Dave Ortman, second in this 4×4 shot, wrote about Penn. See below.
The Rev. Dick Camp, an M75 sprinter who ran the featured masters 100at Penn on Saturday, penned a nice note to Phil Felton, who coordinates masters events. Dick shared his email, a model for how we might thank the unsung officials of masters track. Dick wrote Phil: “Thank you for your outstanding leadership in the masters division of Penn Relays. You have encouraged and enabled many of us to participate in this superb track meet. I appreciate your including me in the 75 and older competition in spite of my limitations. Parkinson’s Disease is crippling my body and draining my strength, but sprinting has helped maintain my mobility. I took a huge risk in running at Penn and was humbled by my poor time. Nevertheless, the thrill of being part of this great event is one I will long remember. It was a delight to run against several old friends with whom I competed in my healthier days. Our prayer is that one day soon a cure may be found for this debilitating disease. Who knows, but one day I may be back!”
Deadline looms for one of the top SoCal masters meets — the Striders Meet of Champions. The venue this year is Santa Ana College. Saturday’s meet is USATF-sanctioned, and you canenter by mail or online at Direct Athletics until 8 p.m. Pacific on May 1. You can see likely competition by perusing last year’s results. Check out photos from the 2011 Striders meet.
Some skinny guy with headband is likely to compete at Striders again.
Rockland County is in New York, and until a few days ago I didn’t know it had a Sports Hall of Fame. But when my M60 hurdle friend Thad Wilson was inducted in the hall Saturday night, I cheered from afar. The local paper profiled Thad in advance of the ceremony, and the best part was the photo attached. Is that not a studly prep or what? Despite being a world champ and WR holder, Thad is humble about his achievements. He says of his 10 world titles: “It means I’m fortunate. I’ve got the genetics to enable me to stay in shape.” Now it’s only a matter of time that he’s inducted into that other Hall of Fame: USATF Masters Track & Field.
Thad wore Adidas as we all did in that era, running over flip-up hurdles.
With Nick Berra elsewhere, Lance Elliott had the Drake Relays to himself this year, winning the masters 800 Friday for the second time in three years. He clocked 2:03.50 at age 43. On the women’s side, 44-year-old Chris Gentile notched a 12-second victory Saturday over another Chris — Christine Price — 2:24.95 to 2:37.20. Lance has overcome injuries this year, taking the 3K title at indoor nationals. A nice profile reports: “Lance Elliott’s handle on Twitter is LanceRunsALot. He may have to change that to a more inclusive description of his lifestyle, LanceDoesALot. Last weekend he won the USA Masters Championship in the M40 3K in Boston, then finished second in the M40 mile and fifth in the M40 800. That was despite the fact that a leg injury limited his training leading up to the race. In fact, this year Elliott has found that less is more in terms of running training as it seems he’s spent more time in the swimming pool and other cross training activities than on the track. All of this and his past history paints a picture of a guy with a Ferrari engine stuck in a Volkswagen body.” At Penn on Saturday, local fave William Bittner, 78, won the 75-and-over 100 in a nice 14.79. (The listed M75 WR is Bob Lida’s 13.49.) All masters results at Franklin Field are listed here. Congrats to all.
Team calling itself the Flying Bettys won W50 4×1 at Penn: Cheryl Bellaire (left) with Sandy Triolo, Wanda Robinson and Terri Rath.
Jim became a legend at Kansas with many SI covers. I’ve known him since the 1970s.
Jim Ryun is teaming with Competitor Group and others to put on the Jim Ryun Festival of Miles on June 5 at Balboa Stadium in San Diego — 50 years to the day after his historic first sub-4 as a high school junior at the Compton Invitational. I spoke to Jim last week before the event was formally announced and posted this story. Ryun turns 67 next week but will not race a mile. He’s hoping to round up elite preps, open and masters milers, however. Masters men’s and women’s races are being planned. If you’re a top 10er at M40 or M45 (or W40/45), shoot me a note, and I’ll forward to the recruiters. Out of self-indulgent curiosity, I asked Jim what his best times were in the 100, 200 and 400. His relay splits are well-documented, but I didn’t know he ran an open 100-yard dash as a KU sophomore. He tells the time in the interview.
With only a couple masters races left Friday, it appears we had some powerful marks at Penn Relays. More relays and individual events will be contested Saturday. M40Nate Sickerson posted the day’s fastest 100 at 11.18 with a legal wind, but very impressive was M50 Lonnie Hooker’s 11.36, which would rank second only to Willie Gault’s 11.28 at Mt. SAC recently. Also winning were perennial champs Val Barnwell (12.07 in M55), Oscar Peyton (12.24 in M60) and Charles Allie (12.55 in M65). Bill Collins doesn’t appear in the results. He’s been a regular at Penn, setting several records here. New at Penn is pay-per-view. Yeah, now you have to cough up $20 to watchthe meet online via Flotrack. Three years ago, it was $13 for a 3-day pass, and it may have been $4 earlier. Whatever the market will bear, I guess.
Mike Soule,the musician and M60 vaulter, is featured in his local Minnesota paper. Headline is: ‘Flying through the air is really kind of fun’ and so is the story. He’s not a superstar jumper this year, but I share his attitude of “If it’s worth doing, it’s worth doing badly.” He says: “I’m really out of shape and don’t jump like I used to. You can’t be weak. I have no core strength so I’m only jumping 7’-6”, where before I was 9’-3”. So that’s my incentive.” But he gives back as a coach: “Beginning April 27, Soule is offering pole vaulting lessons for those 10 and older through Forest Lake Community Education. Until last year locals knew him as the guy with a complete vaulting pit in his backyard, established in 2006 for a group he founded called the G-Force Pole Vault Club. he club, which typically draws 10 to 15 participants of all ages who practice from April to October, is sanctioned by the USATF… Last year Soule moved the club and equipment to the south end of the Forest Lake Area High School football field to maintain USATF insurance.”
I admire a lot of masters athletes. A few I also envy. One is Bob Hahn of Texas, an M60 hurdler I’ve known for many years. He’s well-traveled (the source of my envy). I didn’t know his backstory until his local paper profiled him. “The games have taken him across the globe,” we learn. “He’s competed in South Africa, Germany, Spain, France, Italy, Puerto Rico, England and Mexico, where he won the world championships in 2007.” Bob says: “People call me all the time through the years, saying they get a kick out of wondering where I’m going next, or where I’ve been.” Most recently: Budapest, where he ran the 60 in 9.52 and the 60 hurdles in 11.53 (which Thad Wilson won in 9.11). Too bad they didn’t have a shuttle hurdle relay. Bob would have helped set a record — along with Jim Broun and Ron Bolling. Read the rest of this post »
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W50 sprinters and Bay Area buddies Joy Upshaw and Debbie Hoffman went 1-2 in the Mt. SAC 100 Saturday and put on a show in the postrace interview as well. We learn that Debbie, moving down from her usual 400, last raced at Mt. SAC at a TAC nationals in 1980, when she ran the 100-meter hurdles for Rutgers (competing as Debbie Deutsch). And Joy was Joy, praising Ron Kamaka for accommodating masters events in the elite meet. “We want to get more masters people involved [at Mt. SAC]. I highly recommend everyone come here, and let’s make more of a showing,” Joy said. W70 superstar Kathy Bergen was set to run as well, but arrived late after a schedule mix-up.
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...]
