TACOMA, Wash. — Growing up, Madonna Hanna wasn’t much of an athlete. It’s not that she tried and failed. She never competed. Sports just wasn’t really her thing as a kid.

Fast forward a few years. More than a few to this past summer. It’s the Washington State Senior Games at Tumwater High School, and the 67-years-young Hanna is not only competing, she’s winning big to the tune of double gold medalist with wins in both the 50 and 100-meter races in her age group.

How did this happen? Particularly when scarcely more than ten years ago, Hanna’s only real athletic involvement consisted of causally knocking a tennis ball back and forth now and then.

According to Hanna, it all started quite whimsically. Seems that back in 2011, and basically out of the blue, she decided to compete in her first Washington State Senior Games for athletes 50 and over.  Under the tutelage of her husband, Steve, a high school teacher and track coach who played several sports as a youngster, she not only won the 100-meter, she took the 50-meter as well.

At the 2014 National Senior Games in Ohio, Hanna was part of the 4×100 relay team which captured a bronze medal despite literal last-minute lessons on how to properly hold and pass the baton, tricky tasks she had never done in her life.

Then came a challenge. And heartbreak.

A ruptured Achilles tendon was the most devastating among several setbacks that would prevent Hanna from running a race for three years. Then, in 2018, Steve, after fighting valiantly for some time, eventually succumbed to cancer. It was his wish that his wife continued sprinting and qualify for the 2019 Senior Nationals in Albuquerque. She did this. Though she did not medal in New Mexico, she was competitive. But above everything else, Hanna had fulfilled the team dream she and her dear late husband shared together.

Hanna’s new coach was instrumental in helping her advance to those 2019 Nationals. Fellow Tacoma resident Marcus Chambers earned All-American honors as a track and field standout at the University of Oregon. During his illustrious career in Eugene, Chambers helped propel the Ducks to five NCAA national titles.

Hastily invited to compete as an alternate in the 400-meter U.S. Olympic Trials in June, Chambers, now in his mid-20s, didn’t qualify for the team that would go to the summer’s Tokyo Games. Disappointed but not devastated, Chambers has committed with firm resolve to help mentor Hanna as she strives to sustain success at the 2022 Senior Nationals in Florida.

“She’ll be ready,” Chambers recently told Geezer Jock in no uncertain terms regarding his protégé.

Away from the track, Hanna has fashioned a solid reputation as a highly regarded motivational speaker, achieving elite company as a semifinalist in the Toastmasters International Speech Contest. She’s also doing some coaching of her own these days, guiding Chambers as he develops a marketing plan to build his own athletic brand and polish his public speaking skills.

One can’t help but believe that this incomparable pair of champions is bound to break the tape at a lot of life’s finish lines for a long time to come.

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