Bloomsday Finish Reverses Her Aging Process Quickly

Thu., May 11, 1995

By Kim Barker kimb@spokesman.com

The image was impressive: 95-year-old Heidi Ranger, plugging along through Bloomsday, turning in a time of about one hour and 26 minutes, blowing away others in her age group, stunning observers.

Even Heidi Ranger was amazed. Except Heidi Ranger isn’t a 95-year-old woman. She only played one during Bloomsday weekend.

“I’m the infamous 95-year-old,” confirmed Ranger, really 26. “I was the 95-yearold all weekend. It was kind of funny.”

Ranger, who lives in Olympia, was registered for the race by a friend of a friend in Spokane. She doesn’t know whether her registered birth date of Jan. 1, 1900, was a practical joke or a slip of the pen.

Her real birth date is Nov. 28, 1968.

Regardless, Ranger turned up as the oldest Bloomie to finish the race. Her time turned up as the fastest of the 20 oldest Bloomies. She was the winner in her age group of 80 through 99.

“Oh, I’m ecstatic,” said Ranger, tongue in cheek. “I just thought the whole thing was humorous. They must have played a practical joke on me.”

The joke didn’t fool Bloomsday organizers. Race coordinator Karen Heaps and others spotted the intruder when looking over the times and places.

Yet Bloomsday already had passed results on to The Spokesman-Review, which listed Ranger’s time and named her as the race’s fastest oldest finisher in Tuesday’s edition.

Bloomsday organizers knew that Mabel Klein, 83, was the rightful age group winner with a time of one hour, 32 minutes and 27 seconds.

Klein soon will receive a medal for her performance. Ranger will get a postcard.

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