Local athletes in training for senior games
Albuquerque will be a hive of sporting activity this July as athletes converge on the city for the New Mexico Senior Olympics state summer games.
Competitions will be held in more than two dozen different sports from July 19-23 at locations around the city.
The events are open to athletes aged 50 years and older. In previous years the state games have been held in Roswell but Albuquerque recently won a bid to host the national Senior Olympics in 2019, so hosting the state level event here this summer and next will give city organizers an opportunity to rehearse for the bigger event, said Anthony Romero, associate director of the city’s Department of Senior Affairs.
There will be competitions in more than two dozen sports, including archery, cycling, golf, dance, pickleball, race walking, swimming and track. This year, for the first time in the 39-year history of the state games, New Mexico will open its games to athletes from other states in 18 sport categories where they can qualify for the national level competition.
Games will be held at University of New Mexico facilities, Balloon Fiesta Park and several other locations around the city. The event headquarters will be at the MCM Eleganté Hotel at 2020 Menaul NE.
Athletes who have competed in Senior Olympics events say they enjoy being involved in the training and appreciate the camaraderie they experience with fellow sports enthusiasts.
Alfredo Cabral, 82, said he’d never been much of an athlete but was looking for a pastime after he retired.
“I needed something to do instead of watching the tube. I decided to do the city games and it was fun, so I kept at it,” Cabral said.
He trains for the 400 meter track, discus and javelin events. He has competed in state and national level Senior Olympic games and is heading to New Zealand to compete in the World Master Games.
He expects to be up against stiff competition.
“I really will try desperately not to come in last,” Cabral said, laughing.
Kent Blair, 73, a semiretired architect who lives in Corrales, has been a Senior Olympics competitor since 1999. He has competed at the local, state and national level. In June, he will go to Birmingham, Ala., for the 2017 National Senior Olympic Games where he will participate in the sprint triathlon and the 400 meter and 1,500 meter track competitions.
“There’s a good deal of camaraderie,” Blair said. “You see many of the same people year after year. It’s nice to see them; you’re competing against them but you’re pulling for them, too.”
New Mexico Senior Olympics Inc., the nonprofit that organizes the games, is recruiting volunteers aged 16 years and over to help support the sporting events immediately before and during game week in Albuquerque this July. For information about volunteering call Sandy at 505-699-7611 or email her at sandywander95@gmail.com.