Chris Rossi/The Gazette
Alvin Guttag, who turned 90 on Tuesday, of Gaithersburg rests after running the Kentlands/Lakelands 5K race on Saturday. The race kicked off the Maryland Senior Olympics.
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Eighty-one-year-old Nianxiang Xie of Rockville put a new face on aging Saturday when the spry white-haired man finished Gaithersburg's Kentlands/Lakelands 5K run in 27 minutes, 6 seconds, well before hundreds of younger runners, many just a quarter of his age.
"That just boggles my mind —it's hard to fathom," said Lyman Jordan, race announcer of Xie's 8-minute, 44 seconds per mile pace, which earned him first place of his age group. "Surely, he will be a winner in the National Senior Olympics."
The 15th annual race officially ushered in the 2008 Maryland Senior Olympics, which includes 60 events in 19 sports. The state games, many of which are being held in Montgomery County, are expected to involve about 2,700 participants and attract about 9,000 spectators.
Twenty-two county runners aged 50 and older were among 30 Marylanders to qualify for the 2009 National Senior Olympics in San Francisco.
The state competitions started Aug. 9 with late-scheduled cycling competitions that qualified 15 athletes for the national games and set five Maryland Senior Olympic cycling records. This weekend, outdoor badminton competitions are scheduled for the Germantown Community Center, at 18905 Kingsview Road. Lawn bowling and shuffleboard events are scheduled to be held at Leisure World, located at 14901 Pennfield Circle in Silver Spring. Events from basketball to billiards will continue around the state through Nov. 2.
Saturday's race set a participation record with about 1,300 runners. And more than 200 Maryland seniors participated, more than seven times last year's 28.
"I'd never run it before — I saw the thing about the Senior Olympics and my friend bugged me to do it," said Chris Craun, 62, of Bethesda. "I didn't know there was such a thing, but we're all hyped from the Beijing Olympics, so it was appealing to do it.
Craun, a four-time Boston Marathoner, ranked first among 60 to 64-year-old females with a time of 22 minutes, 40 seconds.
"It's a nice race," said 66-year-old Lou Shapiro of Silver Spring, who placed first among males in his age group with a time of 21 minutes, 6 seconds. He said he runs to help control his blood sugar level and diabetes.
"I didn't start running until seven years ago," Shapiro said. "I was 59 and I was 60 pounds heavier. I started running one mile and walking up the hill part."
Gaithersburg's Alvin Guttag, who turned 90 on Tuesday, completed the course "better than expected" in about one hour, seven minutes, he said. Guttag, who ran his last 10K when he was 85 and last half-marathon when he was 80, said the 5K race was his last.
Guttag competes Sept. 20 in a 1,500 meter run in the track and field competitions for the 2008 Maryland Senior Olympics at Prince George's County Sports and Learning Complex in Landover. On Oct. 11, he competes in a 500-yard freestyle swim competition at the Germantown Indoor Swim Center.
Dan Lawson, 52, of Gaithersburg finished second in his age group behind Jim Hage, 50, of Kensington, whose wife recently gave birth to twins.
Now that he qualified for Senior Olympics, Lawson said "it would be fun actually," to compete in San Francisco.
For more on last weekend's Kentlands/Lakelands 5Krace, including full results, visit www.kentlands.org. For more on the Maryland Senior Olympics Games, visit www.mdseniorolympics.org
