Running past expectations

Darrell "Whitey" Stewart, born and raised in Wyoming, stays in shape at the age of 87 years old by participating in running events such as half-marathons.

Stewart first started running around 1943 while he was running errands and working as ranch help for Ralph Platte in Riverside. His endurance was built up by things he did in the field such as haying.

He mostly does race walking in events rather than race running. The difference between the two, according to Stewart, is that a race walker has to keep one leg straight while the next step is taken.

There are some interesting things about races Stewart has been involved in. He has participated in over 500 races, some in the town of Saratoga. He never missed a Chamber race after they were started. Stewart race walked all of the events in Saratoga. He has also gone to Boston and participated in a race walk event at an indoor stadium. Stewart got pulled out of that race due to his leg not being straight when he took a step. He was walking with Bill Cliff in that race, the world champion (at the time) in Stewart's age bracket. Another race walk he did was in Reno, Nev. Stewart won first place in that race.

Of all the races he has competed in, Stewart has done 12 half-marathons, some 5Ks, 10Ks and other types of races. His most recent half-marathon was the P.F. Chang's Rock 'N' Roll Marathon, 1/2 Relay and 10K in Phoenix, Ariz. on Jan. 18. Phoenix is in Maricopa County, which has a population of around four million people. According to Stewart, the county gets runners from all over the country to participate in it's running events.

This year, the Rock 'N' Roll Marathon had around 35,000 runners. Of those attendees, Stewart was three years older than anybody else at the event. He had to go down to a lower bracket due to nobody else being at least 87 years old. "You have to have three men to make the bracket, and if you don't then you go into the next lower bracket," Stewart said. "There was only one other man in that category and he was 84, so the two of us had to go to the 80+ bracket."

There were six people in the 80+ category; Stewart came in second place.

Stewart's grandson, Danny Stewart (accompanied by wife Andrea), went to the race in Phoenix with him. "By the way, he never got into a run, and I was running all the way," Stewart exclaimed. His granddaughter-in-law, Andrea, competed in the Boston Marathon as well.

The Rock 'N' Roll Marathon is unique because they put bands along the running course. They are usually stationed about a mile apart from each other. The music at the marathon makes the event stand out. There are also groups that get together along the course as well as cheerleaders from local high schools to support the runners, similar to the Boston Marathon. "They had a set of drums, probably 24 drummers, up on one of the hills in the race. They did it in rhythm and you could hear those drums forever. When you hear the sounds of those drums, you felt like you were doing better," Stewart said.

He said that like any other sport, you have to keep yourself in shape to keep up. Once he turns 90 years old, Stewart hopes to run a full marathon if he is well enough.