GAMES– Avalon’s Bonnie Sotire Wins Bronze at Senior Games

To call Bonnie Sotire active is like saying the Pope wears a handful of collared garments.
The Avalon resident is a stalwart at the National Senior Games, formerly known as the National Senior Olympic Games. This strenuous athletic competition occurs every other year and Sotire, who blew out 60 candles in late July, competed in six swimming events.
She won two bronze medals for her work in the 200-yard individual medley and in the 200-yard backstroke. Going up against the finest senior competitors in the country, she took three fourth-place finishes in races where all four of the top finishers shattered to existing record for the respective event. She also had one seventh-place finish.
“The competition was tough, but it was fun,” said Sotire, a retired human resources executive who spends winters in South Carolina and represents The Palmetto State when she hits the pool or the road races in the Senior Games. “During our working years we spent every spring and summer weekend in Avalon. We love it here.”
Sotire would also have been running and biking in Cleveland but the Senior Games stages all of those races on the same day for the 50- to 64-year-old crowd.
This was disappointing for the accomplished marathon participant who enjoys the camaraderie of other athletes as well as training with them.
“The swimming overlaps with the other events with the younger age group,” said Sotire, whose spouse, Chuck, is a very active 75-year-old golfer, weight lifter and bicyclist who pedals alongside his running mate when she trains for triathlons.
Age is not permitted to be a factor for Sotire because her genes present a zest for living.
Her dad, Bill Kramer, is a 92-year-old Pittsburgh area resident who continues to impress on the golf course. He was a champion for the University of Pittsburgh and was club champion 16 times over six decades. Kramer, who still drives, competed against another famous Pennsylvania bred golfer who goes by the name of Arnold Palmer.
The champion of the St. Claire Country Club golf tournament is awarded “The Kramer Cup” as a tribute to Sotire’s father. Her mother is battling illness at age 88.
Sotire began swimming when she moved to South Carolina 13 years ago. She coupled that training with road races she’s entered since 1990 and cycling.
“Swimming is exhausting but I really enjoy it,” she said. “It’s not tough on your joints like other sports can be. I make sure to take care of my legs.”
Bonnie and Chuck are obviously diet conscious. She said she “loves to cook,” and consumes “tons of vegetables,” along with chicken, seafood, and fiber. They steer clear of sugar, salt, bread, and processed foods, “but wine is always good,” she joked.
Sotire is especially remarkable in that despite all of her workouts and competitions, she has remained injury free, does not take any medications, and rarely visits a doctor’s office.
To prepare for her most recent Senior Games event, Sotire swam in the bay in Avalon. She is devoted to her training and was thrilled to reunite with a competitor in Cleveland that she hadn’t even seen since she left Pittsburgh as a young adult.
“We never kept in touch and then we saw each other in Cleveland,” said Sotire. “We didn’t know each other’s married names so she said to me, ‘You look familiar. I know you. Who are you?’”
It’s experiences like that which keep Sotire’s love of triathlons and other athletic competitions burning. She is a devoted workout person who enjoys the relationships established with her fellow competitors.
“The competitors on the triathlon circuit are a great group of people,” she said. “We’re all sort of hard core and we want to keep going.”
Reach Rossi at joerossi61@comcast.net