The Michigan flag fluttered smartly in a national ceremony honoring senior athletes from across the country, where Lake Orion resident Alan Raynor of course took home the gold.
‘I certainly don’t go 700 miles for small potatoes,? he said upon returning to Lake Orion Sunday.
This event, the National Senior Games held July 3-13, in St. Paul MINN, drew 366 athletes from Michigan.
Raynor acted as the sign bearer’for the Michigan delegation. The National Senior Games embraces 22 different sports, and over 1,200 senior athletes, of people aged 50 and over, are competing.
Raynor and the other athletes qualified for the biennial games by winning one or more medals in state competition. In doing so, Raynor won the gold medals in the high jump and triple jump. All competitions are organized in five-year age groups.
In the Nationals, Alan continued his winning ways by earning the gold medal for the triple jump. He earned All-America designation in this event for 2015 and has been undefeated for the past five years.?????
The next series of games begin August 7 through August 15, with track and field events on August 23, where Raynor will challenge others in the 80 to 84 age group at Lake Orion High School.
The Review caught up with the busy senior, who reports being keeping active with art, physical fitness and writing, for a special interview.
Here’s our conversation with’Raynor’where we discussed his physical fitness activity.
Q:’Alan, your physical activity includes competing in track and field events ? when did you start?
A: This started at age 69. I looked around at my peers and thought I could do as much as they could do.
Q: And has that worked out?
A: I think so. In the following 10 plus years I collected about 150 medals in competition. When I lived in Florida, the competition was on a very high level for all the age brackets; the brackets are broken down into five-year segments. It turns out that states with long winters, like Michigan, find that their athletes don’t compete as well with those in the sunny south.? Here’s an example. When I moved to Michigan I went to the state meet and set new records in the three events that I specialize in. Now, in many states they hold county competitions, and this is a way of maintaining interest and overall performance.
Q: I see, just one meet here on an annual basis, anything else that you do regarding physical fitness?
A: A few months ago I decided I wanted to help with fitness training. Here’s the part that I am concentrating on: agility and flexibility ? not strength. Good agility has a lot of benefits: reducing the likelihood of sprains and strains and falling. If we keep ourselves at a good level for agility and flexibility, there are more opportunities to simply have more fun. At least, that’s what I believe.
I see many signs that people have a greater interest in being active. To facilitate that, I developed a routine that takes about eight minutes. This can be done at home or in a group setting. Only a basic pad/mat is needed. I realized that places like the health clubs and the YMCA should offer sessions that address agility. I contacted the Y and sure enough, they said they’d like me to hold sessions there.
Q: How strenuous is this workout?
A: It’s what we call ‘light impact.? We’re not trying to improve muscle strength or involve the cardio-vascular system. We want to help people move more gracefully, confidently and safely.
Q: ‘It’s great what you are doing. Are you including any special ‘bells and whistles??
A: Not at all. But I have something in the works in the way of a simple rack or platform (there are no moving parts or motors) that I think will be fun as well as adding to the feeling of well-being and better health. I have some drawings and designs into a local metal shop ? so we’ll see.
Q: Keep at it,’Alan. There are seniors out there ‘Counting on you.?
–Story by Alan Raynor and Meg Peters