Italy must be reeling. First huge winds strike the coast (including Riccione), then their beloved opera tenor dies. And now I hear that air traffic controllers are on strike! Great timing for folks flying in for the 17th World Masters
So the knock on a USA-hosted world masters meet is that folks from some countries would encounter visa problems, right? Well, look out. Italy has its own demons. This story tells how nine Indian masters athletes may miss worlds because
Man, those Italians. While I was cherry-picking masters at Osaka, this Italian site was listing all the over-35 athletes entered at IAAF worlds. One thing I noticed: some possible world age-group records that WMA has overlooked. How many did they
Americans captured four world titles in the decathlon or heptathlon today in Riccione, holding their own against the 900-strong German juggernaut. Team USA gold medalists were M50 Jim Russ, many-time world champ M65 Emil Pawlik, W60 Phil Raschker (who fell
You gotta see this! A file-sharing site called blip.tv has posted a well-edited video of athletes and speeches (all in Italian), marching band and music at Riccione worlds. And fireworks, circus peformers and dance troupes! Athletes are having a blast
The Puerto Rico 2003 world meet featured a tropical storm. But nobody expected Riccione 2007 to suffer high winds. Yet that’s apparently what delayed events (including the decathlon and heptathlon Day 1) yesterday at worlds. Some cross country races were
The 17th World Masters Athletics Championships began today in Riccione, Italy, but results of the first day’s events (including Day 1 of the decathlon and cross country) aren’t online. Not that I can find, anyway. Sigh. This page appears to
Tom Langenfield of Minnesota, the M70 Orono HJ champion, reports an impressive world record in his age group by a Swede. Tom writes: “One of the many reasons I wanted very much to go to Italy for the world meet
On this Labor Day holiday (in the USA), I’d like to salute a labor of love. USATF Masters Rankings Chairman John Seto shares details on the improvements he’s made in mastersrankings.com — the database-driven Web site that he created for
Stan Perkins, the masters official who lost the last WMA prez race, offered some wisdom to fellow Aussies traveling to Riccione for this week’s World Masters Athletics Championships. These notes came after scoping out the place in March. He concludes
Anthony Treacher’s relentless pursuit of justice continues. You remember him — the wronged British athlete from 2006 Linz worlds who was banned by the BMAF for being a pain in the neck? The latest development is chronicled in this Forum
Nine days ago, I posted details of Sacramento’s bid to host the 2011 World Masters Athletics Championships. The same day, August 24, I sent email (with a Portuguese translation) to a dozen Brazilian masters track federations: Adilson_oses@hotmail.com; abrambrasil@abrambrasil.com; walter@marista-mcz.com.br; atletismoamapa@uol.com.br;