Allen Woodard, 46, claims WR for 400 — oldest sub-50 one-lapper
Allen Woodard, a recent national indoor champion at 200, became the oldest man to go sub-50 for 400 meters after clocking a magnificent 49.69 Saturday at the 33rd Annual Victor Lopez Classic at Rice University in Houston. Allen is 46. He beat the listed M45 world record of 50.18 by American Khalid Mulazim at 2011 Berea nationals. In 2010, Douglas Kalembo said he was 50 when he ran 49.85, but USATF wouldn’t accept his age docs and refused to ratify the mark. But Allen certainly had the speed for a sub-50, with his recent 200 clocking of 22.92, about four-tenths off a Bill Collins WR. Nice lap, Mr. Woodard! Here’s Allen winning the 4 at Olathe nationals in 2013.
Masters shuttle hurdles to debut at Penn Relays, thanks to efforts
The Penn Relays have been good to geezers — with 100s, 4×1 and 4×4 relays in prime time, plus the crowd favorite over-75 men’s sprint race on Saturday, April 25. But something was missing: a shuttle hurdle relay for masters. That was remedied last week. Masters events coordinator Phil Felton wrote me: “You’ll no doubt be pleased to know that this year we will have an M50 heat of the shuttle hurdles at Penn — USA Red, White and Blue teams put together by Keith McQuitter.” Jeff Davison, the founding father of masters shuttles, says he wrote the request to the committee, “but Keith did all the hard work. This is several months of effort.” The tentative schedule doesn’t yet list the masters shuttles, but it should be up shortly. Great work, Keith and Jeff. Put on a show!
Kim Collins subject of greatest Facebook graphic in world history
Talk about freaks of nature. This graphic kills it.
Another notable WR 200 at Eurovets meet: Charles Eugster at 95
World-class dashman and lensman Tom Phillips captured Sir Charles at British meet.
Masters milers payday returns June 14 at Portland Track Festival
Portland’s Dave Clingan shares a reminder: “The Oregon Masters Mile will be held this year on June 14 at the Lewis & Clark College track in Portland, Oregon. The exact time of the mile race will be announced as soon as the meet schedule has been finalized. The Masters Mile is part of the Portland Track Festival, which has become an outstanding high performance track meet for national class athletes. As usual, PRIZE money in the amounts of $200, $150 and $100 will be given to first-, second- and third-place finishers. The field is limited, so please contact me as soon as possible.” Meet entry site is here. Any good milers this year? (Hehehehehe)
Here’s start of the iconic Oregon Masters Mile from 2012. Lots of stars.
2 sprinters, 2 world records: M45 Darren Scott, M70 Kenton Brown
Darren nailed 200 WR in the M45 final at Eurovets.
World records for M40, W80 at Carlsbad 5000: Lagat and Garrett
Bernard “Kip” Lagat enjoyed Carlsbad 5000 glory.
Amy Acuff jumps her height (6-2), secures spot in IAAF Beijing Trials
Five-time Olympian Amy Acuff, approaching her 40th birthday in July, is set to make a run for the IAAF Beijing world championships team after clearing 1.88 (6-2) Saturday at the Texas Relays. How confident was she after winning the event in her home state? She passed 1.91 and went straight for 1.94 (6-4 1/4). She missed all three. The listed W40 American record is 1.77 (5-9Âľ) set at 2013 Olathe nationals by Gwen Wentland, and the listed WR is 1.87 (6-1 1/2) by Ukraine’s Iryná Myhalchenko. But Bulgaria’s Venelina Veneva-Mateeva, who turns 41 in June, has already jumped 1.94 (6-4 1/4) indoors this year. The official qualifying standard for USATF open nationals is 1.90, but the field is set at 18. And with only six ladies going higher than 1.88 last year, Amy is a slam dunk to make the Eugene trials in late June.
Special treat: First 23 years of National Masters News are online
After 18 months, the dream of posting all early issues of National Masters News is realized. On Friday, I added the years 1986 through 1999 to the searchable PDF archive on mastershistory.org. See it here. (I also uploaded the missing issue of October 1984.) The homepage of our historical record features a dedication to NMN staffers Suzy Hess, Jerry Wojcik and Angela Egremont, who under editor Al Sheahen (and later as publishers) were the heart of the monthly publication for decades. Also, many thanks to Bob Carroll of Carmel Business Systems for his superlative scanning work. And, of course, kudos to USATF Masters T&F Committee for underwriting costs of this project. The first 256 issues are now posted and searchable, or 23 years of the monthly. More years to come. But for now, enjoy a jog through memory lane!
Photo from April 1998 issue (page 7) shows Suzy Hess, Jerry Wojcik and Angela Egremont, who did much of the NMN grunt work for many years.
M50 star Roald Bradstock shows perfect form in standing javelin
M50 WR man Roald Bradstock handed his iPhone 6 to a Florida bystander this week and the result is below. He did a standing javelin throw. I wrote for details, and he graciously supplied some, including the distance, about 54 meters (or 177-2) with 800-gram spear). He adds: “In 2012, I threw 59.80m standing with the 800g and 68m with the 700g. So I should be good for about 61m / 200 ft with a 700g now. … Throwing this way allows me to still throw hard and not totally destroy my body.” He says he doesn’t know the WR for a standing throw, “but I doubt anyone has thrown further.” We used to have a standing long jump and high jump, so why not create a new event for stick-throwers?
