Quad Games preview: 2 Erie County men have ironman streaks; ski race postponed
Rick Rodland was to occupy a spot along the starting line for Highmark Quad Games cross country ski race on Sunday.
That won't happen, at least on that date, because of Erie County's warmer weather over recent days.
Quad director Kelly Latimer announced the race's postponement Thursday night. She rescheduled it for Feb. 13, with the five-mile event still set for Wattsburg's Wilderness Lodge.
Ronnie Graff, like Rodland, also expects to compete that day.
Just like the Erie County residents have done for that wintry leg of the competition, and all others held, since 1983.
Rodland, 70, and Graff, 71, are only athletes who have formally participated in every Quad event, according to Latimer.
“That's pretty incredible for some old geezers,” Rodland said.
So committed are Rodland and Graff that they even submitted virtual times for the 2020-21 Quad. Kelly Latimer, daughter-in-law of Quad founder Craig Latimer, had to scrap formal in-person participation for its previous cycle because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Every time I think I might trickle out (of the Quad), I bounce back,” Graff said. “I'm not sure how much longer I'll enter now because of COVID, but I'm glad I've hung in there.”
How they got here
Rodland, a 1969 Harbor Creek graduate, retired from General Electric Co. However, he and his wife Brenda remain busy tending to the family's Harborcreek Township grape farm, located off Firman Road.
Rodland's Quad introduction was by way of an unorthodox sport: motocross. He formerly competed as an amateur at regional tracks.
Because Rodland found himself physically weary well before the checkered flag, he started running as a way to build physical endurance.
“I just thought, 'Let's see if this works for me,'” Rodland said. “Once I got the running thing started, I realized it was the motorcycle thing that could really hurt me. I dropped racing the bike after that.”
Graff lives in McKean Township with his wife, Jacqueline. The 1968 Fairview graduate retired from Reddog Industries, the tool division for the local PHB Corp. branch.
Athletically, the Quad became a way for Graff to make up for lost time while he attended Fairview.
“I wasn't into team sports because I was less than 120 pounds at graduation,” he said. “I didn't really mature until later on.”
Graff learned he liked running – both on and off-duty – after he enlisted in the United States Marine Corps. Once back in civilian life, he and his wife took up downhill and cross country skiing at New York's Peek'n Peak and Holiday Valley resorts.
The Graffs also learned to appreciate cycling more over the last year. They used it as a way to combat the cabin fever caused by the pandemic.
“I think we pedaled about 7,000 miles last year,” Ronnie Graff said.
Warm reminder
If Rodland were to forget about his status as an ultimate Quad veteran, he needs only to check the blanket that occasionally warms his legs during cold evenings like the current ones.
Brenda Rodland recently noticed the growing pile of unused Quad Games T-shirts – some of them still in unopened plastic bags – in her husband's possession. She put 30 of them to better use when she sewed one side of a blanket with them, their logos prominently displayed.
Graff isn't as sentimental as Rodland when it comes to wearable mementos. He has a T-shirt from the original Quad, but few others.
“I do have the awards from them,” Graff said. “Yeah, I have a pretty good stack of those.”
Graff and Rodland separately admitted their status as Quad “ironmen” will end somewhere in the near future.
Rodland frets about his health, and how it will render him a “toadstool” some day. That's made worse by the frequently tormenting thoughts of the skiing, swimming, cycling and running times he posted in his 30s.
Rodland said he spoke with Graff about that during a recent Quad event.
“I think we continue to do this because we're afraid that if we don't keep doing this, we won't keep doing this,” Rodland said. “You just try to be thankful that you're still able to do these things because we're one bad knee or bad heart away from not doing this. We're blessed to continue to exercise, and that's what allows us to continue to exercise.”
Close to crowns
Andy Holland and Desiree Terella aren't in the same class as Rodland and Graff when it comes to Quad longevity, but they are prominent participants in their own way. They'll arrive at Wilderness Lodge as the men's and women's overall leaders going into the final event for the 2021-22 Quad.
Holland, an Erie resident, seeks his third overall title since 2017-18. Terella, a former Edinboro University swimmer who lives in Fairview Township, goes for her third straight championship and fourth since 2016-17.
Contact Mike Copper at mcopper@timesnews.com. Follow him on Twitter @ETNcopper.
This article originally appeared on Erie Times-News: Postponed Quad ski race won't deter Erie County men from ironman streak