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Joy and Dan Flynn with their multiple medals they won last month at the USATF Masters Outdoor Track and Field Championships in Ames, Iowa.
Dan and Joy Flynn were at it again last month.
The Quogue couple added to their trophy case after competing in the USA Track and Field Masters Outdoor Championships in Ames, Iowa, from July 22-25. Ms. Flynn, competing in the 70-74 age group, won gold medals in both the triple jump and high jump and a silver medal in the long jump. Mr. Flynn earned silver medals in both the long and triple jumps in the 75-79 age group.
The masters meet is open to any men or women 25 and older. The meet is broken up into five-year age increments.
Although the Flynns had competed in a few events prior to the masters last month, they weren’t able to compete at all in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Mr. Flynn said getting back into competition has been exciting.
“We weren’t sure how we’d perform being off for so long,” he said. “You’re competing against your peers, and especially at our age, it makes you feel like a kid again, like you’re in high school. It was really cool and really a lot of fun.”
Ms. Flynn beat out Barbara Warren — the two have become friendly rivals at these events over the years — in the high jump reaching 1.05 meters. Ms. Flynn won the triple jump with a leap of 6.17 meters and she reached 3.06 meters in the long jump.
Mr. Flynn leaped 3.05 meters in the long jump and 6.48 meters in the triple jump.
Mr. Flynn said without competitions, he and his wife would do what they could by themselves on the track at nearby Westhampton Beach High School. But they also got into Cross Fit, which they would do at a friend’s private home.
The Flynns may compete in a few events this fall, one of them being Huntsman World Senior Games in St. George, Utah, which runs from October 4-16. But they already have a pretty full slate for 2022. The USATF Masters Indoor Championships will be at the Armory Track and Field Center in Manhattan, and with it being so close to home, the Flynns are looking forward to competing in that. Next year’s USATF Masters Outdoor Track & Field Championships will be at the University of Kentucky and the World Masters Athletics Championships will be in Tampere, Finland. The Flynns are expecting to compete in both of those competitions as well.
