By John Frierson
Staff Writer

Odeika Giscombe needs a lot of energy to get through each day as a mother of three active children, a track coach, and in her career as a juvenile probation officer. As if that wasn’t enough, the 36-year-old former Georgia sprinter is also one of the fastest women in the world in her age group.

Competing in U.S. and world indoor and outdoor masters events in the 35-and-over age group, Giscombe (she was Odeika Bent while running for the Bulldogs from 2008-11) has earned a big pile of medals. At the U.S. Indoors in Gainesville, Fla., earlier this year, she won gold in the 60- and 400-meter races. At the U.S. Outdoors last month in Huntsville, Ala., Giscombe won the 100, 200 and 400 titles.

Internationally, competing at the World Masters Athletics Championships in Sweden last August, Giscombe, who lives in Cocoa, Fla., took the bronze in the 100 and silver in the 200 and 400. She also won a bronze medal with the 4×100 relay team and anchored the gold medal-winning 4×400 squad in what was her first world championships.

“I went over there (to Sweden) and did five events, but I probably won’t do that for the next championship. It was tough — it was tough because what I didn’t realize was that I’d have to run three rounds for every (solo) event, plus the relays. I think had I not run so many races, I probably would have done a little better,” Giscombe said last Friday, while visiting Athens with her husband, Tyrone, and their children: Tyrus (7), Trinity (5) and Teyanna (3). Tyrus has already set a few age-group records in the 100 meters and the long jump, Giscombe said.

“I actually woke up this morning and did something in the hotel gym, and the kids came down and did their own little workout,” she said, smiling.

Looking back at her collegiate career, Giscombe said it took her a while to adjust to her collegiate training, and her best seasons were in her final two years. As of 2012, she was still in the top 10 in program history in the outdoor 200 (ninth) and 400 (tied for seventh), with both marks set as a senior, during the 2011 SEC Outdoor Championships. She was also, as of 2012, 10th in program history in the indoor 60-meter dash, seventh in the 200 and fifth in the 400.

Those marks have all since been surpassed as runners only continue to get faster. Georgia’s Aaliyah Butler won the NCAA outdoor title in the 400 in June with a school-record time of 49.26. For Giscombe, she’s not only competing against her fellow masters competitors when she races, she’s also chasing records.

“My biggest goal is to get a world record for my age group,” she said, adding that she thinks her best chance might be indoors in the 400. “I really want that world record before I move up an age group.”

While always a competitive racer, Giscombe said she’s only gotten more competitive as she’s started racing masters events. As a coach at Cocoa High School, she sometimes trains with her runners.

“They don’t like to lose to me in anything, and most of the time they kick my butt in the short stuff. The longer stuff, it’s a little bit more competitive,” she said.

Do they know about all of Giscombe’s success on the track?

“Some of them do, yeah, but I don’t talk about it that much. I let them do their research if they want to,” she said.

Masters events start at 35-and-over and continue on with age groups all the way up to 90-and-over. Giscombe doesn’t know how long she’ll keep racing, but she’s not stopping anytime soon.

“As long as I’m healthy and I’m still enjoying it, I don’t see why not,” she said of racing for many years to come. “I mean, unless life just gets too busy, I want to keep going. I didn’t start doing masters (events) just to be in it for one or two years and then be done with it.”

Assistant Sports Communications Director John Frierson is the staff writer for the UGA Athletic Association and curator of the ITA Men’s Tennis Hall of Fame. You can find his work at: Frierson Files.