One of the oldest throws pentathlon records on the books fell Saturday when W35 Marie-Josée Le Jour scored 4,047 points at the Toronto Track & Field Centre. She topped the listed WR of 3,730 by Christi McCahill of New Zealand set in Brisbane in 2001. News of the milestone was reported by Ontario Masters Athletics. The site reports: “Her series was hammer – 48.97 (160-8), shot – 12.38 (40-7 1/2), discus – 46.09 (151-2), javelin – 30.29 (99-4) and weight – 16.56 (54-4). She also set a Canadian Record in the weight throw of 16.77 (55-0 1/4).” Full results are here. She has American links as well, having competed for Arkansas (where she earned a bachelor’s and two master’s degrees).
John Seto is sizzling. His self-serve masters rankings (aka seasonal lists) are taking over the world. And his fan base is growing as well, with close to 140 athletes listed as donors. One M55 sprinter, Mark Davis, has kicked in at least $500. John’s mastersathletics.co site also pledges planned improvements, including age-graded rankings and converted times (1600 meter to 1500, for example). In a recent status report on Facebook, John wrote; “Between athlete submissions for 2013 and 2014 (about 12,000) and results I’ve imported, there are over 129,000 results in the rankings. … I will be working on importing meet results from South Africa, Costa Rica, Australia, Spain, Hungary, France, Czech Republic, Netherlands, Italy, Ukraine, New Zealand (and USA). … You can keep up with what is being imported by looking at the Facebook page where I post most of the import activities.” Not bad for only three months of work.
Diane is easy to find on the Web, and leading the pack.
I really want Diane Cummins to break the W40 world record for 800. Why? Her name is so much easier to type than Yekaterina Podkopayeva, the listed WR holder from Russia. (That’s why I generally write Podko for short.) Diane showed her fitness Thursday night at the Oxy elite meet in Los Angeles, when she took sixth in Heat 2 in 2:02.39. (She turned 40 in January.) See her race on Runnerspace. Podko’s W40 best is now 20 years old at 1:59.25 — one of a handful of masters marks not used to compute the Age-Graded Table factors. She’s such an “outlier.” South Africa-born Diane was a 2004 Olympian for Canada and is hoping to qualify for the Commonwealth Games. According to mastersathletics.net, Diane’s 2:02 represents the No. 4 time by a W40 in history. It’s a Canadian record, of course, destroying the listed W40 mark of 2:08.3 by Erna Kozak. Go, Diane!
Mel Patton, the USC sprinter and Olympic champion of the late 1940s, may not have run masters track — but his example of overcoming adversity (a shattered leg) inspired many tracksters back in the day and probably even some of us still competing. He died May 9 at his Fallbrook home north of San Diego, but it wasn’t reported until May 14. As his school reported: “The third of USC’s ‘World’s Fastest Humans’ (following Charles Paddock and Frank Wykoff), Patton set world records in the 100- and 220-yard dashes. He ran a world record 9.3 in the 100 in 1948 after tying the mark of 9.4 in 1947 and he went 20.2 in the 220 on a straightaway in 1949 to break Jesse Owens’ world standard. The 9.3 mark in the 100 still ranks second on USC’s all-time list and the 20.2 is a still-standing school 220 record. He also once ran a wind-aided 9.1 in the 100-yard dash.” And remember that those marks didn’t come on Mondo. The New York Times has a great obituary.
W100 superstar Ruth Frithdied at age 104 three months ago. But for days, nobody seemed to care (outside this blog). Obituaries finally popped up, however, especially Down Under. Now comes the best story of all — on a Greek site. It says: “It was her perseverance and determination that created some of her life’s greatest moments at such old age. One of those was travelling to Greece for the first time and visiting Ancient Olympia in 2010.” Ruth is quoted as saying: “It was like a dream come true. Standing on that ground at Ancient Olympia, I just can’t describe how I felt. I felt so insignificant, humble. You just felt, ‘well, I am really nothing compared to the ground I’m standing on.'” The story went on: “The realisation of Ruth’s dream was made possible by Greek philanthropist Jovanna Fragouli after an anonymous Greek Australian made the nomination through www.postmywish.com.” So what’s your ultimate wish — track or tourism-wise?
Tony tore up the track at Budapest, winning the M40 800, 1500 and 3000.
Masters track is the Rodney Dangerfieldof sport: We don’t get no respect. This refrain goes way back. (I uttered it in the mid-1990s, when I began spouting off.) After Lahti worlds in 2009, Anselm LeBourne took up the cause — trying to rallyelite masters especially to get free uniforms for worlds and the like. The upshot? Nothing. Now comes British Olympian Anthony Whiteman, the first M40 to go sub-4 outdoors in the mile. In a blog post for Athletics Weekly, Tony wrote after Budapest: “The main gripe among team members is the lack of recognition by mainstream athletics. The team kit that can be bought by the athletes is not sourced from UK Athletics. Some athletes are resourceful and have obtained official UK Athletics kit but have to wear the BMAF kit in events. Britain were among the most successful nations in Budapest so it is a shame that we do not project a single corporate identity in kit the athletes want to wear. No funding is available for any British participants.”
Runner’s World online reports that an inaugural Beer Mile World Championships will be held at an unspecified locale this fall in Austin, Texas. “The first of its kind, the event hopes to draw the best-of-the-best beer milers in the world. American middle-distance elite runner Nick Symmonds is one of them,” the story says. Mark Floreani, a co-founder of sponsor Flocasts, said: “We want to connect the non-running public to an event where we have elite track and field athletes, show them something amazing, and have a good time doing it.” Mark said the event will have all the trappings of a pro-level track meet, including fully automatic timing, strict adherence to beer mile rules, a $5,000 prize for the win and a new world record. The listed men’s record is 4:57.1, set by James Nielsen on April 27, and the women’s is 6:42.0. Will masters compete? I’ve written Mark. Would you go? What’s your fave brew?
He doesn’t look a day over 90, but Poland’s Stanisław Kowalski, reportedly born in 1910, “has become the oldest person in Europe to run a 100m race – smashing the record previously held by a 96-year-old,” says one of several reports of his run Saturday. Says a correspondent: “Kowalski’s time is less than 3 seconds short of the world record in M100 (29.83 sec, from 2010) possessed by Hidekichi Miyazaki (Japan). With some efforts he may even threaten it.” Says Stan the Man: “I feel as if I was just born. I am not tired, and I can run more.” He said he hadn’t done special preparations for the record. “Every day he jogs or walks 10 km . He doesn’t take pills, and doesn’t visit doctors either. His advice is not to overeat, especially at nights.” I hope he can produce DOB records. But he’s doubling down by wearing 104 as a bib number. The only other 104-year-old sprinter I know of is South Africa’s Phillip Rabinowitz. And San Francisco waiter Larry Lewis reputedly did exhibition sprints at 106. Wish I knew Stan’s birthdate. See him run at end of video:
Haven’t seen results posted online, but Masters Mole 673(c)4 reports: “I work closely with [W80] Irene Obera and I thought you might like to know what she did today at the Bay Area Senior Games held at the College of San Mateo. The meet is USATF-sanctioned and run under the auspices of senior USATF official Leroy Milam. Irene first ran a 17.06 in the hundred meters, with a wind reading of -0.1, besting both the listed and pending WRs. Then she long jumped 10-1 1/2 inches (3.09), which betters the listed outdoor WR held by [Christa] Happ of Germany. Finally, Irene blasted a 35.69 [in the 200] to eclipse her recent indoor WR time (36.53) as well as the unofficial outdoor best of 39.92 by [Emma] Mazzenga. I didn’t get the wind reading.” Whatta day for Irene! If the report pans out, she set three world record inside of 2 hours. Incredible.
Irene flew at 2011 worlds. Now 80, she’s redefining what sprinters can do.
Meb Keflezighi turned 39 this week, and Saturday he was honored at his alma mater, San Diego High School, where he walked two laps with his family and dozens of fans and friends. The mayor gave him the key to the city and declared him “America’s Finest Runner” for winning at Boston. A councilman who once attended junior high and high school with Meb said the San Diego City Council named May in his honor — and if he wins the Rio Olympic marathon in 2016, they’ll have to name the year for him. (Meb told everyone he’s aiming for a Boston repeat in 2015 and a fourth Olympics in 2016.) I chatted with Meb during his walk, and this video covers the highlights of the day. My wife, Chris, posted a photo gallery for Times of San Diego and was featured several times in local CBS coverage of the event. (Look for the lady in red shirt and white cap.)
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...]
