FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – The second day of competition at the 2019 Florida Senior Games presented by Humana began with a test of endurance as runners, power walkers, and race walkers pushed their physical limits during the 5K road race at Vista View Park in Davie. After the sun rose over the hill-topped park, harriers of each discipline toed the line for the 3.1 mile course.
In the 5K run, newcomer Tri Thornhill, an attorney from Lakeland, turned in the top time of the morning, finishing the two-lap course in 17:40.5. Thornhill’s time was 40 seconds ahead of the second-place finisher, Thomas Hampton (18:20). Janet Canfield, of Titusville, was the first female finisher, besting the course in 23:24.1.
Known for his physical strength and stride, Karl Hughes, of Seminole, repeated as the Race Walk champion. The two-time Bob Fine Award Winner finished the course in 30:08.5. “Each year, it’s about pushing yourself to the next limit,” said Hughes. “I look forward to competing next weekend on the track and being back here in 2020.” On the women’s side, Ann Harsh was crowned the champion on her home turf as the Fort Lauderdale native took the women’s title with a 33:27.5 finish.
Wrapping up the road race competition were the Power Walkers as Virginia Harshman (34:57.0) and Harold Dockins (30:04.3) took home the individual titles.
Over a 24-hour period between Friday and Saturday morning, Norberto Olivera was on a starting line in three difference races. The 2019 Florida Senior Games Cycling Time Trials, on Friday morning, a 5K Road Race in West Palm Beach, Friday night and the 2019 Florida Senior Games 5K Road Race.
“It was my goal to win first place in all three races,” he said before the 5K Road Race Saturday morning.
He accomplished the first-place finish in the 5K Road Race, but not in the 5K Cycling Time Trials, even though he had one of his best performances.
“I didn’t have a chip on my bike,” Olivera said. “I switched bikes at the last minute and didn’t move the chip to the new bike.”
In the 5K Road Race, the chip was affixed to his race number and he crossed the finish line with a time of 20:41.20 to win the gold medal in the 55-59 age group.
Moving to the pool, Debbie Cavanaugh, a swimmer from Fort Lauderdale, with a long history of accolades, added her name to the Florida Senior Games Record book to join her husband Cav, who has held the Men’s 65-69 group record in the 100-yard freestyle since 2000.
Debbie set new records in the Women’s 60-64 age group 100-and 200-yard backstroke. Cav, swimming in the Florida Senior Games for the first time since his record-setting performance in 2000, won a gold medal in the 200-yard freestyle and a silver medal in the 100 IM, in the 80-84 age group.
Overall, 16 age group records fell Saturday at the Coral Springs Aquatic Center. By setting a 200-yard backstroke record in the 65-69 age group with a time of 2:30.70, Brian Voisard, of Winter Haven, is now a record holder in four different age groups, dating back to 2005. He holds the 500-yard freestyle records in the 50-54, 55-59 and 60-64 age groups.
Moving into the 70-74 age group, Nathan Leech, of The Villages, set age group records in the 400-Yard IM and 200-Yard Backstroke. While setting the 70-74 age group in the 200-yard backstroke, Leech’s record in the 65-69 age group fell to Tom Bliss, of Melbourne, the 2013 FSG Male Athlete of the Year.
“There are so many good swimmers coming up behind me,” Leech said. “Guys younger than me had the benefit of goggles while growing up giving them the opportunity to spend more time in the pool.”
Leech recalled never wearing goggles while swimming in high school and only having the opportunity once he started swimming at Purdue University in the late 1960s.
In the Bag Toss competition held at the Vernon Hargay Youth Enrichment Center, in Miramar, Claudette Braswell, the 2007 Female Athlete of the Year, won her sixth consecutive Bag Toss gold medal in the 80-84 age group defeating Betty Harstad, of Winter Haven. Braswell, from Lake Wales, will return to the Greater Fort Lauderdale area on Saturday for the Basketball Shooting events. She has won all three events, Free Throw, Spot Shooting and Timed Field Goal shooting for the last 11 consecutive years, dating back to 2007, when she competed in the 70-74 age group.
Ocala’s James Harden had the highest score of the day at Fort Lauderdale Archers with an 885 of a possible 900 in the Compound Release event, to win the 55-59 gold medal and set the age group record. He topped the previous record by seven points and is now the record holder in the 50-54 and 55-59 age groups with the two highest scores in the history of Florida Senior Games Archery. Only Harden and Frank Gandy, of Bartow, have shot scores over 880 in the Compound Release event.
In reaching the score, Harden hit 36 X-ring shots of 90 total arrows shot. The middle X-ring of the target measures five inches in diameter, according to FSG Archery Sport Director Tim Austin. Harden hit the X ring from distances ranging between 40 and 60 yards.
Saturday afternoon featured Bid Whist and Dominoes competitions, challenging the mental strength of the participants. Hosted by Senator Perry E. Thurston, Jr., the Bid Whist championships awarded three teams with gold, silver, and bronze medals. The duo of Dr. Horace C. Broy, Jr. & Earl DePass took home the gold, while Earnestine Thomas & Cynthia Hankerson and Valerie Williams & Yvonne Williams finished second and third, respectively.
At the Dominoes Championship, Secretary of Commerce and Enterprise Florida’s President and CEO Jamal Sowell made a special visit to the Northwest Focal Point Senior Center in Margate, welcoming competitors and thanking each of them for their participation and economic impact in the Broward County area during the 2019 Games.
Switching gears to the final event of the day, men’s and women’s doubles and mixed duos of keglers bonded together for an afternoon of pin striking at Strikers Family Sports Complex. Gerald Teel and Ed Fenstermacher, of The Villages, established a new Men’s Doubles Bowling record in the 70-74 age group, with a combined score of 1395. The duo topped the previous record by 84 pins, that was set in 2010 by Richard Merrill and Samuel Anzalone, also of The Villages. In the six games combined, Teel and Fenstermacher had individual scores of 223 or higher in five games.
Anna Fatseas and Jeanne Harlan traveled all the way from Pensacola to set the Women’s Doubles age group record in the 70-74 age group with a combined score of 1103.
The Games continue Sunday with action in four sports. All events of the 2019 Florida Senior Games are free and the public is encouraged to attend.
Sunday, December 8 – Schedule of Events
Cycling – 20K/40K Road Race: Scott Park, 7:30 a.m. (20K begins, 40K starts 30 minutes after 20K)
Bowling (M/W Singles): Strikers Family Sports Complex, 9:00 a.m.
Badminton: Shula’s Athletic Club, 9:00 a.m.
Swimming: Coral Springs Aquatic Center, 10:00 a.m.
Bowling (Team): Strikers Family Sports Center, 1:00 p.m.
The 2019 Florida Senior Games is an annual program of the Florida Sports Foundation, presented in conjunction with the Greater Fort Lauderdale Convention and Visitors Bureau.
For the latest information on the 2019 Games, visit our website: http://www.FloridaSeniorGames.com. Follow us on social media via Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram for daily images and reports highlighting the 2019 Games.
About the Florida Senior Games presented by Humana
The Florida Senior Games presented by Humana are presented annually by the Florida Sports Foundation (FSF), the state’s lead sports promotion and development organization, and a division of Enterprise Florida, Inc. The Foundation works in conjunction with a variety of local sports industry partners to present the different competitions. The Florida Senior Games, presented by Humana, an annual amateur sports tradition in Florida, is part of the state’s $57.4 billion sports industry that accounts for 580,000 jobs statewide.