If posted heat sheets are accurate, the masters 100 and 110 hurdles at today’s Modesto Relays won’t amount to much. No Aaron Thigpen. No Willie Gault. No Jeff Williams. In the hurdles, no Rod Jett or Karl Smith. Sigh. I
Denver Smith, 82, is one of a handful of gents over 80 still doing the decathlon. He’s been mentioned in the press before. But his local paper in Ohio finally focused on him last month in the run-up to a
Willis Kleinsasser was 40 in July 1968 when he won the “Masters Six” sextathlon and the outstanding athlete award at the first USA masters national championships at San Diego’s fabled Balboa Stadium, which even Sports Illustrated covered. He was the
Jack Tregurtha Jack Tregurtha, well-known to masters racewalkers in Oceania as a record holder and promulgator of the sport, has died in a New Zealand hospice, according to a message board posting and his national federation. Jack was 71, and
Will Summers has sent me info on a series of meets in Missouri and Illinois open to masters. Called the St. Louis Summer Series, the first event — which is throws only — is Saturday and has a deadline of
The Koops in Germany report that German vault superstar Wolfgang Ritte has cleared 4.27 outdoors, or 14-0. They headline their entry “4.27 m! Wolfgang Ritte (M55) begins outdoor season with pole vault world record.” The listed world age-group record is
Don Doxsie of the Quad City Times in Iowa has written a marvelous story on Bud Smith, a pioneering barefoot high jumper who became a masters record holder and world star. Bud was one of the first in history to
In late February, I shared the story about M55 multi-eventer Carter Holmes and his heart scare at the University of Minnesota. Yesterday I got a note from longtime masters jumper Tom Langenfeld with a status report on Carter. It’s very
John Hinton of North Carolina ran another great 1500 at Duke over the weekend, clocking 3:58.13 just three days after turning 46 on May 1. This mark beats the listed single-age record of 3:58.3 by Britain’s Peter Molloy in 1995.
Tom Holliday of the Modesto Bee has a nice little writeup on Jeff Hartwig, an entrant in the elite vault at Modesto this weekend, reporting: “Why is that 40-year-old man still flying upside down 20 feet in the air? Well,
They call it the California Invitational Relays, but many of us older folks know it as just Modesto. And after this year, it surely could be known for masters races as well. Joy Upshaw-Margerum and meet director Gregg Miller have
In the May issue of National Masters News, buried in a story on page 15, is some monumental news — worthy of Page One: “For the women on the track (at the Bay Area Senior Games at Stanford), Irene Obera,