Countywide : Racers Stop Short When Police Step In

For two elderly runners in a special foot race Tuesday, the red traffic light was annoying enough. But the men came to a screeching halt when a policeman ticketed them for disobeying the light.

The 3.1-mile race was the opening event of the Sixth Annual Gold Coast Regional Senior Olympics of Ventura County. The games draw about 400 men and women 55 and older for events scheduled over the next three weeks.

After the opening ceremonies, 20 runners left the starting line at the county Government Center in Ventura. The two men were leading the pack when they were ticketed for going through a red light at Lark Street and Telephone Road.

“They were pretty upset,” said Carol Gillespie, a member of the Olympic planning committee who helped during the race. Not only that, she said, “The policeman held up a whole bunch of runners for 10 minutes.”

But Ventura police said the patrolman acted correctly in issuing the tickets.

Traffic Sgt. Carl Handy said the two men crossed Lark Street against a red light and both were nearly hit by cars. He declined to release the names of the men.

“The officer felt they were deserving of a citation, and he did exactly what he was supposed to do.”

He said the Police Department is usually involved when groups stage races on city streets so traffic can be stopped for runners. But he said he did not know whether the Olympic organization had notified the department of the race. Gillespie didn’t know either, and other race officials couldn’t be reached. But a volunteer was stationed at the Lark Street intersection make sure runners didn’t dart out into oncoming traffic.

The ticketing might have put a damper on the race for some, but not Maxine Culp. The 67-year-old Ventura woman picked up a silver medal for her 44-minute race time.

It was her fourth Ventura County Olympic competition, and she’s brought home medals from them all. She’s foremost a walker, but she trained for the race by running through her neighborhood.

“I got hooked on walking about five years ago,” the retired registered nurse said after the race. She walks three times a week at the Buenaventura Plaza mall with the Walk for Life program.

Culp was by no means the oldest competitor in the race. One contestant put down her age as 78 1/2 years.

The games include golf, eight-ball pool, shuffleboard, bicycling, basketball free throw, bowling, horseshoes, lawn bowling, slow-pitch softball, table tennis, chess and swimming. The games will be held at recreation centers throughout the county over the next three weeks.

The games, open to residents in Ventura, Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties, will end with the closing ceremonies at the county Government Center on Oct. 9.