92- year- old edged at tape by 99- year- old
Dixon Hemphill logged onto his Facebook account last week to find dozens of notifications. Some were comments from friends, but many more were from users Hemphill didn’t recognize. They all wanted Hemphill to know that they were in awe of the viral video of his 60- meter race at the USA Track and Field masters indoor championships, where Hemphill, 92, was narrowly defeated by 99- year- old Orville Rogers by 0.05 seconds.
“I didn’t expect the attention I got,” Hemphill said Monday in a phone interview. “I didn’t know I had that many friends. There were some very nice comments.”
Hemphill competed in five events over the course of three days in Albuquerque, N. M., where he was the only runner in the men’s 90- 94 age group, but it was the thrilling head- to- head race against Rogers on Feb. 18 that reached beyond the insular community of masters track and field.
In a photo finish, Rogers outleaned Hemphill, winning in 18.00 seconds to Hemphill’s 18.05.
Typically, race organizers will combine age groups into one heat to speed up the meet, but in the 60 meters, it was just the pair of nonagenarian World War II veterans. And even though Hemphill lost, he can’t help but appreciate the attention the race has received.
“I’m glad he won the race this time,” Hemphill, who lives in Fairfax Station, Va., said. “Because had I won it, it would’ve been not as much of a deal. That’s news, because he’s got seven years on me. He’s amazing.”
A former collegiate pole vaulter, high jumper and discus thrower at Middlebury College in the 1940s, Hemphill took up racing at age 50 and has competed in a number of distances and events as a member of the Potomac Valley Track Club.
A serious bike accident in 1999 nearly ended his running career, but Hemphill recovered from a collapsed lung and broken ribs and pelvis to resume racing. Neither a hip replacement surgery in 2008 nor a bladder infection last year has slowed or discouraged Hemphill, who trains three times a week at the George Mason University track with a personal coach.
“I just want to run faster than I’m running,” Hemphill said. “My training is not complete. I’m not doing long distance running. I want to add at least two to three miles. Orville Rogers is doing more mileage than me in a week. That’s not right in my mind. I should be doing more. I think it’ll make a difference.”