Rita Losee holds a photo from January 2018 of her on the summit of Camelback Mountain in Arizona. She reached the summit just in time to watch the sunrise. (Kathleen O’Brien / The Times Record)
WEST BATH — 77-year-old athlete Rita Losee of West Bath has seemingly done it all and keeps a key-ring of laminated photos in her purse to prove it. The wallet-sized photos document her proudest achievements and fondest memories — indoor skydiving, swimming with dolphins and climbing Camelback Mountain in Scottsdale, Arizona, to watch the sunrise.
She hopes to add another photo to that miniature album when she competes in the Call To Honor Triathlon in Boxford, Massachusetts, for the fourth consecutive year this September.
Losee is part of a three-member relay team, the FabuLosees, alongside her 16-year-old granddaughter and her granddaughter’s friend. Losee does the .25 mile swim portion of the race.
While Losee is eager for race day, she’s no stranger to triathlons. In 1988 she completed the Ironman Triathlon World Championship in Hawaii, which consists of a 2.4-mile swim, a 112-mile bicycle ride, and a 26.22-mile run. She finished in 12 hours, 45 minutes, and 27 seconds.
Losee was first inspired to become a triathlete when she was 30, working full-time as a nurse and a mother to a toddler. Her inspiration came in the form of a quote from Helen Keller: “Life is either a daring adventure or nothing.”
“When I heard that, the physical reaction I had was like someone plugged both of my feet into an electrical socket,” Losee said. “I said, ‘Yes! I am going to live a life of adventure.’”
She started by learning to rock climb. She has since summited Mount Kilimanjaro, Africa’s tallest peak at 19,350 feet, and finished a solo hike of the Appalachian Trail.
“Keep one eye on the smaller task at hand and one eye on the big goal,” said Loesee.
She said she sometimes becomes overwhelmed by a looming goal or challenge but breaking it up into smaller tasks helps.
“When you run a marathon, you do it one mile at a time,” she said.
Once Losee accomplishes a goal, she immediately finds a new one. She makes “BHAGs: big, hairy, audacious goals.”
“In January of 2016, I decided every month I’d do something I had never done before, just for fun. Last Sunday I went paddleboarding for the first time,” she said with a smile.
Losee works part-time at Monkey C Monkey Do, a ropes course park in Wiscasset. She said she likes spending time with the children because “It’s a much richer way of experiencing the world.”
On her key-ring of photos, she has a picture of her in a monkey suit at Monkey C Monkey Do. Now clad in a watermelon shirt and dragonfly earrings, Losee made it clear she doesn’t take herself too seriously.
“I wanted to get in the monkey suit,” shrugged Losee. “It was on my list of goals.”
While Losee is motivated by her ambition, she also strives to change people’s perception of what a “person of her age” is capable of.
“People think life ends at 65,” Losee said. “Our culture doesn’t support older people having goals.”
As for Losee, her next goal is completing the triathlon with her team. After the triathlon, Losee said she’d like to bike across the country next year for her book tour. Last year, she published “Soaring Seniors: Stories, Steps, and Strategies for Living Full-Out After Fifty, Sixty, Seventy…” in which she tries to help readers set goals for themselves to live life to the fullest
“I’ve wanted to do it for a long time,” said Losee. “I’ll go with a touring company though, take the Cadillac trip.”
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