At 70, Robert Claridge is still running strong

By Andy Heuring

Determination has made Robert Claridge of Coe community one of the top runners in the Tri-State. He competes in more than 30 races a year and seldom if ever gets bested in his age group.

Claridge isn’t really like most of the people he competes against, who love to run and have become addicted to it. He is more like the rest of us. “It would be really easy for me to quit,” said Claridge about running. He doesn’t do it because he loves it. “I like to run in the races. You meet a lot of people and I enjoy shooting bull with them before the races, but to just go and run by myself isn’t really fun to me,” said Claridge.

Otwell mother competes in extreme triathlon

By Andy Heuring

An Otwell mother of three grew up being the person no one wanted on their team. “I was always told I wasn’t athletic. I was always the last person who was picked,” said Jill Mann. Today most of those people who wouldn’t pick her 20 years ago wouldn’t even think about competing in the competitions she is now participating in.

Last summer Mann started competing in extreme triathlons. Its a triathlon but with added features: including but not limited to putting ice in the water where they swim, cutting trees down along the running trail big enough that the runners have to climb over them, running up embankments so steep they have to use a rope to get up them, making them crawl through mud, massively large mud pits with barbed wired stretched just a few inches above the mud and water.

Jill Mann running in "The Warrior Dash."

Oh yeah, then there’s the strips of fire across the road they have to jump over while running. “The Warrior Dash is one of the hardest courses in the county,” said Mann. “That is what I did to celebrate my 30th birthday, just to prove I could do it,” said Mann. “It was one of the toughest things I’ve ever done in my life.” She not only completed the course, she finished in the top half of the competitors.

Local Miss Indiana contestant promotes healthy living

By Andy Heuring

Two years ago, Ashley Polen was like most college kids, she ate what she wanted and didn’t really worry much about her health. But on Super Bowl weekend 2010, her father, Sam, had a stress test and doctors found a 99 percent blockage. Ashley said doctors were unable to do a catheterization and he had to undergo open heart surgery. “That’s when I got interested in heart health,” said Polen, who is now Miss Ohio Valley and a Miss Indiana contestant. The former Miss Teen Indiana, Miss Catfish and holder of numerous other titles was at Pike Central on Friday speaking to high school health class students about the importance of diet and exercise on their future health.

The health crisis of her father has become her platform. As a Miss Teen Indiana and a Miss Ohio Valley contestant she had to have a platform or a cause she promoted. Earlier, it was volunteerism, but since, it has become working with the American Heart Association and promoting heart health. Now she travels around the area talking to various groups about heart health, telling them about the consequences of not exercising and not eating right. “The doctors told my dad if he took a bite of something and it tasted good to spit it out,” said Polen, trying to get the attention of high school health students about the gravity of unhealthy eating.

Keepes an example of 30 plus years of a fitness

By Andy Heuring

Stan Keepes is an example of what 30 plus years of a fitness regiment can do. At 47 and quickly approaching the big 50, Keepes is at an age many of his similar age classmates strain to touch their toes or even see their toes. Keepes isn’t just doing pull-ups, he can hang from a bar and pull his pointed toes up above his head with his body and legs in a pointed V. This is something you shouldn’t try at home. The typical 50-year-old would probably need a surgery or two to fix the damage caused. Keepes is one of the few people, who has been able to avoid life happening from detouring his fitness.

A 1982 Pike Central graduate, Keepes had strong careers in wrestling and baseball. He went to Taylor University where he wrestled prior to Title IX bringing an end to Taylor’s wrestling program and Keepes’ wrestling career as a competitor. After college Keepes stayed active in wrestling helping with Pike Central’s team and eventually becoming their head coach, where he coached nearly 20 years, building the Chargers into one of the strongest programs in southern Indiana. He also picked up an interest in Tae Kwon Do and became a multi-black belt holder and instructor. “My background is through wrestling and martial arts.

We need you!

The Press-Dispatch is looking for a Pike County resident with a great story about how they are getting in shape, staying fit or losing weight. If you or someone you know has or is in the process of getting healthy, contact us! Call 812-354-8500, email editor@pressdispatch.net or leave a comment below.

Foster hits the gym, loses 115 pounds in eight months

By Andy Heuring

Cody Foster is a good example of how nothing breeds success like success. Eight months ago Foster didn’t know how much he weighed and he didn’t want to know. He was 27 years old and weighed nearly 400 pounds. Now he has lost 115 pounds and can’t wait to hit the gym and meet his next goal.

Foster said he hadn’t been to a doctor since he was a kid and didn’t go then unless he had something serious like strep throat or an injury.

Cody Foster is a good example of how nothing breeds success like success. Eight months ago Foster didn’t know how much he weighed and he didn’t want to know. He was 27 years old and weighed nearly 400 pounds. Now he has lost 115 pounds and can’t wait to hit the gym and meet his next goal.

Retired teachers are veteran walkers

By Alden Heuring

Retired Pike County teachers Dick and Donna Wallace have turned walking from an exercise into a hobby, and they say it’s given them not just better health, but more energy as they enjoy retirement.

Dick and Donna Wallace brave the cold for their walk.

“Most of the time we take a mile walk to McDonald’s—not to eat of course—and back, or to the park, and sometimes we go out to the post office, which makes it two miles,” said Dick. “We find that along with our diet, we’ve been able to lose a few pounds.”
The Wallaces live on Arrowhead Drive in Petersburg, just between Hornady Park and McDonald’s. They said their diet is quite simple.