Athletes with USA Track and Field participated in a regional championship on Sunday.
People from as young as 35 years old up to their 90’s gathered for the event at the UCCS Mountain Lion Fieldhouse.
87-year-old Christel Donley was one of the participants who laced up her running shows to participate in the Regional Master's Championships.
“I have participated in track and field since I was 13,” Donley said.
Donley has been competing in the master's since coming to the United States in her 40’s, and she has had a lot of success over the years.
“We go for records, we have a whole compliment of track and field events,” said Donley.
As for the records Donley holds, she lost count.
“I do not know anymore, honestly I don’t know. I still have some, myself I really haven’t kept track, somebody else knows it,” said Donley.
She used to be one of the organizers of this event, but has since passed it on to Roman Marenin. He credits a lot of this event's success to Donley and the people who came before him.
“I’ve been very fortunate that the people who have done this before me have been doing it for so long that they know everything, they know the ins and out and are able to share the wealth of knowledge with me, so I've benefitted greatly from that,” Marenin said.
Now being a participant only, Donley was determined to do her best no matter what.
“Almost six months ago I had reverse shoulder surgery, which takes me totally out of throws,” said Donley.
While she could not throw, she still competed in sprinting and triple jump, refusing to make any excuses.
“Let’s face it, people, even if they’re younger, everybody has a problem health wise or physically,” Donley said.
There were 140 competitors participating in the events across multiple events.
