Ronald Hesseltine, of Saranac Lake, is not just someone who casually runs in the mornings. He is a competitor.

Hesseltine, who recently competed in racewalking at the National Senior Games in Fort Lauderdale, Florida can often be seen jogging laps around the Saranac Lake High School track with his stopwatch in hand. Over the past few years, he has spent hours at the track training for the games.

Having never been formally trained, Hesseltine learned everything he knew about racewalking from a book.

After hours of his own training, Hesseltine competed at a state event on Oct. 28, 2021, where he qualified for nationals. He qualified to compete in the track and field events of the 100-meter run, the 200-meter run, the 400-meter run, the 800-meter run, the 1,500-meter run, the 1,500-meter racewalk and the 5K racewalk.

Hesseltine chose to compete in just two events — the 1,500-meter racewalk and the 5K meter racewalk. The event took place off-track and all-male athletes raced at the same time, with the results separated by age group.

During his debut at the National Senior Games, Hesseltine zoomed around the track, competing in the 1,500-meter racewalk and crossing the line in first place for the 85-89 age group. He was ultimately disqualified for having a slightly bent knee.

The disqualification did not deter him from his second race the following morning — the 5K racewalk.

After receiving some pointers on proper technique from some of the other competitors, Hesseltine, the oldest competitor to finish the race, claimed the silver medal for his age group.

Hesseltine plans on competing in the Empire Senior Games in mid-June in Cortland and again in the New Hampshire Senior Games later this summer.