 Lynn Tracy |  |
Lynn Tracy
Race walking
Racine, Wis.
Overcame: Breast cancer, knee injury
Lynn Tracy's difficult 2006 actually began in late 2005. That's when the standout Masters race walker injured her knee on her day job as a professional dog trainer for her own company, Waggin' Tails Dog Training. "A Great Dane clipped me," said Tracy, 55.
It turned out that she had injured her ACL and MCL. She opted for rehab over reconstructive surgery, but the injurystill kept her out of work and out of training for several months. In one respect, the injury came at a good time, though, as Tracy was able to devote herself to caring for her mother, who eventually died from brain cancer early in 2006.
After her mother's death, Tracy had her own bout with cancer. Late in 2006, she was diagnosed with breast cancer and had a mastectomy. (Prior to that surgery, she had relatively minor arthroscopic surgery to repair her meniscus). As 2007 rolled around, Tracy seemed to leave the bad happenings behind her. "My goal for this year was to just get back into racing shape," she said.
After getting back to training with the University of Wisconsin-Parkside Athletic Club, she set a national record in the women's 55-59 age group for the outdoor 5k race walk, won the national 10k race walk championship in the women's 50-54 age group and then, after turning 55, won the 5k and 10k race walks for W55 at the USA Masters Outdoor Track and Field Championships. Capping her year was Tracy's appearance in Sports Illustrated's Faces in the Crowd. "I've had a good year, especially considering that last year was rock bottom," Tracy said.
Terry Ann Roach
Cycling
Phoenix
Overcame: Back and neck surgeries
Roach is the founder of Body Stabilization Training, Inc., a physical therapy company. She works with patients who have back and neck problems, sports and work injuries. Clients have included golfer Jack Nicklaus, Olympic swimmer Misty Hyman, the Phoenix Suns and Seattle Mariners.
But the real story is Terry's own. A former marathoner, Terry had major back surgery in 1987 after 10 years of debilitating pain from an auto accident and the resulting stenosis, bone spurs, degenerative disc disease and fibromyalgia. The surgery "was the best thing that could have happened to me," she says now, as it helped her develop her body mechanics program.
Terry began cycling competitively at age 44, winning multiple national and world track cycling championships. Terry crashed in 2002, breaking ribs and puncturing a lung, but was back five months later to break her own 1998 world Masters record in the 2k individual pursuit.
In 2003, she crashed on her head mountain biking, resulting in a three-level neck fusion that kept her off the bike for four years. Following her own training principles, she returned to her sport and in 2007 won the World Masters Track Cycling Championship in Sydney, Australia.
This year, Roach won the 2k individual pursuit at nationals in Trexletown, Pa., and flew on to Sydney, where she captured gold medals in the 500-meter time trial, setting an age-group world record, and the 2k individual pursuit.
-- Sherry Ballou Hanson
Mildred Gwinn
Racquetball
Waxhaw, N.C.
Overcame: Breast cancer and a shoulder surgery
Staring down both illness and injury, Gwinn regained her top racquetball ranking in the women's 65+ age group in 2007. Gwinn's problems started in 2004 when she had shoulder surgery. Shortly after that, she was diagnosed with breast cancer. Enduring surgery, chemotherapy and then reconstructive surgery, Gwinn sat out the 2004 and 2005 racquetball seasons. She returned to the court with a flourish in early 2006, winning her age group in her first two tournaments. "She could not use her drive serve, but was happy to find out her lob was working just fine," said fellow player Cindy Tilbury. In 2007, competing in both singles and doubles, Gwinn posted 10 first-place finishes in 15 events around the world. In 2008, her comeback has continued with a victory in the 65+ age group at January's Women's Senior/Master Racquetball tournament in Kansas City.
Sharon Thornton
Basketball
Hot Springs, Ark.
Overcame: Double hip replacement
Sharon Thornton was tearing up the hardwood in tournaments throughout the Southeast when she began feeling immense pain in her back. After countless tests and scans, Thornton was diagnosed with osteoarthritis in both hips.
"I was surprised by the diagnosis," Thornton, who is now 62, remembers. To fix the problem she went through minimally invasive surgery to have the left hip fully replaced in January 2006. The rehabilitation time was significantly shortened thanks to her relatively young age. By April Thornton was back on the court competing. In September 2006 she had the right hip replaced and again she was playing just four months after the surgery.
Against doctors' orders, she competed in the Nothin' But Net, a senior 3-on-3 tournament held in March in Arkansas. Thornton's team, the Arkansas Diamonds, won five out of six games in two days and brought home a gold medal.
The win has motivated her to enter her team in the 2008 Arkansas Senior Games later this year. A win there will qualify the Arkansas Diamonds for the National Senior Games.
Barbara Klippel
Cross country skiing
Hayward, Wis.
Overcame: Head injury
Klippel, 75, is a retired kindergarten teacher, but also quite a competitor. She has raced in 19 American Birkebeiners, an accomplishment in itself. But this year's 51k cross country ski race in Hayward, Wis., had more significance for her than the others.
In early 2005, Klippel fell down a flight of stairs, causing an intracranial hemorrhage and a skull fracture. She underwent neurosurgery and then prolonged physical therapy for weakness in her right side.
Klippel never wanted her skiing career to end because of her accident. On Feb. 23 of this year, Klippel returned to the Birkie, this country's premier cross country ski marathon, with the goal of completing the grueling course for the first time since her injuries. Wearing a bike helmet for safety and confidence, Klippel placed first in her age group, winning the women's 75-79 age group in the classic division with a time of 7:48:00. She averaged 9:11 per kilometer.
Klippel has made a habit of comebacks. Her latest battle with adversity arrives 23 years after she beat non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.
--Patrick Fitzell