2 0 1 7 F L O R I D A S E N I O R G A M E S C O M M E M O R A T I V E P R O G R A M
I N S I D E T H E G A M E S
Athlete travels many roads in different ways
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This article appeared in the September,
2017 edition of the Tallahassee Democrat
Active Living section.
If Rodney Atherton’s track and field
training diary were a passport, he
would be recognized as a world
traveler.
After setting high jump, triple jump
and pole vault records at the 2016 Florida
Senior Games, in the 60-64 age group,
he has traveled to six track and field
meets around the state and country to
shared his Tallahassee-based talents.
Since the start of 2017, he competed
in the Emerald Coast Senior Games
(Destin), Capital City Senior Games,
Good Life Games (Pinellas County),
The Villages Senior Games, the USATF
Florida Championships in Jacksonville,
and the USATF Masters National
Championships in Baton Rouge.
At the USATF National
Championships, he won a gold high
jump medal, silver medals in the triple
jump and pentathlon, and a bronze in
pole vault. He also finished fourth in
long jump, sixth in the 100 meter hurdles
and ninth in discus.
That’s six events in four days.
His medal count could have been
higher, but during the 100 meter hurdles,
he fell after hitting the final hurdle while
in the lead. He got back up and finished
in sixth place.
“That was a good meet,” he said.
He earned a pentathlon silver medal
for his performance in five events — long
jump, javelin, discus, 200 meter and 1500
meter runs. Atherton entered the event
ranked No. 2 in the country in his age
group, behind Noel Ruebel, a high school
and collegiate track and field coach, and
top ranked 60-64 age group pentathlon
athlete. Atherton needed to finish 5
seconds ahead of Ruebel in the final
event, the 1500 meter run, for the gold.
“He was on my tail the whole race but
I couldn’t pull away,” Atherton said. “I
finished just two seconds ahead of him
for the silver medal.”
He grew up in a military family
and moved around quite a bit before
settling in Tallahassee during his high
school years. He ran track at Godby
High School, attended Tallahassee
Community College and Florida State
University before settling into a career
with the State of Florida, where he
worked for 38 years.
He has a variety of hobbies besides
track and field that put him in the public
eye, and he can be seen around town in a
way not many others are seen.
Atherton is a member of the Capital
Chordsmen, an a capella singing group.
As a member of the Chordsmen, he also
sings in barbershop quartets.
“I can sing just about anything, tenor,
bass, lead, baritone,” he said. “It helps to
be versatile.”
Versatility is an understatement for
Atherton.
Since retiring, he trains every morning
at either the Florida A&M or Leon High
School track.
“I eat in the afternoon to regain
calories burned in the morning. Then I
do some weight training.”
His daily training diary keeps track of
his accomplishments on the track and his
travels to meets in a variety of locations.
He took a break from track and field
after graduating from Godby High
School. His versatile nature led him to
become a member of the FSU Flying
High Circus during his junior and senior
years of 1977-78.
“I did some juggling, the slack wire
and high wire and the quartet adagio,”
he said. “That’s a routine where a couple
of guys throw a girl around.”
How does one go from track and field
to a circus performer? His dad was such
a fan of the circus, his parents’ first date
was to a circus performance. On their
honeymoon, they traveled to Sarasota to
visit the Ringling Museum. Within the
last five years, Rodney’s son followed in
his dad’s footsteps and was a member of
the FSU Circus doing juggling acts.
After graduating from college
and spending two years as a circus
performer, Atherton wondered, “How
would I have done if I ran track?”
He approached a Florida State track
coach and was allowed to compete in a
Metro Conference Tournament (FSU’s
conference affiliation at the time) as an
unattached athlete.
“My results would have earned All-
Conference status,” he said. “I was a
legitimate contender.”
Besides competing in five-sport
events like the pentathlon, he also
competes in the 10-sport decathlons. He
recently competed at a USATF meet
in Jacksonville against open-division
athletes of all ages. His performance
was the third best overall in Masters
competition in his age group. With
that as a motivator, he has set a goal to
establish a new American record in 2018.
Standing just under 6-foot-3,
Atherton admits his height gives him an
advantage in jumping events and allows
him to excel in the pole vault as he can
place his hands higher on the pole.
While he is very visible around town
between his track and field training, as a
Capital Chordsmen singer and his career
with the State, it’s his transportation
that makes him most noticeable.
“I’m the Segway guy,” he proudly
proclaims.
Atherton lives in the centrally located
Lafayette Park section of town and rode
his Segway to and from work at the
Capitol on a daily basis. Now he rides it
to his daily workouts at Florida A&M
and Leon High School.
“I’ve been riding a Segway for 11 years
since they first came out,” he says.
It just goes to show no matter who you
are, or the talents you possess, you never
know what others observe.
Rodney Atherton’s track-and-field
talents are well-traveled.