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FINE PERFORMANCES CAP FIFTY-PLUS 8K RUN AND BAY AREA SENIOR GAMES

Fifty-Plus Honors Peggy Fleming with Zatopek Award

PALO ALTO, Calif. - March 12, 2006 - The 23rd Annual Fifty-Plus Lifelong 
Fitness Weekend and its inaugural companion event, the Bay Area Senior 
Games, concluded today while showcasing the abilities of hundreds of 
senior athletes. Under cool conditions and drippy skies, Emil Magallanes, 
50, of Boise, Idaho and Heidi Swan, 52, of Larkspur, Calif. scored almost 
uncontested victories in the Weekend's showcase event, the Paul Spangler 
Memorial 8-Kilometer Run around the Stanford University campus.
Magallanes' winning time was 28 minutes and 18 seconds. Swan breezed to 
victory in 30:42. Both runners were crowned 8K Senior Champions (ages 50 
to 59) for the Pacific Association of USA Track & Field. The race serves 
as an 8K road championship for the Pacific Association.
Both Magallanes and Swan took leads early in the race and barely looked 
back. They soundly thumped the competition among 151 finishers in the 
featured event of the day -- the 8K Championship for runners age 50 and 
over.
"My plan was just to see how the race shaped up and run my own race. I 
felt confident since I've been doing a lot of track workouts," said 
Magallanes who is planning to compete in the mile and 3,000-meter events 
at the USA Masters Indoor Track and Field Championship in Boston. March 
24 through 26. 
Behind Magallanes, Fletcher Lesley, 50, of San Francisco, and Lloyd 
Stephenson, 51, also of San Francisco, registered a close race for the 
runner-up spot. Lesley finished second in 29:06 with Stephenson third in 
29:11.
Swan captured the women's crown following impressive age 50-and-over 
victories last fall at the USA Track & Field National Masters 10K 
Championships, and the Pacific Association/USATF Half Marathon and 
30-Kilometer Championships, making her one of the premier U.S. female 
runners in the age 50-54 division. Swan's 30:42 time at today's race puts 
her among the top half dozen U.S. 8K performers of all time in her 
division.
Kim Rupert, 51, of Hillsborough, Calif. secured second place in 33:09. 
Karen Kunz, 51, of Folsom, Calif. was third in 33:23
The oldest finishers in the seniors' race were Harold Thurston, 87, of 
Los Altos, Calif., who notched a 55:01 finishing time (11 minutes per 
mile pace) and 79-year-old Joy Johnson of San Jose, Calif. who ran 52:44. 
The all-time oldest finisher in the race's record book is Dr. Paul 
Spangler, the veteran, multi-age-group record holder to whom the event 
serves as a memorial. Spangler last competed at the Fifty-Plus race in 
1993 just before his death at the age of 94.
In the separate 8K race for runners under age 50 -- which also served as 
a Pacific Association/USATF Championship -- Kevin Pierpoint, 30, of Palo 
Alto, Calif. and Magdalena Lewy Boulet, 32, of Oakland, Calif. emerged 
respectively as the men's and women's champions. Pierpoint scored a 
winning time of 25:15. Lewy Boulet finished in 27:36. Sissel 
Berntsen-Heber (Mill Valley, Calif.) and Jose Aispuro (Freedom, Calif.) 
pinned down the masters (age 40-49) wins.
The winners of the companion 5-Kilometer Race Walk were Jack Bray, 73, of 
Kentfield, Calif. in 28:33, and Leslie Sokol, 48, of San Jose, Calif. in 
28:49.
In conjunction with the Weekend, Fifty-Plus Lifelong Fitness also 
conducted the first-ever Bay Area Senior Games today, which offered a 
multitude of athletic events including track and field, swimming, tennis, 
and table tennis -- all for senior athletes.
Top performers in the track and field competition included: Nadine 
O'Connor (age 64, 100 meters, 14.22), Cherrie Sherrard (age 68, shot put, 
26 feet, 4 inches), Larry Lettieri (age 58, 100 meters, 12.43), Roger 
Tsuda (age 71, 100 meters, 14.00), and Matthew Pruitt (age 58) who won 
both the 200-meter (26.26) and 400-meter (59.87) dashes in his age 
division. 
Several players stood out in the table tennis competition. Byng Forsberg, 
80, won his 80s division in the individual round-robin tournament. 
According to competition director, Dennis Davis, Forsberg might have 
beaten most of the other 25 competitors as well if he had an opportunity 
to play against them. Lee Swander, 65, topped his table tennis age 
division in both singles and doubles competition, and served as a 
tournament volunteer.
Also at the Weekend's festivities, 1968 Olympic figure skating gold 
medalist Peggy Fleming was honored as the 16th recipient of the Annual 
Emil Zatopek Award bestowed by Fifty-Plus Lifelong Fitness. The honor, 
named after the splendid Czech Olympic distance runner, is awarded to 
individuals who have attained notable achievements in sports, and in 
doing so have inspired others to live a healthy lifestyle.
"Through my skating, I've learned so much about myself. My sport taught 
me what I could do with my talents, whether in the rink or in the rest of 
my life," said Fleming in an acceptance speech of the Zatopek Award at 
the Fifty-Plus Annual Awards Dinner on Saturday. "I think exercise tests 
us in so many ways, our skills, our hearts, our ability to bounce back 
after setbacks. This is the inner beauty of sports and competition, and 
it can serve us all well as adult athletes."
Additional honors awarded at the dinner: Cheryl Sinclair of Pacifica, 
Calif. received the 2006 Fifty-Plus Ambassador of the Year Award. Dottie 
Phillips of Sunnyvale, Calif. was the recipient of the organization's 
Volunteer of the Year Award.
Complete results for the Fifty-Plus Annual Fitness Weekend's athletic 
events will be available on the organization's web site: www.50plus.org.
Fifty-Plus Lifelong Fitness is a non-profit, international organization 
based in Palo Alto, Calif., with 2,000 members, whose mission is to 
provide a longer and more independent lifestyle for adults by expanding 
awareness and involvement in health and fitness activities.
The 2006 Bay Area Senior Games are the first in a series of regional 
Senior Games leading up to the 2009 National Senior Games. The San 
Francisco Bay Area's bid to host the 2009 Senior Games was selected among 
ten competing bids by the National Senior Games Association.
Major sponsors help make the Fifty-Plus Fitness Weekend and Bay Area 
Senior Games possible: City of Palo Alto Recreation, Classic Residences 
by Hyatt in Palo Alto, Palo Alto Medical Foundation, Palo Alto Weekly, 
Catholic Healthcare West (CHW)/Sequoia Hospital, and Stanford University 
Hospital.