A Master of His Craft: Gerrod Smith Proving Age Is Just a Number by Competing in Masters Track and Field Competitions

via 27East

Gerrod Smith’s still got it, and he’s hoping to enlighten others that they’ve still got it, too.

At 70 years young, Smith, a member of the Shinnecock Nation, is competing in masters track and field events — aged typically for those 35 and older, with competition divided into five-year age groups — across the country. For the first time since he began competing in such events over two decades ago, Smith competed in an international event earlier this month.

The North, Central American and Caribbean Masters Athletics Championships were held November 6-9 in Mexico City, where Smith, representing the United States, earned a silver medal in his featured event, the pole vault. He cleared 2.70 meters, or just under 9 feet, in the 70-74 age group, second only to fellow American Ken St. Cyr, who cleared 2.90 meters.

“I didn’t do my best,” Smith admitted. “I had to rent a pole down there because it’s too much to bring your own pole. But [St. Cyr] and I, we really pushed each other in that meet. He had a personal best, and that’s one of the great things about competing in these events, the camaraderie that occurs all the time.”

Smith set a record in the pole vault at the Connecticut Nutmeg Games, which is a branch of the Connecticut Masters Games, in the 65-69 age group in 2021.

His 2.90 meters still stands as a record.

Track and field runs in the Smith family bloodline. Nakia Williams, a 2017 Southampton High School graduate, received a scholarship to high jump at the University of Buffalo. And three other grandsons of Smith represented New Mexico in the North American Indigenous Games in Nova Scotia in 2021. His son, Weyhan Smith, also helped create Evitan Couture, a native brand of sports clothing that Gerrod wears to every competition.

Smith competed in track and field up until his junior year of high school, he said, but then didn’t really compete in the pole vault again until he was bout 50 years old. He still remained active during that time span, running what he said was Navy SEAL training with his cousin Charlie Smith, who is another talented pole vaulter.

After another lull in his training, Gerrod Smith picked the pole vault back up around the time he was 67 and he’s gone full bore ever since.

“I love it,” Smith said of competing. “I just enjoy doing it. It’s almost like it gives me a benchmark on how I’m feeling and how I want to feel, and I want to feel really good and to do so everything has to be in order. Right now it’s not with this cold that I’ve got going, but I can recuperate from that. But pole vaulting keeps me healthy because I’m able to do it and I can continue to do it.”

Smith is “semi-retired,” currently assisting his daughter, Aiyana Smith, with her nonprofit Blossom Sustainable Development Inc. He says that “fits well because she promotes health and wellness.”

Smith is hoping to inspire others, not only seniors, to start competing.

“Anyone can do whatever they want at any age,” he said. “Pole vaulting is really tough, but if I can continue to inspire others, even the next generation, these are all events you can do into your 40s, 50s, 60s, 70s and even into your 80s.”

Although he’s been focusing primarily on the pole vault recently, Smith has competed in the high jump and long jump as well at the Empire State Senior Games, and similar events. He’s thinking he may just start competing in all three events going forward.

“I’d like to really get into it and almost make it a full-time thing for me, make it a priority,” Smith said. “As long as the energy is there and the body is feeling good. That’s really the number one reason why I do it, because it’s beneficial. Number two, it is fun, and then again, if it serves as some sort of inspiration then that’s great too.”

Up next for Smith is the Pole Vault in Paradise, in Key West, Florida, on January 3. He also plans on competing in the USA Track and Field Masters Indoor National Championships in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Smith’s big goal is to compete in next year’s World Masters Athletics Championships which will be held in Daegu, South Korea, from August 22 to September 3.