday was a full morning and early afternoon of nordic events at the Frisco Nordic Center. I competed in the short, 1 kilometer snowshow race there. Then at 3:00 that afternoon, we reconvened for more food and wine and the long, long award ceremonies. Why so long? For every event, competitors were divided by sex and 5-year age groups (A=50-54, B=55-59, etc.), and gold, silver, and bronze medals were awarded for each group.

I won a bronze medal in the alpine Obstacle Course Race and a silver medal in the Short Snowshoe Race and a silver Nastar medal in the Giant Slalom Race. Below is a photo of me with my "bling." The Senior Winter Games were a great way to get us "seniors" (50+) outside and moving and were a lot of fun to boot!