(Photo by Joe Imel)

Bowling Green’s Neville Dodd wasn’t thrilled with his performance in Saturday’s Bowling Green Classic 5K race walk.”Every year I get a little slower,” Dodd said. “I didn’t beat anybody, but I finished.”Dodd did finish last, but he did finish. At 88 years of age, that accomplishment is enough to win Dodd the admiration of many runners.On Friday, Bowling Green 10K Classic race director Rick Kelley presented Dodd with a silver commemorative plate inscribed with Dodd’s name and the event’s logo.”I think he typifies what this race is all about and that’s that it appeals to the masses,” Kelley said. “It caters to the elites as well as the average runners and walkers. That’s why this race has been so successful over the years.”Dodd competed in his first 10K Classic in 1981 and ran in it for the next eight years. After that, Dodd moved down to the 5K race for two years and has competed in the 5K walk ever since.His running and walking career didn’t come until late in Dodd’s life. But he’s made up for lost time, regularly competing in the Classic and the Kentucky Senior Games. Dodd won seven gold medals at last week’s Kentucky Senior Games in Elizabethtown.At the Kentucky Senior Games, Dodd showed his versatility by winning golds in the 1,500-meter race walk, 100- and 200-meter dash, broad jump, discus, javelin and shot put events.”I just enjoy it,” Dodd said. “Once I got into it I never got into any kind of sport when I was younger. The only sport I had was trying to get a job with the Great Depression going on.”After Saturday, Dodd looked ready for another 5K walk. But the racing can get tiring, he admitted.”My legs get tired, but not my breathing or anything like that,” Dodd said. “I was tired, but I recuperated in five or 10 minutes. Naturally, I was tired.”Dodd got his start in athletics in 1981 when he ran in a 4K at Kereiakes Park. The next week was the then-Wendy’s-Daily News 10K Classic, and Dodd ran the race in dress shoes. Every year at the Classic, Dodd wear’s the number corresponding to his age in the race.”It beats doing nothing,” Dodd said.Dodd, a member of the Governor’s Pacesetters, said he’s heard himself described as a role model. It’s a title that sits well with him.”Now and then I hear that,” Dodd said. “It makes me feel good. They say it’s good for you to keep active. It gets tiresome sometimes, but I guess it is.”