Ramsay, who competed in swimming events in his 75-to-79 age category, won golds in the 50-metre butterfly, 100m medley and 100m and 200m freestyle and got pipped at the post for the 50m freestyle title.
It was his first Masters Games for about 10 years ago when he also won gold medals.
Ramsay, who competed in the former Queenstown half marathon for a record 21 consecutive times, says ‘‘you’ve got to keep fit at something’’, and the Games were a great incentive to get into the pool.
Competing in athletics in her 45-to-49 age category, Madden won golds in the 100m, 400m, 800m and long jump before tearing a hamstring in the 200m sprint.
In her first Dunedin Masters, in 2020, she competed only in the 800m, and did pickleball and the 5km walk two years ago — she likes to mix up her sports to challenge herself.
While winning gold was good, especially in front of her 12-year-old daughter, Madden says the biggest buzz was just the atmosphere — ‘‘you come away buzzing’’.
Patton, meanwhile, won gold in his 80-to-84 age category in swimming, indoor rowing and cycling — he hadn’t competed in the latter for 26 years.
He won the 200m backstroke, 1000m and 2000m indoor rowing events and 20km cycling time trial and also picked up six silvers and two bronzes to medal in all 12 events he entered.
‘‘I was happy with my times which were similar or better than I did two years ago and in the Pan Pacific Masters Games almost 18 months ago.’’
A former long-distance runner, then race walker, Patton has competed at the Masters level since 1992. He admits to being pretty competitive — ‘‘I like to do as well as I can’’.
