After 40 years, George McConnell bows out of Gasparilla race

After a four-decade marathon of sorts, one of the Publix Gasparilla Distance Classic's most revered competitors has turned in his racing bib.

George McConnell, an 87-year-old retired postal worker who has participated in all 40 previous PGDC races, has chosen not to compete this year. Susan Harmeling, executive director of the event, made the announcement Thursday at the Gasparilla's annual "Kick-Off Luncheon."

Related: Forty years without missing a single Publix Gasparilla Distance Classic

Harmeling said McConnell has been tending to wife Joyce, his bride of 66 years who has been under the weather recently. The couple raised four kids in a 2,500-square-foot house in Town 'N Country that George built himself.

"He said all good things must come to an end," Harmeling told the luncheon audience Thursday.

As recently as last year, all four of the McConnells' children, all five grandchildren and four of their five great-grandkids participated in one of the weekend's races. It was one of more than 700 races in which McConnell had competed in his lifetime.

The first was the inaugural PGDC in 1978.

"My knees don't hurt at all," McConnell said about a week prior to last year's race. "It's my back. My back's deteriorating."

McConnell's exit leaves the PGDC with six runners who have competed in every race, all six of whom are slated to participate again this year.

One member of that fraternity, 76-year-old Tampa personal-injury attorney Tom Singletary, suffered a stroke in the last year but plans to do the five-kilometer race with a walker, Harmeling said.

This year's races — ranging in length from a 5K to half-marathon — are scheduled for Feb. 24 and 25. Harmeling said as of Thursday, 27,500 people had registered for at least one of the races.