Oldest Las Vegas resident in Rock ‘n’ Roll half-marathon raring to go

Tennis, golf and swimming are among the most popular lifetime sports.

Travis Dowell, 74, would like to see more people take up running as a lifelong physical activity.

“I just love running,” Dowell said. “What motivates me is it’s so good for my health. Unfortunately, not many people do it. Out of my high school class, which is over 500 students, I think I’m the only one running.

“Most of the athletes just stopped at some point when they were between 40 and 50.”

Dowell is the oldest Las Vegas resident registered for the Rock ‘n’ Roll Running Series Las Vegas half-marathon Sunday.

He’s one of 21,000 runners (and walkers) who will descend on the closed-down Strip for the 13.1-mile and 10-kilometer races. Both events will start at 4:30 p.m. in front of New York-New York and finish in front of the Fountains of Bellagio.

The start line village will open at 2 p.m. at Toshiba Plaza, outside of T-Mobile Arena.

Dowell, a retiree who has run the New York City Marathon three times, hopes he can help inspire others to keep running into their golden years.

“I think older people inspire younger runners because not all of them feel like they’re going to be able to run for all their life,” he said. “But when they see a 74-year-old in the race, it makes them think, ‘I can be running for a long time.’

“They shouldn’t give it up. Just keep it up. They can cut back the miles and they can slow down, but it’s just a great sport.”

Dowell, who has four adult children, two grandchildren and two great-grandchildren, didn’t start running until he was 39. He began competing in road races with a group of co-workers at Texaco.

“I had never run a 5K before,” he said. “I’d go out and run one mile and come back. Then I did a 5-mile race, and I worked my way up to a half-marathon.

“I think races make you work a little bit harder, and you get a reward. You get a medal, you get to see how you’re doing against other people your age, and you get to see how you’re doing against yourself.”

A New Jersey native who was raised in Dallas, Dowell lived in Miami and New York before retiring in 2016.

“When I retired, I had time to train,” he said. “I found a subscription service where you get a coach to write up workouts for you to where you could complete a marathon.”

Dowell finished his first marathon in 2017 in the Hamptons to tune up for the New York City Marathon, which he ran from 2017-19.

“That was the greatest experience I’ve ever had in my life,” he said. “To be running on the same course that the elites have been running on with millions of people cheering you on. It’s just amazing.”

Dowell followed his son and family to Las Vegas in 2022 and ran the Rock ‘n’ Roll half-marathon here last year.

“It’s a great race,” he said. “It’s wonderful to look at the lights and the hotels and chapels and everything.”

He runs an average of 30 miles per week — including a long run of up to 16 miles every Saturday — and has completed countless half-marathons, including a recent one at Sunset Park.

“I was the oldest runner in the race, but I was not the last one,” he said. “Everyone behind me was younger than me.”

Dowell’s goal is to top his time of 2:19:27 in last year’s half-marathon on the Strip. He said he finished in the top 22 percent of people in his 70-74-year-old age group, which was comprised of 68 runners.

“I wish I could run faster,” he said. “But I’m not the slowest one by any stretch.”

Whether or not he posts a faster time, he’ll happily share the results with his high school classmates on social media.

“They like me to post pictures on Facebook and they all congratulate me,” he said. “But none of them are running.”

Contact reporter Todd Dewey at tdewey@reviewjournal.com. Follow @tdewey33 on X.