If W65 multi-eventer Mary Trotto has her way, the women’s outdoor pentathlon would get a radical makeover. Bye-bye, hurdles, high jump, shot and 800. Hello, 200, discus, javelin and 1500. Only the long jump stays. (This applies to open as well as masters pents.) National masters chair Gary Snyder is carrying that proposal for a rules change to the USATF convention in Anaheim. As promised, the rules-change slate has grown by seven. Gary is sponsoring the amendments to the rules. Others involve implement specs. Check them out at end of this PDF. Gary (on behalf of Ray Feick) also wants a new masters meet called a National Throw a Thon Championships. See event details.
Idea behind proposal for new pent: Get more older women in the game.
My favorite muck-raking target, Dr. Norbert Sander, thought he was having a good week. Last Saturday, the Manhattan Armory Czar won a New York Road Runners award for “contributions to distance running.” But Friday, he was the subject of several critical articles about his efforts to bleed community groups for as much money as he can. The best report is on DNAinfo.com, and another made the Daily News. The bottom line is he’s asking way too much for community groups to use the Armory, not just track users. Old news for local trackos. But now he’s crossed the line, looking to profit from do-gooders. I’ve long thought Norby was a sacred cow in Big Apple sports journalism. Perhaps he’s losing his shine.
Google “Norbert Sander” for images, and this is the first one that shows up.
Coach Martha Mendenhall of Tacoma, Washington, has been a star on our circuit for so long we take her high-flopping for granted. But alas, on Facebook recently she announced her retirement from track. I was shocked. Her friends were not. They were aware of her battles with hip ailments. Still, I didn’t want to let the revelation go unremarked upon. She’s a world champion and fierce competitor who also dabbled in sprints. So I wrote Martha and she graciously replied to my questions. We’ll miss her on the track and apron.
My favorite shot of Martha — after she won high jump gold at Lahti worlds.
Ed Whitlock at 83 is avoiding his favorite Ontario cemetery — the one where he famously trains and prepares for records on track and road. He’s not scared. He’s injured. According to this status report in Winnipeg, “Whitlock is hopeful the bad hip and shoulder that have stalled his career won’t slow him down for good.” Ed sez: “I’m 99 percent confident that I’m going to be running again sometime. But maybe not in the near future. It may take a while to get rid of it, but at the moment I’m pretty confident that I’m going to get going again, I don’t think this is a career-ending situation. I really don’t think that. Obviously at my age, there’s some chance of that, you never know when you have run your last race, but at the moment I’m not thinking along those lines.” But not wanting to believe everything I read, I wrote Ed, asking about his status. He replied: “I am just taking time off waiting for things to heal. I don’t have an army of therapists.” But Ed is still a role model — showing that sometimes you have to take a step back to go forward. Get rested and well soon, Ed!
Normally, you have to enter a bunch of events to win so many ribbons. But my wife, Chris, and I collected 13 (four blues, four reds and five whites, and four first-place plaques) in our best street clothes Tuesday night at the San Diego Press Club awards banquet. More details are posted here. Chris won for photos, of course. I won for headlines, a video of a sub-4 mile and some writing. (I tied for second with a Pulitzer-Prize winner in the politics/government category.) Chris beat me 7-6. It’s all good, and I’m especially proud that the upstart Times of San Diego was honored as the No. 3 news website in San Diego — after the much bigger staffed U-T San Diego and San Diego Daily Transcript sites. Chris Jennewein, a pioneer in digital journalism, founded timesofsandiego.com only seven months ago, and already we’re a player in a big media market. Just like masters track, we showed up and won!
Chris and I stand with Times of San Diego colleagues Chris Jennewein (left), Jennifer Vigil, Chris Huard and Alex Nguyen at press awards.
Caroline Marler is a hero for her work with addicts.
The headline said: Champion veteran athlete hangs up her gym shoes after 11 years helping recovering addicts. I said: Oh no! Who’s quitting the game? Turns out the British news report was the exact opposite. “Caroline Marler, 63, has managed the gym at The Bridge Project on Salem Street since 2003, helping hundreds of addicts with the physical side of their recovery,” we learn. “She is retiring on Friday to spend more time at home with her family, but will still find time to run for Great Britain in World Masters Athletics events. … Despite her retirement, Mrs Marler, of Otley, has no plans to end her International Masters career, in which she is currently World Champion at 800m for women aged 60 to 64, having won the title in Brazil last October. She is also European Champion at 400m and 800m, and plans to defend her World Outdoor and European Indoor titles in 2015.” She told the paper: “My competing in veteran athletics will still be ongoing, and barring any injuries, I’ll be taking part in all the major championships, including the World Championships in [France] next year.” Whew, that’s a relief! And with extra time to train, watch out!
Sabra Harvey isn’t afraid to run fast — or go gray.
My wife, Chris, took pictures at a Silver Sisters Strut on Saturday, and wrote a nice story for Times of San Diego. It raises the question: Since masters athletes already are bucking societal expectations, should they rebel against “Beauty Terror” as well? In other words, gals, do you let your hair go naturally gray, white or silver? If not, why not? Some men dye their hair, but the culture accepts male grayness. No so much with women. Or is it Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell in your house? In any case, the Boomers continue to lead the way as disciples of freedom and self-expression.
Chris Stone photo of silver-haired ladies at rebellious event in Balboa Park.
Road miles are running rampant, but I want a road 100-meter dash. Only fair.
Sprinters with long hair, and masters roadies who want to see age-group mile records should be happy with the latest USATF rules-change proposals. Check out this 23-page PDF. What’s up with long hair? Well, technically you face DQ if your tresses touch the ground ahead of the starting line of a sprint/hurdle race. But according to a change proffered by Raymond Pierre, “hair is not considered a body part.” Ray says: “We often witness an athlete rising to ‘set’ and extra-long hair suddenly dropping and touching the surface in front of the starting line. Hair is considered part of the body and can be a factor in other events such as the jumps. An official choosing ‘literal’ over ‘spirit’ will disqualify this athlete unjustly.” Under Item 75, submitted by Steve Vaitones and Lloyd Stephenson, “The Masters LDR Sports Committee recommends that the road mile be returned to the list of record eligible distances. We are hosting the USA Masters One Mile Road Championships each year on record eligible courses. We have the data available to generate a list of record performances for all [masters] 5-year age divisions.” So buy new laces, Nolan.
In a recent Athletics Weekly column that read like a paid advertisement, a chiropractor writes: “If there is a population in this world that needs the help of a physical therapist, it’s got to be athletes in the masters age groups.” The writer, Grant Pretorius, tells a “case study” of M50 sprinter Donald Brown, who was “struggling with injury.” At British masters nationals, “he ran 11.98. Before the heats of the 100m in Izmir (August 24), he came to me complaining of right-sided low back pain with a history of chronic right hamstring and right shoulder issues. I examined him and found that his right hip flexor (iliacus muscle) and his left gluteus medius muscles were not working well. I applied chiropractic adjustments to his T12 and L5 vertebrae and this improved the function in these muscles. After this treatment session he ran a PB of 11.85, even though he was aware of tightness in his left hamstring. The next day he improved again to 11.67 in the 100m final, which was good enough to clinch the silver medal. This was achieved even though he was still aware of his hamstring. We were both elated!”
Never stop learning. That applies double to older athletes. Just because your sainted high school coach told you one thing, it don’t mean you still gotta obey. That’s my takeaway from a great IAAF profile of Gia Lewis-Smallwood, whose American elite record in the discus this year is probably worth submitting as a W35 American record. “Every top discus thrower in history had used the sweep [a throwing technique where the right foot sweeps past the left side of the body and leads the throw] and I had reached the point where I needed to focus on mastering it,” she says. “It wasn’t natural to me. As soon as I got back from London I cleared out the furniture in my living room and practiced it over and over and over for hours and hours and hours.” So hie thee to a living room and get cracking! (And check out this booming throw.)
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...]
