By Diana Graettinger | Special to Independent Newsmedia

Several Sun City residents celebrated gold, silver and bronze wins recently and took third place in the overall medal competition at the LeadingAge AZ Fitness Challenge for Seniors held at the North Phoenix Baptist Church. They competed against nine other senior communities from all over the West Valley who also sent their best “super star” athletes to the daylong competition.

Although the Beatitudes Senior Community in Phoenix took home the traveling trophy this year, having won the most medals, Friendship Village in Tempe took home the silver and for the first time in a long time, Royal Oaks Life Plan Community in Sun City took home the bronze medal in overall team competition.

“What fun,” said Royal Oaks Chief Executive Officer Kendra Eberhart. “We have such a wonderful pool of talent here at Royal Oaks and this is just one area where our residents excel. We are so fortunate to have this vibrant community that can show off its talents. I cannot wait for next year, when I know our team will bring home that traveling trophy.”

Although they may be pensioners, with creaking bones and squeaky joints, Sun City Olympians ages 60 to 80 and older were eager to compete in the daylong event. The Royal Oaks team included: Adrianne Christie, Barb Conides, Ed Crabbe, Liz Crabbe, Irene Baldridge, Mike Baldridge, Linda Walker, Mary Ann Picardo, Tom Gentz, Iola Dean, Jim Meadows, John Farrell, Larry Peterson, Marcia Hazlett, Pat Bangart and Tom Colvin.

During the competition, the athletes, all trained and determined, were ready to compete in areas that included: WII bowling, cornhole toss, obstacle course, basketball bounce and the endurance walking track. Dressed in bright orange matching shirts, the Royal Oaks athletes distinguished themselves with their calm resolve, grit and their determination to win.

During the Wii bowling rivalry, Royal Oaks led with Adrienne Christie who swung her arm and pulled the trigger on the Wii handset to bring home the gold with a score of 237 out of a possible 300. She threw more strikes and did not spare her opponents any compassion as she kept piling on the pins as they cascaded across the alley. With fierce determination and calm execution, she kept her eye on the goal and with a steady hand threw strike and spare, one after the other.

Last year, Royal Oaks’ Mary Ann Picardo smoked the competition and even lapped her rival walkers to bring home the gold medal in the one-half mile walk. But not this year; although Picardo trampled her contenders and won the gold for a second year in a row, she did so with some serious competition with one of the other contestants “breathing” down her neck as they rounded the track on the last leg of the power walk. Picardo, with seconds to spare, crossed the finish line with a time of 5 minutes and 45 seconds. The speed walker also medaled in the relay competition.

While Christie and Picardo were holding off their challengers, the husband-and-wife team of Mike and Irene Baldridge trounced their rivals in the cornhole toss competition. The Baldridges, who are formidable opponents when they play for fun on Friday and Sundays at Royal Oaks, were focused on the goal to win as they “smoked” the competition to bring home the senior communities third gold medal.

For the first time ever, the champions brought home the silver in the relay competition. Iola Dean, Tom Getz, Mary Ann Picardo, Pat Bangart, Jim Meadows and Marcia Hazlett executed precision as they danced across rings on the floor, stood and squatted and kicked volleyballs into a net among other challenges to pick up a silver medal; they finished the competition in 45.4 seconds, just fractions behind the gold medalist. They already are looking to next year.

Iola Dean and Tom Gentz both took bronze medals to add to Royal Oaks’ collection. In her first- ever competition, Dean was just one-half second off winning a silver medal in the one-half mile walk in her age group, while Getz bounced balls into a basket to win his medal. It was his second medal of the day because he also won as part of the relay team.

“We had a good year and I am so proud of all our competitors. More residents joined in the competition this year and it proved beneficial because look at all the medals we brought home. I look forward to next year when even more residents join in the fun and become part of the competition,” said Wendy Warchock, Royal Oaks fitness supervisor.