Age Won’t Keep Walters, 45, From Olympic Marathon Trials

Harolene Walters concedes that her chances of representing the United States in Seoul, South Korea, as an Olympic marathoner are “slim and none.”

Although she will be the oldest runner competing in the Olympic trials in Jersey City, N.J., on April 24, Walters, 45, of Mission Viejo, is undaunted.

“There is always that slim hope in the back of your mind,” Walters said. “I don’t expect to be in the top three (who qualify for the Olympic team). I’m going to try to be in the top 50% (of the 200 runners at the trials).”

Despite her age, she may be one of the most inexperienced runners at the trials, having raced competitively for only five years.

Walters qualified for the trials by finishing January’s Phoenix Marathon in 2 hours 47 minutes 53 seconds, good for second place overall and first in the Masters division (40 and over). Qualifying time for the trials is 2:50.

She set her goal of reaching the Olympic trials after she finished second in the Masters division of the 1987 Los Angeles Marathon. At this year’s Los Angeles Marathon on March 7, she finished first in the Masters division.

Among her recent victories was a first-place overall finish in the 1987 Catalina Marathon.

When Walters was 43, she set American age-group records at 8 kilometers and 5,000 meters. At 44, she set an American age-group record at 5 kilometers and in the marathon.

“Too bad she’s not 20 years younger,” said Gordie Fitzel, Orange Coast College cross-country coach. “She would have been world-class.”

Fitzel coached Walters in 1986 when she ran cross-country for OCC and finished fourth in the state.

“A lot of people notice (her age),” Fitzel said. “But I really think it is going to be a trend in the community college level to have older runners competing.”

Age isn’t going to keep Walters from running, although it may slow her down.

“I feel it (the age), so I have to stretch a lot,” Walters said. “But I’ll move into new age divisions, so I think I will keep running until I die.”

Walters, a teacher at Southgate Junior High School in Los Angeles County, began running at 38.

“I used to be a professional water skier and I really was getting bored with it,” she said. “And I looked at my legs and thought it would be a good way to tighten them up.

“I started out at just two or three miles a day. Then I entered a few races and did well.”

Walters likes the rewards for doing well.

“I like to win. I like the money and the prizes,” Walters said. “I won an $800 camera at the L.A. Marathon.”

But Fitzel believes there is more to Walters’ motivation than that.

“She is probably the fiercest competitor I have coached,” he said.

And, he conceded, one of the oldest. But he added: “She is one of the best.”