For the third time in a decade, Germany’s Guido Müller has been named WMA World Masters Athlete of the Year (male division). WMA didn’t reveal the winner, however. The Eurovets spilled the beans. The news leaked thusly: “Guido Müller made the double. He became European Best Veteran and now he will be honoured in November in Monaco during the annual IAAF Gala. Well done Guido – stay healthy and fit!” The winner of WMA World Best Masters Athlete (female division) has not been publicly divulged, but scuttlebutt says Australia’s Lavinia Petrie, a W70 distance record-breaker (5K and 10K), also is headed for Monaco. (I wrote about her in March.) I’m still steamed about Olga Kotelko not getting the honor. But a posthumous award wasn’t in the cards for her. Meanwhile, WMA thinks the biggest news in Masterstrackland is elections at the Asian Masters Athletics General Assembly: “As part of the General Assembly, elections for the Executive Committee and Council were held. The results of the election were as follows.” I won’t bore you with all the details, but Vigrantanoros Viwat of Thailand beat M75 hurdler Kyoshi Konoike of Japan for president. In any case, congrats to Guido and Lavinia — Oceania’s rep.
Vying to be the next Ed Burke (throwing hammer records into his 70s), Olympian Jud Logan set an M55 world record Sunday in an Ashland Masters Series meet in Ohio. YouTube video shows him smashing the listed HT record of 63.70 (208-11 3/4) several times, topped by a monster 67.27 (220-8 1/4). Haven’t seen results posted. But the USATF calendar shows it to be a sanctioned event — with Jud himself as the meet contact. No surprise on the WR, though. Jud set the M50 WR of 71.71 in 2009. The listed M55 WR was by Austria’s Hans Pötsch.Chuck Greene reports: “Jud celebrated his entry into the 55-59 bracket with a World-Record hammer throw in excess of 67 meters! The event (and performance) was highly anticipated. On hand for the festivities were USATF officials Jim and Kathy Whettenhall; they brought along two steel tapes!”
Dick, shown winning at 2010 Sacto nationals, takes good advantage of his speed in the LJ.
Coming back from a hammie pull earlier this season, M80 Dick Richards long jumped 4.22 (13-10 1/2) Sunday at the San Diego Senior Olympics to beat the listed American record of 4.19 (13-9) by Mel Larsen 10 years ago at Decatur nationals. It’s his third AR. (He holds M65 and M75, too.) Prepping for 2015 worlds, Dick also ran the 100 in 15.20. Also returning from layoffs were masters greats including Jim Selby, Doug Smith and Lynn Naftel, all doing well on Mesa College’s Mondo track. In addition, Nadine O’Connor fell a fraction short of a W70 American record in the long jump, and Rita Hanscom ran another great 300-meter hurdles in W60. See results below. Nadine’s jump of 3.82 (12-06 1/2) was close to the AR of 3.84 (12-7¼”) set by Audrey Lary at Decatur nationals. Rita’s 53.86 in the long hurdles was a good go at Phil Raschker’s AR of 52.17.
Nick Berra is a beast at the runners pentathlon — an annual event contested this year at Fort Washington, Pennsylvania. The meet was held August 10, and Chuck Shields graciously shared results, together with this writeup: “The 2014 Advanced Sports Chiropractic Runners Pentathlon was held at Carey Stadium and Athletic Complex on the campus of Germantown Academy. The competition was a USATF-sanctioned event produced by the Greater Philadelphia Track Club. Runners competed in five events, 3000m, 200m, 1500m, 100m (in order) with the final event being the option of the 400m or 800m. 2014 was the third year for the team competition in which three-person teams competed in the same 5 events, but in separate heats. The scoring was age-graded with cash prizes for the top five individuals. All participants received award certificates proclaiming that they were “Still Alive after Five!” The winning team also received a cash prize.” The individual results are here. The team results are here. And a series of short videos are here. Nice work! Video shows Nick and other top finishers.
So I foundthis Facebook page focused on the Asian Masters Athletics Championships. I see a clip of a Japanese paper showing a bunch of masters tracksters and probably meet results. But I skipped Japanese as a Second Language. Sorry. In any case, the medals are heavy duty. (I just can’t wait for the 116-year-old sprinter’s times!)
Medals at AMA regionals, a WMA-sanctioned event despite WMA ignoring it.
Anyone know how Dennis, a Yank, got on foreign team?
The 18th Asian Masters Athletics Championships start Friday in Japan, but it’s pretty much being ignored by WMA. Nothing about the five-day meet on its website. Hard to find a meet site either. (AMA is AWOL as well.) But aside from 116-year-old phantom sprinters, what can we look forward to? How about an American M65 steepler? According to a Filipino paper, “Also joining the (Philippines) team are American steeplechaser Dennis Scott (based in Butuan City).” Say what? How do I join? A blog even shows Dennis and the team. But the sportswriter goes off the deep end when he declares: “But do you know there is still a 100-year-old athlete from India who still participates in the World Masters? Oh, speaking of World Masters we are excited as the venue next year will be in France. Guess who will be competing, Haile Gerbselasie, Linford Christie, Marlene Ottey, Frank Shorter, Gail Devers and Bill Rodgers.” Yup, count on “Marlene” Ottey showing and Geb. First person to find a results link to AMA meet gets bragging rights.
The Eurovets have revealed their nominees for IAAF World Best Masters Athletes of the Year: M75 sprinter/hurdler Guido Müller of Germany and W45 vaulter Irie Hill of UK. Both were selected by the EVAA (now EMA) Council. “In all competitions in pole vault, Irie is superior to the other veterans in W45. At the WMA Indoor Championships in Budapest March 26 she won with the World Record 3.55, 75 centimetres before the second woman,” the Eurovets say. “In the European Veterans Championships in Izmir, August 2014 her victory result was 3.30, a margin with 30 centimetres to the second woman. Irie is regular competitor at European and World championships and she has broken the World Records Indoor and Outdoor six times in 2014. She is an enthusiastic Master Pole Vaulter and with her results had motivate women all over Europe and World.”
Guido is God. Wait, I’ve said that before. OK, Guido is God of Gods.
Gaby and Mr. T were named top jumpers in province.
Some names are familiar. Others are revelations (to me). Here are your Ontario MastersEvent-Group Athletes of the Year. (And why should you care? Because Ontario is challenging other subnational governing bodies to honor their best performers. In USATF, why not regional AoYs?) Female Throws: Marie-Josée Le Jour. Male Throws: Boris Zaitchouk. Female Sprints / Hurdles: Karla Del Grande. Male Sprints / Hurdle: Earl Fee. Female Jumps: Gaby Szanto. Male Jumps: Thevarajan Sinnathurai. Male Combined Events: Ralph Cilevitz. Male Distance / Walks Co-Winners: Paul Osland and Michael Sherar. Female Distance / Walks: Krista DuChene. Many of these set world records, so one wonders: Who are Ontario’s overall Athletes of the Year? The answer will be revealed at a Sept. 27 awards banquet in Toronto (similar to what USATF does at outdoor nationals). One last query: How do other nation-states honor their best?
Nolan Shaheed’s season is ending the way it began — in New York state with a great mile performance. In January, when he was 64, he ran 5:03.07 at the Hartshorne indoor mile. On Saturday, at 65, he clocked 5:07 to win his age group in the Fifth Avenue Mile. Nolan graciously wrote me from home in Pasadena, saying: “Just got back from winning the George Sheehan mile division. … 64-year-old Ronville Gravesande was second in 5:17 and 68-year-old Noel Haynes was third in 5:26. Thomas Hartshorne, Tony Plaster and Harry Nolan were among the top runners of that race and there were quite a few masters in the 40s and 50s races. In the elite women’s race, a 40-year-old Canadian ran 4:40!!! She came in last and no one paid attention to her but she actually ran the best race of the nearly 6,000 runners who competed.” That’s Nolan for you — sharing the glory. (It was Diane Cummins who took 18th in 4:40.2, BTW.) Nolan added: “My greatest thrill was meeting Mary Cain and taking a picture with her after the race. She is an outstanding athlete and I am a big fan of hers. .. . It was a fantastic experience.”
Nolan tops age-group results from Fifth Avenue Mile — at 3:56 age-graded!
Eight years ago, George Mathews bowed out of USATF masters politics (and chairmanship of the national committee), but he’ll never quit throwing. He’s a hammer specialist. His latest ball-and-chain foray was in Richmond, British Columbia. Notes a local newspaper story: “The festival also attracted many top-level masters athletes, including Marie-Josee Le Jour from the University of Toronto club. She won the women’s discus event with a throw of 44.91 metres. And veteran U.S. thrower George Mathews, 71, threw an impressive 46.71 metres (153-3) in the men’s hammer throw event.” The facility is called first-rate: “This is one of a few hammer cages nationally that meet the stringent requirements of the IAAF for international-calibre meets, so we are very excited to be able to host future meets that will attract a top level of competition,” said one organizer.
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...]
September 22, 2014
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