Tabor City runner

Ivey earning recognition
among American Masters

Anthony
Ivey

By DAN BISER
Sports Editor

Anthony Ivey of Tabor City was 35 years old before he took up long-distance running. Now, five years later, he is the top Masters (age 40-over) Marathon runner in North Carolina.

“I ran in my first competition in Loris in 2003 … it was a 5K,” he said. “I just wanted to see what it was like. I didn’t do all that great, but I enjoyed it and it really peaked my interest. I started reading up on running and what it takes to run the longer distances.

“I started getting more and more serious about it and I’ve been able to come a pretty good ways with it,” he added. “Training and diet are the biggest factors.”

Ivey, a native of Lumberton and a route salesman for Coburg Dairies of Conway, S.C., completed one of his most successful competitions last Saturday, placing 22nd overall in Washington D.C.’s SunTrust National Marathon. The event drew more than 1,400 participants.

“The route takes you right past the Capitol, the Lincoln Memorial, the White House, the new baseball stadium … all the landmarks, but I was so focused on the running that I don’t remember seeing any of them,” he said.

His finish was fifth among Masters competitors and his time over the 26-mile course was 2 hours, 53 minutes and 54 seconds.

“My time was 10 seconds slower than the last marathon I ran at Myrtle Beach, but the run in Washington was a lot more of a challenge as far as terrain is concerned,” he said. “Myrtle Beach is basically a flat run while you encounter a good number of hills in Washington.”

Ivey plans to run in Baltimore’s annual marathon next October and he has plans of running in the Boston and New York City marathons when he is able to schedule them.

“My times are at the point that I am an automatic qualifier in the larger marathons,” he said. “The big thing is being able to schedule them far enough in advance. As much as I love running, I still need the time for work and family, so it takes some careful planning.”

Ivey and his wife Kelly have two sons, Brennan, 10, and Brady, 8.

“My wife and sons provide my biggest support,” he said. “At first, Kelly wasn’t so sure about it, but now she gets as excited as I do.”

When in training for a marathon, Ivey runs between 60 and 90 miles per week.

“I do just about all my training in the evenings,” he said, “and I do just about all of it by myself.”

Ivey said that his only regret about long-distance running is that he did not take it up sooner.

“I played baseball in high school, and I had done quite a bit of weight training, but for some reason I didn’t get into running when I was younger. I’m competing against guys my age now who ran competitively in high school and college.”