Lee Bridges of Homewood brought home four medals from the World Masters Athletic Championships in Malaga, Spain. He took individual first place medals in the men’s 200-meter and 400-meter, was part of a United States relay team in the 4 X 100 race taking first, and was on a 4 X 400 team that took second place. The 51-year-old competes in the male over 50 category.
Lee Bridges of Homewood brought home four medals from the World Masters Athletic Championships in Malaga, Spain.
won four medals in an
international track meet in
Spain. (Provided photo)
He took individual first place medals in the men’s 200-meter and 400-meter, was part of a United States relay team in the 4 X 100 race taking first, and was on a 4 X 400 team that took second place. The 51-year-old competes in the male over 50 category.
“It was a good meet,” he said. He raced every other day, so he got to enjoy all that Spain had to offer.
The competition, Sept. 4 through 16, had 8,000 athletes representing more than 100 countries. The World Masters Athletic Championship is a biennial contest. Bridges competed in the last championship when it was in France in 2016. He also competed in an international meet in Toronto in 2017.
Bridges and his friends organized the eXplosion Track and Walking Club in 2010 just to get back into sports. They practice at the Homewood-Flossmoor High School track and field house.
“I really didn’t start competing until 2013,” he explained. He was a standout athlete in high school and at the University of Illinois, but gave it up for a time.
Getting back into it reminded him of how much he enjoyed the sport.
“It’s really the enjoyment both of competing and just the personal challenge. How fast can I be, an old guy?” he laughs.
Bridges was joined in Spain by three other eXplosion Track and Walking Club members – Jay Williams of Homewood, Edward Rhyne Jr. of Homewood and David Cooke of Richton Park.
