Gripping the stairwell railings contained in the Crowne Plaza Ventura Seaside Resort on a current afternoon, Tom Kutrosky ran up the steps two at a time — a part of his coaching for an upcoming race that includes taking up 110 flooring’ price of stairs.
The occasion, a part of a aggressive sport that challenges contributors to race up skyscrapers, is one in all dozens Kutrosky has tackled within the final 15 years.
Tom Kutrosky races up stairs from the seashore in Ventura, taking two steps at a time for velocity.
“Going up these stairs, you’re doing two at a time, and also you don’t have time to suppose,” Kutrosky stated. “It’s exhilarating.”
He’s all the time in search of new methods to problem himself. A semiretired optometrist and longtime Ventura resident, Kutrosky, 90, is collaborating in stair-climbing races — quick ascents up high-rise buildings — into his tenth decade. He seems usually for occasions throughout the nation and overseas.
In September, he plans to return to the Crowne Plaza for the annual climb, hosted by the Ventura Hearth Division, his third time collaborating. The 9/11 Memorial Stair Climb advantages the Ventura Hearth Honor Guard, which funds funerals and tributes for fallen firefighters and honors these misplaced within the Sept. 11, 2001, assaults. It’s one in all many charitable causes Kutrosky helps by way of competitors.
“I’m in a position to donate. I’m in a position to run,” he stated. “That’s a fairly whole lot.”
From 5Ks to skyscrapers
Kutrosky stands outdoors the resort with medals from previous stair climbs draped over his arms. It’s only a sampling of the numerous he’s earned through the years.
(Al Seib / For The Instances)
Kutrosky didn’t take up stair climbing till he was 75. He had already spent many years operating 5Ks and 10Ks, a routine he began after stepping away from aggressive sports activities. Earlier in life, he performed lacrosse at Ohio State, the place he earned All-American honors.
However over time, operating started to really feel monotonous, and he craved a brand new problem. Then he noticed an advert for a 75-story stair climb up the U.S. Financial institution Tower in downtown Los Angeles sponsored by the YMCA.
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At 90, Tom Kutrosky nonetheless races up skyscrapers. His lifelong love of motion has saved him going.
Operating a 5K or 10K normally took him half-hour to an hour, he stated. The concept that stair climbing could possibly be faster — and extra intense — is what intrigued him.
“[Stair climbing] is a ardour,” Kutrosky stated. “To maintain my coronary heart going, my complete physique going.”
To remain race-ready, Kutrosky trains in a wide range of methods, together with weekly energy lessons on the YMCA in Camarillo. Tanya Stanley, a licensed private coach and teacher, stated she was shocked to study her energetic scholar was 90 years outdated.
“He’s doing all of the strikes,” Stanley stated. “He’s simply sport for all of it.”
Kutrosky has been attending Stanley’s barbell energy class for years — a category that Stanley stated is likely one of the most bodily demanding periods provided on the Y. Kutrosky’s leg energy, vary of movement and upright posture stand out, particularly for somebody his age, she stated.
Stanley usually presents simpler modifications in her lessons, however Kutrosky by no means takes them.
“He’s an anomaly,” she stated. “Now we have aged individuals on the Y. We’re actually a combined group. However he’s in a barbell class. It’s a strenuous exercise. … He’s a standout man.”
Stanley stated she usually makes use of Kutrosky as a optimistic instance when encouraging others to tackle new health challenges. “You might see the wheels happening of their head, like ‘Perhaps I might do that,’ ” she stated.
That mindset carries into competitors, the place Kutrosky fits up with tights, an outdated race jersey and gloves to grip the railings.
“I don’t have time to suppose,” he stated, referring to the climbs. “You’ve received to remain centered.”
And after a race? He celebrates with blueberry pie.
Since his first race, he’s competed in stair climbs throughout the US — in New York, Chicago, Seattle, Miami, Las Vegas, Houston and elsewhere — in addition to internationally in Tokyo and Taipei. He has misplaced rely of what number of races he’s completed.
For Kutrosky, stair-climbing races in several cities have grow to be greater than only a competitors. They’ve given him a way of neighborhood. Over time, stair climbing turned simply as a lot about being social and seeing the world as it’s in regards to the climb itself.
Douglas Pais, 67, an elite stair climber, met Kutrosky at a race in 2012. Since then, the 2 have accomplished dozens of climbs aspect by aspect. “Tom is, in fact, one of many cream of the crop,” Pais stated. “One of many fantastic individuals [at races].”
In 2018, Kutrosky was invited to race at Taipei 101, as soon as the tallest constructing on the earth. He was one in all 10 Individuals who competed in that stair climb, the place he positioned 58th. After the race, contributors toured Taipei by bus collectively.
“Nevertheless it was about being overseas and operating with all these individuals from everywhere in the world,” he stated, laughing.
Due to his father’s declining well being and demise in midlife, Kutrosky stated he by no means might have guessed that he himself would grow to be a aggressive stair climber.
“My father died when he was 63, and his household all died of coronary heart illness very early,” Kutrosky stated. “I by no means thought I might reside this lengthy.”
The early lack of his father made him double down on preventive well being. Train, he stated, turned not only a behavior, however a type of safety.
“For being 90 years outdated,” Stanley stated of Kutrosky, “I might solely hope … that I reside that lengthy, however that I’m additionally as energetic — simply to have the ability to do half of the issues that he does.”
A life in movement — and a household that adopted
David Kutrosky, left, appears to be like at his father as the 2 discuss health, longevity and the fervour that retains the elder Kutrosky climbing.
(Al Seib / For The Instances)
Kutrosky’s dedication to motion has formed extra than simply his routine. It’s outlined the way in which his children reside. “He’s instilled that in his kids,” stated son David Kutrosky, 61, from San Ramon, Calif. “We’re all nonetheless athletic to today.”
David nonetheless performs contact rugby, and he represented the U.S. final yr within the 55-and-over class on the 2024 Contact World Cup in England. He stated his household doesn’t consider train as one other field to verify off. It’s one thing they sit up for.
“I take it as a reward,” David stated. “We do our chores, work and also you get to go run round and chase a ball.”
Kutrosky’s daughter, Candice Kutrosky, 56, is a wildland firefighter for the state of New Mexico. Physicality is a part of her job and her day by day life. She works out between three and 5 hours a day and begins each morning with an hour of stretching.
“I don’t drink. I don’t smoke. I don’t do any medication or something like that,” she stated. “The adrenaline and the endorphins that I get off of figuring out and making my physique really feel good is what I like.”
She stated being lively is so ingrained that she by no means actually thinks about whether or not she’ll work out. It’s simply a part of the day.
“I believe he’s received some nice genes,” Candice stated of her father. “I’m glad he handed them right down to me.”
She stated her father has been position mannequin in additional methods than one — not simply on the subject of health, however in how he has approached life. She has admired his work ethic, his values and the way in which he has handled others with kindness and respect. She stated she plans to survive him.
“I’m going to surpass him,” Candice stated. “That’s my purpose.”
Slower, however nonetheless going
Tom Kutrosky walks beside the Crowne Plaza Ventura Seaside Resort on a sunny afternoon. He’s competed in races on the resort twice and plans to return for a 3rd climb in September.
(Al Seib / For The Instances)
Kutrosky turned 90 in January and celebrated by driving curler coasters together with his grandchildren at Common Studios Hollywood.
Individuals are usually shocked to study Kutrosky’s age, they usually usually ask him how he stays so wholesome. He credit it to having good genes — and his lifelong deal with preventive care. “I’m large into preventive well being,” he stated.
Nonetheless, within the final couple of years, he has seen his legs slowing and some indicators of cognitive change too. He’s additionally a part of the Nationwide Well being and Ageing Tendencies Examine, which is a cognitive growing old research that appears at day by day life and performance of older adults.
It doesn’t matter what, Kutrosky, who works a day or two a month as an optometrist at a Goal retailer, appears to be like for brand spanking new methods to remain sharp. “I hate crosswords,” he stated with fun. “However I’m making an attempt to work on one thing to maintain my psychological capability going.”
Nonetheless, he realizes he’s lucky. As he has aged, he hasn’t skilled power ache and credit that to doing yoga persistently. “I don’t have any ache,” he stated. “And I heal simply.”
He encourages older adults who wrestle with staying lively to begin small, simply as he did — easing into it with a easy fitness center routine.
He usually trains with three males. “We hate going to yoga,” he stated, laughing. “However we all know it’s good for us, and we have now to do it.”
Not day-after-day is simple for him. Sometimes, he wakes up with aches and pains, and on different days, it’s onerous to search out the motivation to get off the bed.
However he does.
“You must be motivated and devoted,” Kutrosky stated. “Set a purpose … and keep on with it, even for those who don’t need to go.”
Years in the past, he attended a senior occasion in Ventura the place centenarians had been requested how they stayed wholesome. The solutions have caught with him: Eat breakfast, socialize, go to church, drink espresso, play video games.
“There was all the time one thing that they had been doing that made them reside longer and far more healthy lives,” Kutrosky stated. “That’s what I’m making an attempt to do. All of these issues.”
In any case these years, he’s nonetheless planning forward, and there shall be extra stair climbs and extra alternatives for blueberry pie. He’s gearing as much as climb 86 flooring of the Empire State Constructing in New York Metropolis in October.
“I received my life deliberate forward of time,” he stated. “I do know what I’m going to do subsequent yr and I’m planning for that. It provides me a purpose, and that’s why I hold going.”
