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Older, slower, lower: Ken Stone's hobby blog for showcasing and watchdogging adult age-group track and field

Gatling and Upshaw wins masters exhibitions at USA nationals

American record-holder Darnell Gatling is 54, but he tackled the 36-inch hurdles Saturday (instead of his age group’s 33-inch barriers) when he won the masters exhibition in the 400s at the USA national track championships at Sacramento State. His time of 61.61 was almost exactly the same mark as mine in the 300s at almost the same morning hour at the Chuck McMahon meet in San Marcos, California. (See photos here). (And I ran the 30-inch sticks). Amazing. Darnell posted on Facebook: “Thank you all for your blessings and moral support. Over 5 years since I ran over 36-inch hurdles. The Lord lifted me and He never felled me yet. It wasn’t easy, but I have the gold.” Second place, and only a step behind, went to California legend Peter Grimes, whose 61.95 was possibly more impressive. He’s 55. Third was 51-year-old Kerry Sloan in 67.10. Too bad they weren’t allowed to run the 33-inchers. A record might have been produced. Too bad the trio were the only entrants and lanes were left naked. Same for the women’s 100, won by 53-year-old Joy Upshaw in 13.25. Only four in that race. Sigh. But special thanks to Diane Pomeroy, who traveled from Massachusetts for the event.

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June 29, 2014  6 Comments

Irie Hill clears W45 world vault record to crack 3-way deadlock

In a WMA rarity, three women are listed as world record holders in the W45 vault. All went 3.50 meters (11-5 3/4) between 2002 and 2006. They are Aussie Dawn Hartigan, Italian Carla Forcellini and Holland’s Brigitte van de Kamp. So it’s appropriate it took Irie Hill of Britain three meets this season to up the record to 3.60 (11-9 3/4). Her first try was at the Rolf-Watter-Memorial meeting in Regensburg (Germany) on May 17, but it “was unfortunately marred by bouts of spitting rain,” she writes, forcing Irie to stay on her short 10-stride run-up. She managed 3.40m for second place. On June 18, Irie competed at the Chrummen meet in the Swiss town of Freienbach. “Just getting used to a longer approach,” she says, she won but still at 3.40. Then on June 25, at Thun (Switzerland), she cleared 3.60 on her first try at the opening height at Lachen Stadion. (See results here.) She says she struggled with a headwind during warmup and saw no point in opening the competition lower. “After a 5-hour drive, I’m more than pleased with the result,” she writes. “I’m also looking forward to using longer poles, should the conditions at my next competition permit it.” I suspect the mark will be ratified. (Irie wouldn’t travel so far not to make sure the meet was kosher.) Kudos on breaking a three-way tie, Irie, who now owns both the indoor and outdoor W45 record. (She went 3.55 at Budapest.)

June 28, 2014  3 Comments

Weight records set on Left and Right Coasts over the weekend

A slew of weight records were set over the weekend. On the West Coast, M85 Harvey Lewellen of Springfield, Oregon, threw the 12-pound weight 12.24 meters (40-2) to nip the listed American record of 12.21 (40-0) by Karlis Ezerins at 2012 Lisle nationals. And Harvey added the AR in the 25-pound superweight, going 7.42 (24-4 1/4) to crush the listed record of 6.71 (22-0) by Karlis. Both were at the Portland Masters Track Classic in Gresham, Oregon, with complete results here. On the East Coast (in Chelmsford, Massachusetts), the USATF East Regional Ultraweight Pentathlon Championships saw at least six ARs. I haven’t seen the official results yet, but Bob Cedrone detailed the marks on Facebook.

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June 27, 2014  2 Comments

Certified proof emerges of Jeanne Daprano sub-7 W75 mile WR

USATF has no excuse now. Andy Hecker of Southern California has dug up docs showing Jeanne Daprano ran a W75 mile world record 6:58.44 in July 2012. Her phototimer image (below) and her signed record application (see it here) were sent this week to USATF masters records czar Sandy Pashkin for annual meeting ratification. Why the record wasn’t certified in 2012 remains a mystery. But the paperwork (including surveyor’s certification of the Caltech track) appears to be in order. So expect action in Anaheim. Thanks for the sleuthing, Andy! (But it still wouldn’t hurt to sign the petition.)

June 26, 2014  No Comments

Charles Austin named USATF Athlete of the Week for M45 WR

Wanna be USATF Athlete of the Week? All you need is two things — a world record and name recognition. So it went with Olympic champ Charles Austin, whose 2.05 (6-8 3.4) world record in the M45 high jump over the weekend got the attention of the Mother Ship in Indy. It also helps that USATF open nationals start this week, and last weekend was relatively fallow on the elite level. So the window of opportunity opened. Congrats to Charles. From the official announcement: on AoY: “The three-time Olympian (1992, 1996, 2000) is the current American high jump record holder with a 7-10.05 (1991) and current Olympic high jump record holder 7-10 (1996). Austin’s other accomplishments include a 1st place finish in his first World Outdoor Championships in 1991, 1st place in 2003 World Indoor Championships and 1st place in 2003 USA Indoor Championships.”

June 25, 2014  No Comments

Olga Kotelko dies at 95; book fame followed years of world records

This hurts to write. Olga Kotelko is dead. I got the tragic news from her Canadian author friend Bruce Grierson on Tuesday afternoon: “A major blood vessel feeding Olga’s brain ruptured on Saturday night. Blood bled into brain tissue and caused severe swelling — technically it was an intracranial hemorrhage. She died this morning. Doctors say she would have lost consciousness immediately — zero suffering. It was — albeit premature and shocking — the perfect way to go out. She left nothing significant undone or undreamed. Gerontologists talk about ‘squaring the curve’ — i.e., living life ablaze with little or no decline toward the end, and then an abrupt demise. Olga squared the curve with a ruler. It was a real gift to get to know her. She changed my life, for sure.” Bruce published “What Makes Olga Run?” this year and went on tour with her. Then she returned to training and competition, winning a bazillion medals at Budapest worlds while setting indoor and outdoor world records (a dozen?) in her new W95 age group. I met her several times, most notably at 2009 Lahti worlds (where I chatted with her at the athletes banquet). Her example is one we should all embrace: It’s never too late to be a track star! I will miss her terribly.

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June 24, 2014  26 Comments

M80 Bob Hewitt takes break from the dec for long hurdles WR

Bob Hewitt is our Ashton Eaton. If he isn’t setting world records (M75 and M80) in the decathlon, he’s trying the long hurdles. But not even Ashton can boast what Bob did over the weekend at the Portland Masters Track Classic in Gresham, Oregon — set an age-group WR in the 200-meter hurdles. Results aren’t yet posted, but PMTC Prez Linda Phillips reports that Bob, 81, ran the 200s in a wind-legal 35.71, shattering the listed M80 WR of 36.95 by Canada’s Earl Fee in 2010. And Bob also triple-jumped 8.34 meters (27-4 1/2) to nip the listed American record of 8.27 (27-1¾) by Edwin Lukens at 2002 Orono nationals. (The listed WR is 8.95, or 29-4 1/2). “It was a great day at Mt Hood CC!” writes Linda. “Sunny but not too hot and little to no wind all day (which is unusual to have both at the same time).” A throws record also was set, and I’m awaiting details. Same for official results of the USATF East Regional Ultraweight Pentathlon Championships at Chelmsford, Massachusetts. A bunch of records were set.

June 24, 2014  5 Comments

Olympic high jump champ Charles Austin quietly sets M45 WR

Charles Austin, the USATF Hall of Famer and Atlanta Olympic high jump champion with a best of 2.40 (7-10 1/2), has made a big splash in a small-pond meet. M45 Charles cleared a world-record 2.05 (6-8 3/4) at the South Texas USATF Association meet Saturday in San Marcos, according to his local paper. The mark tops the listed WR of 2.04 (6-8 1/4) by Italy’s Marco Segatel in 2007. It also displaces the listed American record of 2.00 (6-6¾) by Bruce McBarnette in 2006 — which was a world record at the time. “A lot of people around here haven’t really seen me jump before,” Charles was quoted as saying. “When people heard about this meet, they were like, ‘Hey. Come out and jump.’ Two weeks ago, I decided I would do it.”

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June 23, 2014  5 Comments

W75 Rietje Dijkman claims WR in high jump — close to 4 feet

Rietje Dijkman turned 75 on Saturday and high-jumped 1.20 (3-11 1/4) on Sunday, reports W60 Weia Reinboud from Holland. Boom! World record. “She did not realize it was a world record,” Weia writes. “She also ran a national record of 16.43 (+1.5) in the 100. I myself improved my javelin distance to 31.10 (102-0). The weight change from 400 to 500 grams is nice. Linda Cohn already threw 37.50, but in Europe I do not know other throwers over 30 meters. So it could be a European record. Until real throwers take it from me. Results of the interclub meet where Riejje ane Weia excelled are posted here. The listed W75 world record for high jump is 1.18 (3-10 1/2) by Britain’s Rosemary Chrimes in 2012.

June 22, 2014  One Comment

Hayward Masters Classic falling short of veteran’s expectations

Dave Ortman, my M60 multi-event buddy in Seattle, is a connoisseur of fine meets. So when he has something to say, meet organizers should lissen up. He sent me a critique of the Hayward Masters Classic — set for next weekend. Any event at the University of Oregon creates expectations. We’re talking TrackTown USA, after all. But Dave is disappointed in the Hayward masters meet. “I have many fond memories of the Hayward Classic,” he writes. “More recently?  Not so much.” At least a half-dozen world records have been set at this meet. So every effort should be made to keep it strong.

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June 21, 2014  15 Comments

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• About Ken Stone

  

  Ken Stone

  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...]
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