ROGERS -- One is never too old to become a world-record holder.
Just ask 91-year-old Rogers resident Charles Ross.
Charles Ross
Residence: Rogers
Age: 91
Notable: Was recently part of three world record setting relay teams at the USA Track and Field Masters Championships. … Ran his last marathon at age 80 and his last half marathon six years ago. … Retired from the U.S. Army as a Lt. Colonol. … Is a member of the U.S. Army Ranger Hall of Fame.
For the first time ever last month, a relay team of 90-year-old-plus runners took to the track as Ross, Champion Goldy Sr. of Haddonfield, N.J., Orville Rogers of Dallas, Charles Boyle of Annapolis, Md., and Roy Englert of Springfield, Va., competed in the 4x100, 4x400 and 4x800m relays at the USA Track and Field Masters Outdoor Championships in North Carolina.
A relay team consists of four runners and the four men mixed up the rotation in the three races so each would be part of a world-record performance. A fifth runner also gave the group an insurance policy of sorts.
"I wouldn't dream of it going in with just four of us," said Ross, who was the team leader. "The odds are if you have four men 90 and older, it's been proven something is going to happen to one of them. Wife could get sick, they could get sick, kids could get sick."
Because a relay team of runners 90-years old or older had never been assembled, the times set in the three races were instantly considered world records.
Ross, Rogers (96), Englert (91) and Goldy (97) finished the 4x100 in 2 minutes, 22.37 seconds.
The team of Ross, Rogers, Englert and Charles Boyle (90) then ran both the 4x400 (12:41) and the 4x800 (28:17) for two more world records. All three races were run in a span of about two hours.
"They were run 35 minutes apart," Ross said.
Rogers High cross country coach Carlton Efurd said just running at Ross' age is something to be proud of.
"Wow," Efurd said when told of what Ross had accomplished. "That's pretty good, and I have never even thought about running at that age. Running three relays in one day is very impressive. Just racing at that age is incredible. I would love to be running at that age."
Ross, who served in the Army for 31 years while seeing combat in three wars, said putting the team together was a difficult chore that took more than three months to accomplish.
"Looking back, outside of war, having to plan this and to have it go off was the hardest thing I have done," Ross said. "It looks very simple to get four men together, but no one had been able to do it. All four of these guys were just extremely nice to me."
The team first assembled in North Carolina a few days before the event for several practice sessions.
"Several of them had never been in a relay," Ross said. "We got together and practiced a good little while."
No Stranger To Competition
Running relays is a relatively new event for Ross, but he is no stranger to track and field. For the past nine years, he has been competing at national meets. That began just a few years after Ross ran his last marathon at the age of 80. He ran his last half marathon six years ago.
"Never again, that was too tough," Ross recalled saying after running his last full marathon.
In 2005, Ross signed up for every running event at the Georgia Golden Olympics and promptly won six gold medals. He then learned to pole vault, hammer throw, long jump, triple jump and steeplechase. He competed in 16 events at the national meet in 2010 when he was 87.
At times over the past nine years, Ross has been ranked No. 1 in the country in several events in his age group. Before being part of the world record setting relay teams at the meet last month, he won nine individual gold medals the first three days of the event.
"I usually sign up for more events as I usually do 14 events," Ross said. "I have done all 22 track and field events."
Training Facilities Sparse
Since moving to Rogers, a lack of training facilities forced him to give up the pole vault and high jump. But he did buy a pair of hurdles to keep sharp in that event.
"I don't do the 10-mile and that stuff any more," Ross said. "There is no place here to practice on the high jump and the pole vault at all. I have a set of hurdles in the garage, but I didn't practice on those for this last meet because I didn't want to take a chance on getting hurt. The relays took priority."
Ross did a lot of his training at the Adult Wellness Center near his Rogers home.
"I will go in and practice the 100 meters and then I would do the 800 meters after five minutes of rest," Ross said. "Then after 35 minutes I would do the 400 meters," Ross said. "This is the only place I practice. In Georgia, I had access to a college track and field place."
Ross spent 31 years in the Army, enlisting as a private at the age of 18 and retiring as a Lt. Colonel in 1972. Ross, who was inducted into the U.S. Army Ranger Hall of Fame in 1997, earned the Combat Infantry Badge in World War II, the Korean War and the Vietnam War, which fewer than 300 veterans can claim. He earned two Purple Hearts after twice being wounded while fighting in the Pacific in World War II.
"Joining the Army was one of the best things I ever did," Ross said. "
He and his wife of over 50 years, Joan, moved to Rogers to be closer to two of their children.
Sports on 08/02/2014