For many people, reaching the age of 70 is an accomplishment in itself with having the health to enjoy doing some of the activities they have been blessed to do throughout life.

While some may have to slow down, there are others like Elizabethton resident Barbara Bogart who keeps on going like the Energizer bunny.

Bogart recently came away from the USA National Duathlon Championships in Greenville, South Carolina carrying an impressive trove of medals that she won.

Included in those medals was a national championship in the Non-Draft Standard Distance that included an 8.45K run, 39K bike ride, and another 4.5K run.

The Elizabethton competitor who competes in the 75-79 age group is 76 years young. She said she had to compete as a 77 year old due to the fact she will be turning 77 during the year.

Bogart was only in her second duathlon as she began by participating in triathlons first.

“I love participating in triathlons as I just fell in love with it,” said Bogart. “After my first one, I have done a lot since then. I did ten races the next year and 18 the next. I was signed up for 20 but I broke three toes in one of the triathlons.

“I did two more triathlons with the three broken toes. Normally, I have just done the triathlons and have never done the duathlons before last year.”

Bogart said the cost of participation is pretty hefty so being able to find a competition close to home is always the best way to go.

“The only reason that I did it was because it was in Greenville, SC and that was the closest any national championship has been to me and usually you have to travel pretty far,” Bogart stated.

“After doing the first one last year, I went back this year because I had been training a little harder as running is my worst event.

“I ruptured a disc in 2011 and I have some nerve and muscle damage in my left leg,” continued Bogart.  “I have been working hard on it this year and have made significant improvements.

“I have been a little lax on my bike and I have to work a little harder on that.

I couldn’t believe how much I had improved my personal records on my first two races.”

Bogart said that it is left up to the competitor how many of the events that they want to compete in. She said one of the competitors in Greenville was in their 80’s.

“You can do one, two, or three races—whatever you want to do,” Bogart said of the format. “They have a non-draft sprint, draft-legal sprint where you can draft off other bikes, and then they have an Olympic distance that is a lot longer distance.

“Sunday is always the hard day because you have the long race first and then you have little time between the non-draft sprint.”

She said that probably the most challenging part of the competition is getting set to start the next section of the race.

“It was hard last year because I was slow on the long race- I only had an hour to change over,” Bogart commented. “To change over you have a different set of numbers that you have to put on your bike, helmet, and the tattoos that you have to put on your leg.

“Fortunately, last year it was 38 degrees so I could bundle up so there was no way they would even know if I had put the numbers on me or not.

“This year it was in the ‘70s but luckily my number in the Olympic distance was 511 and my number in the non-draft sprint was 1159 so all I had to do was scratch the five off and take the 59 and put it under the 11. That made it simple.”

Bogart’s training paid off in the championships as she was able to complete the first portion of the race with a personal best allowing for more time between the races.

“Since I had a personal best of 25 minutes faster, I had another hour and a half so I had plenty of time to change over,” stated Bogart.

“I don’t know if I could have recorded a personal best in that non-draft legal or not because the weather turned bad.

“It came up a bad storm and as I passed through Transition to see what they were going to do about the race, the wind and rain were coming in sideways,” continued Bogart.

“It was blowing bicycles off the rails and helmets. I was dodging helmets. They shortened that race to get everything in because they wanted to get the race in. It poured on us the entire race. They were calling for tornados I found out after the race from my phone.”

Bogart said preparation to participate in one of these events is very demanding and having to deal with a physical limitation makes it even more difficult.

“It takes constant training if you want to improve,” added Bogart. “It’s one of the reasons that I had never really participated in a duathlon because my running was so bad.

“I don’t have any feeling in my left leg so I can’t tell much about what I am doing with it. I used to belong to the State of Franklin run club and I would run about every weekend.

I lucked into Run Smart online and they helped me quite a bit with exercises to strengthen your legs and your hips,” continued Bogart. It’s not conventional-type exercises like most people do. They have a lot of balance exercises.”

Bogart received another impressive award and that being she qualified for Team USA to compete at the World Championship in The Netherlands in 2020.

However, Bogart said that she would not be able to claim her spot due to the expenses such a trip requires.

Bogart’s commitment to participating in such a demanding sport should serve as an encouragement to others to not let age or other obstacles derail one from the things that they enjoy.