A-H’s Petra takes home gold medal in javelin
Renae Hansen | NCP Editor
Cathy Petra is a familiar face as the athletic trainer on the sidelines for the Viborg-Hurley, Irene-Wakonda, and Alcester-Hudson athletic teams, but Petra has also proven her own abilities on the field as well.
“It’s been a really good year as far as medaling,” Petra said. “I am the national champion of USA track and field in my age group.”
Petra has been an athletic trainer with Sanford Health for more than 20 years and has been competing in the senior games for the past six years. She recently took home the Gold in the Women’s 55-59 Javelin Throw at the National Senior Games in Des Moines.
In addition to her gold medal win at the games in Des Moines, she also qualified for shotput, discuss and hammer. She received a bronze in the hammer, which is similar to a shotput on a wire that she only learned three or four years ago, saying “I’ve never thrown one and one of the other gals let me use hers, taught me the basics, and I said, ‘well this is fun.”
Petra also competed as part of Team USA at the World Master Athletics Championships held in Gainesville, FL in March of this year, where she placed fifth in her age group in the javelin. This was her first world event as it was the first one to be held in the United States. The next outdoor world games will be held in South Korea, and then Peru after that. Petra tells us that the athletes pay for their own expenses, including travel and hotels, so the events out of the country are not as easy to get to. The cost can add up, and at a recent competition, she had a five-night stay since the event was large enough that the events were spread out over several days. On the days that she wasn’t competing, she volunteered to help run the events at the meet.
When asked what she enjoys most about competing, Petra said, “You make a lot of friends, I’ve got friends from all over the country. … We want to win, but we’re not cutthroat. Everybody’s out there staying in shape and just having fun and making great relationships.”
Competing comes with challenges, though, and Petra says finding the time to train as the most pressing of those challenges.
“Because I’m still working full time you have to fit your training in around your work,” she says. “Sometimes it’s a challenge because if I’m working all day and maybe I’ve got a game that night and I get home late, where am I going to fit that training in today.”
She says that the training involved depends on how much you want to put in to it. While some people don’t do weight room time, she finds it necessary in the winter when she can’t do a lot of throwing outside unless there is mild winter.
Her advice to those who are interested in competing as a senior is to “Start slow. You’re not 20 anymore.” Look on the website to see what events are available because there’s a whole lot more than track and field.
“There’s stuff for people who swim, there’s stuff for people who play badminton, there’s cornhole even,” she said. “There’s a lot of events to do, it’s not all track and field.”
She finds inspiration while competing and tells the story of Julia “Hurricane” Hawkins, who started competing in the senior games at 100 and passed away at 108.
“We have people all the way up over 100 competing in these games and it’s so inspiring and it’s amazing to watch these people who are much older than I am competing in track and field and being very successful at it.”
Petra concludes with, “I’m very grateful to God for the ability that he’s given me to throw in college and then as a masters athlete to continue to throw. Because it’s really His gift to me…the gift of being able to compete, the gift of all the friends that I’m making as I travel around and compete.”