Nadine O'Conner in USA Today

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Complete with video link of her 10' 6" - http://www.usatoday.com/sports/olympics ... FORM=ZZNR5
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Couple show age is no barrier in track and field


Yahoo! Buzz Digg Newsvine Reddit FacebookWhat's this?By Billy Witz, Special for USA TODAY
CARDIFF-BY-THE-SEA, Calif. — When Nadine O'Connor and Bud Held went looking for property to buy, they laid out three conditions with real estate agents. It had to be within a 10-minute drive of their house, large enough to accommodate a 100-foot runway and, when they stood at the foot of that path, the breezes that blow off the Pacific Ocean had to be directly at their back.
"I'm sure they thought we were crazy," O'Connor said.

O'Connor, 67, and her partner, Held, 81, were looking for property two years ago that would allow them to build a pole-vaulting pit near their home in Del Mar — not for their grandchildren, not for their children, but for themselves.

At an age when most people are content to be spectators, O'Connor is striving to run faster, throw farther and jump higher. She is entered in seven events this week at the USA Masters Outdoor Track and Field Championships, which begin today in Oshkosh, Wis. In most of them, she holds the American or world record for women 65 and older.

She holds the world record in the pole vault (10 feet, 4¾ inches) for 55 and older but is not competing in the event because of the difficulty of transporting her poles to Wisconsin.

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O'Connor said the fields she competes against include 10 to 20 athletes at most, and they don't all come to the same meets. There are very few competitors in her age group. In the pole vault, all athletes compete together regardless of age.

Held, an Olympian in the 1952 Summer Games in Helsinki, where he finished ninth in the javelin, is not sure if he can still compete because of recent rotator cuff surgery and five knee operations resulting from his days as a world recordholder. His last competition was in October in Santa Barbara, where he pole vaulted 9 feet, improving his 80-and-over record.

But he is content to coach O'Connor, whom he met nearly 20 years ago.

The question she gets most often is a philosophical one: Why? Her answer is visceral: It's fun.

She sees younger athletes compete at meets, and if they lose, they often head home. Older athletes stick around to watch other competitors and share laughs over dinner and drinks.

"With older athletes, I think they appreciate being able to be out there," said O'Connor, among the 526 women registered as 65-and-older Masters athletes with U.S. Track and Field. (There are about five times as many men registered in the same category.) "And I'll get in trouble for saying this, but women don't take themselves as seriously as men."

Nevertheless, her marks are serious. This year she has run 14.35 seconds in the 100 meters and 29.91 in the 200. Her pole vault height (10-4¾) would have placed her among the top 16 in the intermediate division (ages 15-16) of the U.S. Junior Olympic Championships last year.

She has no major injuries but backs off training if she has nagging issues and said next year she'll probably concentrate on the pole vault. O'Connor works out almost daily, for about two to three hours.

That type of commitment is what drove O'Connor and Held to purchase a second home. They had practiced for years at the University of California-San Diego in nearby La Jolla. The school closed the pit to the public, and high schools would not allow them to use their facilities for the same reason — liability.

For many, the vision of a grandma barreling down the runway ends not with her landing in the foam cushioned pit but in the emergency room. It's a thought with which O'Connor's three children, now in their late 30s, have had to come to terms.

"It still makes me a little nervous, but they know what they're doing and she's happy," said her son Brian, who played soccer at the University of California and coaches the sport in high school. (Her other children, daughter Heather and son Jim, also live in the Bay Area.)

"I mention it to friends, and they can't believe it. It's kind of funny because, almost every event, she sets some type of record. It's pretty cool that I can say my mom's a pole vaulter."

It isn't just her family that appreciates what O'Connor is doing. Some of her peers suggest that inspiration doesn't quite cover it.

"Nadine shows women what's possible," said Rita Hanscom, 55, who is a workout partner of O'Connor's and competes in many of the same events. "A lot of us are willing to accept limitations because of our age or strength. She's writing a whole new chapter."

Really late bloomer

Though O'Connor, with a thin but wiry build, carries herself with the grace of a natural athlete, she came to competitive sports late in life.

O'Connor grew up in Idaho at a time when opportunities for girls and women to participate in sports were rare. In her 30s, married and raising three children, she took up running and completed marathons. When she was in her mid-40s, a friend told her she moved like a horse running for water and encouraged her to enter a Masters meet. She became hooked — as much on the camaraderie as the competition.

O'Connor spoke recently sitting at a picnic table underneath a sprawling sapote tree on the 1-acre property she and Held purchased. The house, which they've fixed up, occupies about one-third of the lot and is rented out. Held, using land-moving equipment, leveled off slope along the lot's back edge and laid down a runway, with every 10 feet marked with golf balls. At the end sits a pit, which they purchased used from a high school near Los Angeles.

Downhill on the property, among a grove of freshly planted citrus trees, is a high jump pit with a curved synthetic lane leading to the bar.

Engineer and entrepreneur

Held has carved his own path for much of his life. He earned undergraduate and graduate degrees in engineering at Stanford and California, respectively. He entered a seminary and served as a minister at a Presbyterian church in nearby Point Loma before becoming disillusioned.

"I was a little too agnostic," said Held, who has two sons, David and John, from a previous marriage.

Putting his engineering degrees to use, Held created a lightweight racquetball racquet. The company he formed, Ektelon, became an industry leader.

In the mid-1990s, O'Connor joined him at a mine in Colorado, where Held was prospecting for gold. For a year they lived in a small shack, using a gym in town to shower.

The investment proved fruitless for gold, but they say the adventure was priceless.

"I kind of feel like people should enjoy their lives," Held said. "I've always enjoyed trying to do something different. Making money has never been a major motivation."

Held's analytical mind has kept him drawn to track and field. His days studying engineering have been useful in understanding how the body works in field events, how it can best be positioned to unleash maximum energy — such as last year, when he propelled a discus 120 feet. It was his first time competing in the event, and he recorded the third-best throw ever for his age group.

O'Connor has been drawn to field events for the same reason. It allows her to exercise her mind as well as her body.

"It makes it more fun, more interesting," said O'Connor, a retired math teacher. "You're not just putting one foot in front of the other. There's the mental part. It keeps your interest. … I hope it's engaging some brain cells when I do this."

An idea that doesn't seem so crazy after all.