Track Is A Team Sport To These Two

They are so close, Hélène and Gene Myers both finished fifth in the 3000 meter run for 70-74 at the USATF Masters Indoor Championships on Thursday. Read her story, and some of Gene's, below to see what late-blooming looks like.

By Ray Glier

Hélène Myers was 59 years old when she had to enlist all her strength to drag her inner tube to the top of the water slide at The Atlantis resort in The Bahamas.

Now 70 years old, Hélène will compete in at least seven events—perhaps as many as 10—at the USA Track & Field Masters Indoor Championships in Gainesville, Fla., Thursday through Sunday.

Hers was a dramatic transformation in physical fitness that does not require a complicated explanation.

“I ran up a hill one day,” said Hélène, whose name has two accents on the e’s.

That was the spark. Myers ran up that hill and then she started running up more hills. It wasn’t long before she was doing half-marathons and throwing things heavier than the inner tube, like the super weight in field events.

“When I go to amusement parks now I behave like I behaved when I was a kid,” Hélène said.

Thursday, on Day 1 of the meet, she ran the 3000 for Women 70-74 and finished fifth and last (23 minutes, 23.42 seconds), just as she predicted. Friday, Hélène finished eighth and last again in the 400.

"I'm slow," she said.

Meanwhile, Gene Myers, 72, her husband, did the 3000-meter run Thursday and finished fifth (13 minutes, 16.60 seconds) just four months after heart surgery to fix atrial fibrillation. Gene won the 3000 at the USATF nationals indoors in 2023 in Louisville (M70).

Gene Myers still has the 1500 to run Saturday afternoon and the800 to run Sunday morning.

**

Hélène was about 62 years old when she started running, but that wasn’t all she did at 62. Not by a long shot.

A Phd from the University of Maryland and holding a Masters in cyber security from prestigious Johns Hopkins University earned her an internship at NASA in the Advanced Physics Laboratory. At 62.

In 2017, Hélène created a smartphone app for the Cassini mission to Saturn. The app allowed scientists to wake up in the morning and use their phones to see how their explorer was functioning.

That explorer, which took seven years to reach Saturn, was sent to study the planet and its complex system of rings and moons.

Gene Myers had his own late-bloomer story. He broke his foot in 2001 and then got wrapped up in his work as a research scientist for the federal government and did not run again for 14 years. Geezer Jock didn’t ask for details, but it sounded like Myers combatted cyber intrusions from bad actors.

Gene started running again 2015 and was frequently standing on the podium in his age group at various distances. When Hélène started running in 2017, they became track travelers. In all, the couple from Columbia, Md., outside Washington D.C., have been to about 10 events together, domestic and international.

“We're not a couple that takes separate vacations or anything. We are always with each other,” Gene said. “It’s just the way we are.

“She decided to join in the fun and, suddenly, you know, she goes with me everywhere.”

Hélène started this week ranked No. 1 in the world in W70 1500 meters at 11 minutes, 27.34 seconds. She was ranked No. 2 in the world in the 3000 and No. 1 in the U.S.

She got a kick out of that because she knows there have not been many registered times for women 70+ so far this year indoors.

“That won’t last,” she said. “I’m slow.”

Myers might be slow, but she is a workhorse. She is not afraid to travel and enter meets, which is why she was second in the USATF Masters National Grand Prix in 2022 (W65). She showed up to race four or five events while others entered two or three. 

In 2023, Hélène was on the bronze medal U.S. Cross Country team at the World Masters in Poland. At the USATF Half Marathon Championship in Syracuse, New York, she took a silver (W65).

This week, Hélène sees her role as “collecting points” for the Potomac Valley Track Club. Gene will chase a medal in the 3000 unless Craig Chassen, the coach, tells him to save himself for other events and also collect points. This is who they are. A team and team players.

Hélène is the perfect garbage collector of points in the upper age group in four-day events. She is all out in every event and recovers fast and is ready for the next day. The best ability is sometimes availability.

“When we go to one of these track meets, because there's so many days, I want to do something every day, it feels like I got something done,” she said. “I get last place, but it's like, 'oh, okay, I need to run the next day.' I'll just do it.”

This week, Hélène signed up for the 3000m, 1500m, 800m, 400m, shot put, weight throw, and super weight. She is also hoping to run the 4X800m, 4X400m, and 4X200m club relays.

This from a woman who once struggled to carry an inner tube. Hers is another story for Geezer Jocks to hold on to.