The North and Central America and Caribbean World Masters Athletics, or NCCWMA, held a national event in Toronto on August 11-13, and Sinclair was represented by Tom Johnson.
Competing as a master sprinter in the Men’s age 75-79 division was Johnson, a student here in the College of Lifelong Learning for the past 16 years. Johnson did not just show up, he excelled.
Running the 50 meter, 60 meter, 100 meter, 200 meter and 400 meter races, Johnson brought home the gold medal in the 60 and 200 meter races, the silver in the 100 meter and the bronze in the 400 meter.
Johnson’s finish times in these events leave him ranked 13th in the 100 meter, and 8th in the 200 and 400 meter in the world respectively. Whereas in the U.S. he is 2nd, 1st and 3rd in these races respectively. He also ran in the 4X400 relay, where the USA team brought home the gold medal.
Even though Johnson did well in these races his ambition has not curtailed. He still has aspirations to improve in many ways.
“In the early 2000s my goal was to become the fastest, and my A.K.A. was ‘Fastest Man in the Midwest’,” Johnson said. “But I have expanded on that territory because now for the past 10 years my goal is to run in 8-10 different states. That gives me a chance to check out my competition and see what I have to shoot for.”
Johnson also wants to cover more distance than just the United States, and has his eyes set on the international stage.
“The 400 was my best event until this year,” Johnson said. “So my goal is to be number one in the world in that at my age group.”
Johnson said he uses the gym at Sinclair to train, and he uses cycling and tennis to cross train and stay in top shape. But Johnson wasn’t always a sprinter.
“I went to Jarvis Christian College and I only ran one year. At that time, I was going to be a distance runner,” Johnson said. “Around that time the four-minute mile was broken so I was going to be a distance runner.”
After that Johnson went to seminary school and became a pastor, which he served as locally for 36 years until retiring in 2011.
Then while playing tennis one day in 2000, other competitors saw him and thought he would do well as a sprinter.
“Lloyd Hathcock and Allen Huff, two master sprinters, saw me out on the tennis court and said, ‘The way you move on the tennis court, you’ve got to be a runner,’ and I said no. But they invited me out and I’ve been running ever since.”
Now Johnson is a regional elder at the Christian Church in Ohio, and also serves as the Director of Pastoral Care for the United Methodist Church, which includes two churches in Dayton, one in Springfield and one in Troy.
Paul Helmers
Reporter