It was the same old story heard on a lot of tennis courts-good player beaten by a younger, stronger opponent-but Maurine Winkler of Wheaton said she wasn’t happy about it.
“We were runner-oops,” she said of herself and her doubles partner. “We were running around and then . . . oops.”
How could you expect otherwise, though? she asked. The two of them had been playing against youngsters in their 50s.
Winkler, 74, was one of about 400 competitors ages 55 and up who are competing in this year’s Midwest Senior Games, sponsored by the West Chicago Park District. Now in their fourth year, the games-held Tuesday through Saturday-feature events ranging from horseshoes and pocket billiards to trap shooting, swimming and track.
Competitors come from as far away as Iowa, Indiana and Missouri, said games coordinator Peggy Krauch, who is superintendent of recreation for the Park District. A lot of the entrants were drawn in by word of mouth, she said, and anyone who competed in past years also was automatically mailed an application.
“It’s just to give them a chance to participate and come out and have a good time,” Krauch said. In fact, because medals are awarded for the best players in each age category-55 to 59, 60 to 64 and so on in five-year increments-a good percentage of the competitors in any event come away with a medal of some kind.
“It winds up most of the time everybody gets a gold medal,” said Sylvia Levitt of Broadview, a longtime archer who now uses a wheelchair but came out to watch her friends in the archery competition. “There’s enough to go around.”
“They have fun while they’re doing it, but they take it pretty serious,” said Levitt.
