A windy morning punctuated a small but determined crowd of faces 50 and older as the 2008 Baldwin County Senior Olympics were declared officially under way at Walter B. Williams Park Monday.

“This will be my first year participating. I just turned 62 and took up golf for my health. I’ll be golfing tomorrow for the womens’ golf event at Little Fishing Creek,” Sherry Drouillard of Milledgeville said. “My husband will also be participating in the bowling event at Baldwin Bowling Center on Tuesday afternoon.”

Sixty-two may seem young around this crowd, especially when there’s a bowler that’s more than 93 years old, but for Senior Olympics co-organizer Ken Ziemke, it’s not a person’s age that matters, but the view he or she takes on mental and physical health.

“It’s been a journey. When we first started, we had 25 athletes, and now we’re expecting over 70 of them this year,” Ziemke said to the crowd in attendance. “It’s just a great program, and we plan to continue it. It’s fitness, a healthy lifestyle, and there is a common attitude of camaraderie and the spirit of the Senior Olympics.”

That’s good news for 79-year-old Pete Percefull of Milledgeville, who plans to be in attendance for at least one of this week’s events that will compose the 2008 games.

“I’ll be both walking and bowling this year. I’m here but I’ve been participating in senior citizen bowling for a few years. It’s good to get everyone active. If we can get this involved it seems to me that they’d have a great year,” Percefull said.

Ernie Wyatt of Milledgeville already knows how well this year’s events will affect him — not only did he pick up a gold medal for his part in the badminton portion of the games Monday morning, he’s also managed to improve his performance and his health since starting in the games a few years ago.

Though his game gave him gold, Wyatt was humble when questioned on his abilities prior to his match against 60-year-old Craig Rodgers of Eatonton.

“I’m going to be in badminton and walking. I think I’ll probably finish second or third,” Wyatt said.

It’s that spirit of the games and strive for improvement that Ziemke hopes to see each year as the games progress.

“You can just see the improvement of people playing this year [2008] as compared to how they were in the past,” Ziemke said.

It’s an improvement that could bring cities and counties together for a common cause that could benefit seniors in the community and those who call cities such as Eatonton, Gordon and Milledgeville home, according to Ziemke.

“While most of our participants do come from Baldwin, at least 25 percent of our athletes also come from Putnam County, and some even come from Wilkinson and Jones counties,” Ziemke said.

Monday’s results of the badminton tournament found Catherine Root, 69, winning a gold medal in the 65 - 69 age category; Craig Rodgers, 60, winning a gold medal in the 60 - 64 category; Ernie Wyatt, 66, winning a gold medal in the 65 - 69 category and Doyle Boyd, age unavailable, winning a gold medal in the 70 - 74 category.

The 2008 Baldwin County Senior Olympics will continue today at Little Fishing Creek at 9 a.m. with Womens’ Golf and at Baldwin Bowling Center at 1 p.m. with both Mens’ and Womens’ Bowling.