Phil Felton, masters events coordinator at the Penn Relays, sends this 2015 entry infoand shares a stern warning: “Be prepared to verify your age if asked. Do not run if you are under the correct age on the day of the race; be prepared to be suspended (with your team) for many years if you are in violation.” He also writes: “Note that the timetable has changed significantly from previous years. As usual it is approximate at present and will probably change slightly. When the acceptance letters are sent out, I will confirm the schedule. If there are any changes to the arrangements, I will send the detailsВ with the acceptance letter. Good luck to those of you competing at nationals.” Penn is April 23-25.
Riet is a riot. (Can’t wait to see her do the long hurdles.)
And the middle-distance beat goes on. According to results of Belgian indoor nationals in Ghent, W70 Riet Jonkers of Holland ran the 800 in 3:01.04 to lower the listed WR of 3:01.92 by Russia’s Rimma Vasina in 2011. (Her race is here. She beat some W55 ladies!) Also noteworthy: yet another WR in the high jump for Weia Reinboud, another Dutch master. She cleared 1.35 meters (4-5) to beat the listed W65 WR of 1.32 by Germany’s Ursula Stelling in 2008. Any other great marks I’ve missed?
Just like at outdoor nationals, usatf.tv will post video of races at Winston-Salem indoor nationals this weekend. But I don’t expect field events in the mix. The archive will be here, we’re told by Matt Weingardt, USATF events manager out of Indy. Matt writes: “RunnerSpace has informed me that they will be uploaded ASAP, most by the end of each day.” Videos are so-so, but at least they keep a record of the event, and the audio captures Pete Taylor’s announcing well. Check out outdoor nationals videos from 2013 and 2014. At least they’re free. (Not all RunnerSpace content is gratis.)
USATF.tv’s archive is well-organized and described. Easy to find your race.
Gerard clears 14 feet in 1966 during masters record days (and note the scrap foam pit).
Becca Gillespy Peter shares a recent note from Roger Ruth: “Most readers of PoleVaultPower would immediately recognize Gerard [Dumas] as a premier pole vault statistician, having gained that status in 45 years of valued contributions since he first provided assistance to Robert Ganslen in his 1970 seventh edition of ‘Mechanics of the Pole Vault.’ What would be far less well-known are details of Gerard’s own vaulting career, especially its almost unprecedented length of continuous participation. With his 80th birthday fast approaching, he now has vaulted in 1,127 meets, including at least two in every consecutive year for the past 69. That should rank as a world record in consecutive competitions. If you know of any other vaulter with equal or more, please provide the details.” I agree, and here’s my interview with him in 2007.
The USATF board of directors is meeting Saturday in Santa Monica on the eve of the L.A. Marathon, and I’m going to be in the room. They may consider an issue causing an uproar in Kiddieworld (what I call elite USATF politics). At the Anaheim convention, the board rejected M75 Bob Hersh as America’s IAAF Council nominee — even though he’s been there for many years and got 85 percent support of USATF voting delegates. Instead, the board voted 11-1 to replace him with W55 USATF President Stephanie Hightower. For a taste of the drama, check out the T&FN message board thread. I’m covering the meeting for Times of San Diego (which turned a year old today).
Only hours after claiming his fifth world record of the season Tuesday, M55 Anselm LeBournewas pounding out responses to my quickie Q&A. As if he didn’t have enough to do. (But thanks for the gracious reply, champ.) As you might expect, he’s not done with record attempts. The Hall of Famer says he’ll target outdoor world age-group records in the 800, 1500, mile and possibly 3000. (The listed WRs stand at 2:03.7, 4:12.35, 4:35.04 and 8:56.80.) Last June, he ran a nonratified 2:01.63 outdoors, so he just needs a sanctioned, kosher, cross-your-Ts-and-dot-your-I’s meet. He has several in mind — including one in Lyon, France.
Anselm finishes mile WR (4:34.79) at Armory. Photo courtesy armorytrack.com
USATF couldn’t ignore Mary Norckauer. Wednesday she was named USATF Athlete of the Week after claiming what it said were eight W90 American records and three world records at the USATF Southwest Indoor Championships on Saturday in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. [I found only two WRs and an additional fIve American records.] Two masters were recognized for outstanding marks: M60 hepster Doug Osland and W80 hepster Christel Donley (Colorado Spring, Colorado) — both in Kenosha, Wisconsin. Anselm LeBourne’s legendary 4:34 mile at age 55 didn’t get mentioned. (Indy wasn’t made aware of it, apparently.)
At the start of the season, the listed M55 indoor world record in the mile was Nolan Shaheed’s 4:42.89 from 2006. Tuesday night at the Armory track in Manhattan, Anselm LeBourne lowered his own mile WR to 4:34.79 — worth 3:50.7 on the Age-Graded Tables.(See results and splits here.) The Hall of Famer, in taking seventh in section 2, thus got his FIFTH world indoor record of the season. His earlier mile best of 2015 was 4:37.05. Tuesday’s meet, called NYRR Night at the Races, is USATF-sanctioned, according to the meet site. They posted dozens of photos as well (including the one here by Karthik Adimula). Nice run, Anselm. Simply amazing! Any ideas for new nickname?
Anselm indicates he’s at peace with his second M55 indoor mile world record.
Stan the 104-year-old man will have the Polish crowd (if not hurdles) behind him.
Stanislaw Kowalski is entered in the 60 and 200 at the European Masters Indoor Athletics Championships this month in Torun, Poland. That’s worth celebrating. He turns 105 on April 14. If he makes it to the finish line (in his lane), he’ll automatically have the 200-meter WR for M100. He’ll be the oldest entrant among 2,409, according to the Eurovetssite, which notes the breakdown of men (1,765) and women (644). “Poland will be the most represented country with 544 athletes (94 women and 450 men) before Germany 345 athletes (116 women and 229 men) and Great Britain and Nothern Island 233 athletes (71 women and 162 men). These athlete will compete in 4,887 events,” we’re told. The meet begins a day after Winston-Salem indoor nationals ends (March 22). So with a population of 745 million, Europe should be expected to have more entrants than USA. But we’re looking at 900, or 37 percent of the Eurovets turnout. We should be closer to 43 percent (based on 320 million here).
I officially declare this the Week of the 200. I’m also happy to see that new world-record holders have times I can beat (barely). At the Armory in NYC, Kathy Bergen ran the deuce in 33.06, dashing the listed W75 WR of 34.53 by Canada’s Christa Bortignon in 2012. The meet was the USATF-sanctioned New York Open & Masters Indoor Track Championships, where Renee Shepherd finally got a kosher W50 WR in the 60 — 8.03 seconds (nipping Phil Raschker’s 8.05 from 1997) and Marisa Sutera Strange ran 3000 in 10:12.98, beating the listed W50 American record of 10:22.68 by Olympic legend Joan Samuelson in 2009. (See results here.) At Lee Valley in London, Charles Eugster smashed the minute barrier, going 55.48 to shave 2 seconds off American Orville Rogers’ listed M95 WR of 57.88 in 2013. “I’m over the moon,” Charles wrote on Facebook. “Thank you to everyone who has helped me achieve this.” Keep reading for more records.
Ken has followed track as an athlete, writer and web-master since the late 1960s, and saw most sessions of track and field at the 1984 Los Angeles and 1996 Atlanta Olympics. He also attended the 1988, 1992, 2000, 2004, 2008 and 2012 Trials, the last three as a blogger and Patch correspondent. [More...]
