Racing Age: Masters track & field athletes redefining the limits of age one jump, throw, and race at a time

Racing Age is a book of documentary photographs and essays about competitive masters track & field athletes aged sixty and over. These athletes, who are part of a global trend of greater longevity, are continually breaking age group records for running, jumping, and throwing that would have seemed impossible even a few decades ago. They are literally redefining the limits of the aging human body.

Photojournalist Angela Jimenez, who is a former collegiate track & field multi-event athlete, documented these athletes in competition over the course of nine years. Racing Age is a collection of stunning black & white medium-format film photographs of masters athletes made at competitions in the United States and Europe. Ten accompanying essays explore the fascinating life stories of a diverse group of athletes who have found meaning in their masters athletic careers.

Because they defy visual stereotypes, these athletes surprise us. They are not weak, or vulnerable, or just cute: they are fierce and competitive. It is inspiring and brave, but can also be scary to see. The athletes of Racing Age challenge us to expand our expectations of the aging human body and offer us a hopeful version of our future.

In these photographs you meet athletes, racing for reasons you might not grasp, against forces you cannot see. Racing Age.

Angela Jimenez is a visual storyteller from Stamford, Connecticut. She was the co-captain of her women’s track & field team at the University of Pennsylvania and has worked as a freelance photojournalist for fifteen years. She is a long-time contributor to The New York Times and a frequent contributor to Minnesota Public Radio. Racing Age is her second self-published monograph, after Welcome Home: Building the Michigan Womyn’s Music Festival (2009).She has taught visual journalism in the NYU Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute and the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism. Racing Age won the Jury Prize in the 2014 United Photo Industries Fence exhibit and the project has been published widely, including in American Photo, Communication Arts Photo Annual, The New Yorker, The New York Times, Slate, Refinery29, Runner’s World and Upworthy. Jimenez lives in Minneapolis, Minnesota with her family.