Friday begins the final three days of the 2025 Florida Senior Games in Florida’s Sports Coast/Pasco County. Nine sports will be contested with over 800 athletes in competition.
Pickleball begins the weekend at the Wiregrass Ranch Sports Campus, in Wesley Chapel, on Friday, with Women’s Doubles and Men’s Singles, beginning at 8:30 a.m. Expect a full day of matches on Friday, as well as on Saturday and Sunday for the 292 athletes registered.
Nearly 250 Track and Field athletes will be on the field and running in the lanes on Saturday and Sunday at Cypress Creek High School, in Wesley Chapel. Other sports on tap for the weekend include Bowling (Individual and Team), Cycling Road Races, Horseshoes, Power Walk, Race Walk and Shuffleboard.
The 34th Annual Florida Senior Games always has plenty of individual stories wound into each competition. Take a look at the individuals who make up the 1,633 athletes in action over the final weekend of the 2025 Games.
2024 Athletes of the Year Honored
Lakeland’s Janet Lamoureux (pictured at right) and Pensacola’s Lawrence Draeger, will be honored as the 2024 Athletes of the Year for their accomplishments in last year’s Games.
Draeger won two gold medals at the 2024 Florida Senior Games and three bronze medals in the 80-84 age group at the National Senior Games. Lamoreaux, won multiple medals in Track and Field, Power Walk and Road Race events in the 60-64 age group at the 2024 Florida Senior Games and 2025 National Senior Games.
Lamoureux is a Florida Senior Game record holder in three Power Walk events and set a Power Walk record at the 2025 National Senior Games. Draeger is one of only seven bowling athletes to have rolled a perfect game in the Florida Senior Games. He accomplished the feat in 2011.
Draeger will receive his award on Saturday at Pin Chasers, in Zephyrhills, while Lamoureux will be honored at Cypress Creek High School, on Sunday.
World Record Attempt at Track and Field
David Gibbon, from Utah, who regularly competes in the Florida Senior Games, will attempt to become the fastest 60-year old in the World on Sunday at Cypress Creek High School.
“I am hoping to certify a World Record if I were so fortunate as to run faster than the current World Records for the 100m and 200m in the Men’s 60-64 age group,” Gibbons said.
Having just turned 60 on Wednesday, December 10, he is eligible to set new Men’s 60 World Records at Florida Senior Games. The current World Records are 11.70 100m and 24.00 in the 200m. The current American Records are 11.83 in the 100 and 24.14 200m. Last week in Santiago, Chile, Gibbons ran a 100m time of 11.76 100m and 23.96 in the 200m.
“One never knows what will happen, but I have a chance to do something that no 60-year-old human has ever done,” said Gibbons
100-year old Shuffleboard Player
When George Darwin pushes his first disc across the court at the Zephyrhills Shuffleboard Club on Saturday morning, he will become the fourth 100-year old athlete to compete in the Florida Senior Games.
Darwin joins John Donnelly, Roger Gentilhomme and James Kales as the three previous centenarians in the Florida Senior Games.
Darwin, of Zephyrhills, will compete in singles on Saturday and doubles on Sunday, with R.L. Lay, also of Zephyrhills. Darwin played Shuffleboard in the 2023 and 2024 Florida Senior Games.
Pickleball on 17 courts
Lime green pickleballs will be flying on 17 courts at the Wiregrass Ranch Sports Campus, in Wesley Chapel, Friday through Sunday. Nearly 300 players will be in action in Men’s and Women’s Singles, Men’s and Women’s Doubles and Mixed Doubles.
George Ehrhard, of Lutz and Karen Sellers, of Sun City Center, both gold medalists at the 2025 National Senior Games will be on the court this weekend, along with many other talented players.
Riding the Roads in San Antonio
Florida Senior Games Cycling Road Race athletes will take over the roads of rural San Antonio for a few hours on Sunday morning riding in the 20K and 40K Road Races.
Florida Senior Games record holders and National Senior Games gold medalists, Karla Antonio, of Stuart and Tom Redpath, of Lynn Haven will be on the roads in an effort to continue their success.
At the 5K and 10K Time Trials races, held last Sunday, Antonio and Redpath reached speeds of 27 miles per hour on their bikes.
2025 Florida Senior Games Daily Schedule (Friday through Sunday)
Friday, December 12
Horseshoes – Clearwater Horseshoe Club
Pickleball (Men’s Singles and Women’s Doubles) –Wiregrass Ranch Sports Campus, Wesley Chapel
Saturday, December 13
5K Road Race, Power Walk, Race Walk – Starkey Wildlife Park, Land O Lakes
Bowling (Men’s and Women’s Doubles/Mixed Doubles) –Pin Chasers, Zephyrhills
Pickleball (Women’s Singles and Men’s Doubles) –Wiregrass Ranch Sports Campus, Wesley Chapel
Shuffleboard (Singles) –Zephyrhills Shuffleboard Club
Track and Field – (Field Events) Cypress Creek High School
Sunday, December 14
Bowling (Men’s and Women’s Singles) –Pin Chasers, Zephyrhills
Bowling (Team) –Pin Chasers, Zephyrhills
Cycling (20K and 40K Road Race) – San Antonio Elementary School
Pickleball (Mixed Doubles) –Wiregrass Ranch Sports Campus, Wesley Chapel
Shuffleboard (Doubles) – Zephyrhills Shuffleboard Club
Track and Field (Running Events)/1500 Meter Power Walk/Race Walk – Cypress Creek High School
A total of 1,633 athletes are registered to compete, December 6-14, in Florida’s Sports Coast/Pasco County. Since the Games began in 1992, a total of 66,352 athletes have registered to compete in the Florida Senior Games. For complete results from the 2025 Florida Senior Games, please visit www.floridaseniorgames.com/results.
The 34th Annual Florida Senior Games are an annual program of the Florida Sports Foundation, the official sports promotion and development organization of the state of Florida, presented in conjunction with Florida’s Sports Coast