Stan wears his age on his chest, if not his sleeve.
The late Everett Hosack was just a kid of 100 when he ran 60 meters in 27.29 at 2002 Boston indoor nationals for a world record. What would he say of Polish sprinter Stanislaw Kowalski? Stan the Man is 104, and over the weekend he broke 20 seconds in the indoor 60 at a Torun meet. His 19.72 came alongside two other runners â just enough for a WR under the rules. (See the video making the rounds.) For an encore, he destroyed Everett’s listed M100 record in the shot of 3.66 meters (12-0) by tossing the 6.6-pound ball 5.08 meters (16-8). On this side of the pond, 100-year-old James Kale long-jumped 3-11 3/4 (a debut WR in the event), put the shot 11-8 and tossed the javelin 23-0. See results for him and others at the Florida International Senior Games and State Championships.
Runner’s World notes that Mr. Amazing, Bernard Lagat, turned 40 last Friday. “Track fans expect him to eviscerate the masters world record books, including Eamonn Coghlanâs indoor mile mark of 3:58:15 and Anthony Whitemanâs outdoor one of 3:58.79,” the article says. “James Li, Lagatâs coach since the late 1990s, and Lagat estimate Lagat could run 3:55. … No one is willing to confirm it yet, but itâs widely assumed that Lagat will be in the mile at the Millrose Games at New Yorkâs Armory Track & Field Center on February 14, and thatâs when Coghlanâs masters record, that 3:58.15, could come tumbling down. (Lagat) has immense admiration and fondness for Coghlan, who was congratulatory when Lagat achieved his eighth Wanamaker Mile win to better Coghlan’s tally of seven.” Bernard is quoted as saying: âI should ask for his permission first (on mile record). I think heâs going to be happy for me, but it might be like, âMan, what are you trying to do? I thought youâd want to leave a few for me.ââ Fret not, Bernard. EC will cheer you on. Read the rest of this post »
Aussie runner Keith Bateman told me in 2010 that his short-term M55 goals were “world records for 1500, mile, 3,000, 5,000 and 10,000! Ambitious or what! :-)” Well, yeah. But he did it! In coming months, he set WRs in all five races. (See times below.) Now he’s come out with a book that aims to share his secrets â mainly avoid overstriding. That’s not a revelation, but he certainly has street cred for saying it. “Older Yet Faster” is just out. The website says: “Based on Keith’s highly successful technique-change sessions, this book deals with a runner’s number one enemy, over-striding. It shows what it is, what damage it causes, and how to fix it so you can run smoother, faster, and further.” Meanwhile, Margaret Webb is continuing to promote her book, “Older Faster Stronger.“ The video below shows W75 Christa Bortignon and other older superstars. Makes me want to write a parody called “Older Slower Sillier.”
Iowa’s Kay Glynn is expecting her eighth grandchild as the year wanes. But never flagging is her spirit and sense of fun. As she recovers from hip and ACL surgery in the past year (which has sidelined her from the vault and hurdles), she sends her eighth seasonal greeting photo. She also posted a video to YouTube showing her recent exercises and jogging progress. The cornfield’s a nice touch, Kay.
Kay, at age 61, has made lots of progress since ACL surgery four months ago.
WacĹaw Krankowski and Jerzy Krauze are LOC poobahs with the 10th European Masters Athletics Indoor Championships in Torun, Poland, the birthplace of Copernicus. They’re taking their history seriously. The Eurovets aren’t acting like the center of the masters universe. They write: “In order to meet numerous athletes queries from outside of Europe, and after a positive decision of the Councils: World Masters Athletics and the European Masters Athletics, LOC Torun would like to inform that non-European competitors will able to start in EMACI 2015 in Poland. In order to clarify, we would like to point out that competitors from the other World regions will be able to start under the rules ‘out of competition.’ The 10th European Masters Athletics Indoor in Torun will be held in March 23-28, 2015.” (North Carolina indoor nationals are March 20-22.) The Eurofolks point to their website emacitorun2015.com for timetables, accommodations, entry booklet, competition entry form and online registration.
Track is set for Eurovets indoor meet in 2015, week after USATF nationals.
Lavinia with would-be IAAF President Sebastian Coe. Get Antabuse him to join you at Lyon worlds!
Even when you’re 71, you can still think like a 17-year-old: always looking for a PR next season. That’s why I love this profile of Aussie distance star Lavinia Petrie, recently honored as top female masters athlete at the IAAF Gala in Monaco. âI still donât believe Iâve reached my full potential anyway, Iâll keep trying to improve,” Lavinia told the Herald Sun. âWhat I love about running is that itâs just a way of life, itâs what you do when you get up in the morning. For me itâs just what I do every day, to me itâs not extraordinary.” Great rep for clomid store our set. She also reveals her Lyon goal: âIâve only done a couple of worlds but I feel ready to do a World Championships. Hopefully Iâll do well there in the 1500m, 5000m and 10,000m and a marathon on the horizon at the end of competition.”
Thanks to comments below and a note from Teresa McCormack, I’ve been corrected on a post that suggested a headline in the Johnson City (Tenn.) Press was wrong. Jonesboroughâs Tom McCormack, Teresa’s hubby, was indeed an overall AoY for LDR. My sincerest apologies. But this still gives me an excuse to note a change in the masters track awards system. Awards Committee Chair Mary Trotto wrote the members (who also are being folded into the Hall of Fame Committee) “that the committee decided overwhelmingly to change the age groups to 30-39, 40-49, 50-59, 60-69, 70-79 and 80+” In recent years, awards were given in the ranges of 30-49, 50-59, 60-74 and 75-plus. “Rather than having a set number of award places, we would have the top 3% of the total number of athletes who competed at indoor and outdoor nationals in each of the age groups,” Mary writes. To be eligible, “Athletes must compete in either an association, regional or national masters championships in order to be nominated for an age group award. They must also meet one of the following: A. set a world or American Record. B placed 1, 2 or 3 at Masters National T&F Championships. Or C placed 1, 2, 3 at WMA Track and Field World Championships.” Sound fair?
It’s eight months until Lyon worlds. It’ll take that long to figure which events you can contest, given the four stadiums involved. At least the day-by-day schedule is out, color-coded by venue. We’ve begun to hear athlete fears about getting from Point A to Point B, and how far apart the cities are. Venues are detailed here. Although the main stadium is in Lyon, others are in the southeastern suburbs of VĂŠnissieux and Bron. Here’s a PDF of the men’s schedule. And here’s the women’s schedule. Most world meets have travel issues. (Meanwhile, here’s hotel reserved for Team USA.)
Click for more details on daily schedules for 2015 Lyon WMA world meet.
Mastersrankings.com says M40 Calvin Davis ran 400 meters in 45.04 seconds on June 5, 2013, in New Orleans. Yeah, right. (The listed WR is 47.81 by Italy’s Enrico Saraceni.) But wait! USATF says Calvin’s all-time best is 45.04, and all-athletics.com says that time was set June 5, 1993, in New Orleans. Ripley’s Believe it or Not! Guy runs 45.04 twice â 20 years apart on the same month, day and place. So I’m ready to laugh it off until I spot Calvin’s IAAF profile â which says he ran 45.04 at age 41 in 2013. Worse, the 2013 IAAF outdoor list (see original here) adds to the outrage by repeating the 2013 fraud. (USATF Calendar has no record of a June 5, 2013, meet in New Orleans, BTW.) Calvin was a star. Won bronze in 400 hurdles in the Atlanta Games. But he didn’t clock 45 post-40. How did IAAF allow this? I’m looking into it.
This weekend, an entrant in the Florida Senior Games is James Kales, who turned 100 this fall. A Wall Street Journal blogger wrote of Jim: “On Kalesâs flight to his Florida winter home from his Michigan summer home, the pilot announced that a passenger would soon turn 100. Everyone aboard sang Happy Birthday. The airline had a cheerful attendant meet him with a wheelchair. He declined. ‘I donât need that,’ he told the attendant.” Jim also was entered in tennis this week but pulled out with an illness. Me hopes he’ll be good to go in the long jump. Then we could envision a showdown between SoCal TC M100 Leland McPhie vs. Jim in the oldest horizontal jump contest in history. I’ve heard that Leland is pretty frail of late, but sometimes the idea of a rival can incite you to train and overcome adversity. Jim is supposedly pointing to 2015 National Senior Games. How cool if we could get Leland out there as well?
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...]
