Jack Eckenrode on the medal stand at the 2023 National Senior Games presented by Humana after becoming the oldest athlete to complete the 20K Cycling event at The Games at 95.
The City of Champions added many new champions to its sports history as Pittsburgh hosted the 2023 National Senior Games presented by Humana last month.
Jack Eckenrode, the native Pittsburgher who started his Senior Games career in 2005 when the Games were first hosted in the Steel City, tops the achievement list for becoming the oldest person to complete the National Senior Games 20K Cycling Road Race at the age of 95. Eckenrode, who inspires everyone to be more active, also lit the cauldron to open the Games and lived up to the hype to complete his goal, commenting, “I’m glad I still have good balance, and that probably comes from riding a bike my whole life!”
The 2023 National Senior Games closed the books with its athletes chalking up an impressive 76 pending American records and 150 National Senior Games records. More than 11,500 athletes 50 and over competed in 20 sports in five-year age divisions over 12 days of the massive multisport event in Pittsburgh, and in our Softball Championships held in Columbus, Ohio, in May. (NOTE: All national records are pending certification by the governing body for each sport.)
Swimming posted 30 new high marks, followed by Power Walk and Race Walk, which posted 20 and 14 new pending American records respectively. Track and Field events yielded 13 new records. Cycling (12) and Archery (11) also showed significant results.
Athletes are always interested to know how their states fared in overall medal counts. The top states for 2023 are Florida (576), Ohio (554), Pennsylvania (499), Maryland (432) and North Carolina (397). The NSG Cup, which is awarded to the state with the highest percentage of medals per athlete, was claimed by the D.C. Senior Games for the second year in a row. This honor was introduced in 2022 as a way to recognize the state that packs the most punch.
Complete 2023 results can be found on the Results and Records page at NSGA.com. Note that the Top Ten All Time Performances page will be updated to reflect 2023 results in the near future.
Congratulations to all of our amazing athletes!
