Great idea: picking top masters via online vote. The Eurovets site says W60 Lidia Zentner and M75 Klemens Wittig were named Germans Best Master Athletes 2013. Sayeth the site: “During the German Senior Indoor Championships in Erfurt … WMA Vice President Margit Jungmann (GER) and DLV Vice-President Dr. Matthias Reick honoured two well-known athletes. It was Lidia Zentner and Klemens Wittig, who were elected online by the German athletic family as Germany’s Best Master Athletes of the year 2013. Both had outstanding results in national and international events and set new European and World Records. They are still in top condition and want to participate this year in the World Indoor Championships in Budapest and in Izmir, where the European Stadia Championships will take place.” Why can’t USATF hold a similar poll? Voting can be conducted behind a security wall tied to your membership number. The USATF Masters Awards Committee would narrow the field, and the rest of us get a chance to weigh in. Just do it.
German “best masters” show off sizable awards with their portraits.
Masters relay records outside worlds and Penn are rare. But two WRs at one meet? That’s the case at the Boston University Last Chance Meet on Sunday. An M40 team of Ed Winslow, Chris Blondin, Mark Williams and Nicholas Berra clocked 7:49.90 to crush the listed indoor world 4×8 record of 7:58.12 set a year ago in New York. Mark shared these amazing splits: Ed (1:59.91), Chris (1:59.69), Mark (1:55.75) and Nick (1:54.93). An M35 team also claimed a WR, but the listed best of 8:11.58 from 2004 seems way slow. Mark says splits on Central Park Track Club’s 7:55.13 were Andrew Hogue (2:02.49), Rob Gill (1:58.09), Peter Brady (1:58.49) and Jonevan Hornsby (1:54.06). So the M35 record is behind the M40. Talk about rarities.
Members of M40 relay hold numbers signifying their time. Nick is at right.
My apologies for the headline. I just finished watching the Academy Awards. But I couldn’t help but cheer a news nibble from Down Under. The Southland Times of New Zealand reports: “Seventy nine-year-old Iris Bishop has competed at all 40 editions of the New Zealand Masters Track and Field Championships. She and her daughter Janice Maxwell, both of Christchurch, competed at the championships held in Invercargill at the weekend. Heading into today’s fourth and final day, Bishop has won gold medals in weight throwing and in the 60 metres and silver medals in the hammer, shot put, discus and javelin. Maxwell, competing in the 50-54 division, landed silver medals in the shot put and discus, along with bronze medals in weight throwing and hammer. The mother and daughter are competing in the weight pentathlon today. Bishop usually builds a holiday into trips to overseas Masters events. ‘I just love sport, I’ve always been a sports person,’ she said.” I say bully for her. If you had a choice between setting a world record and competing in nationals four decades in a row, what would you choose?
In 2002, Shaun Bownes of South Africa ran the 110 highs in 13.26. Not too shabby, since the world record was 13.2 back in my day. Now Shaun has his sights set on Budapest indoor worlds. A blog post gives details. We also learn: “Some of his outdoor successes in the 110m hurdles were a bronze (1998) and Gold (2002) at the Commonwealth Games. Shaun’s toughest competition will come from Don Drummond (USA) with a SB of 7.99 followed by Herbert Simoes (Bra) with a best of 8.10. A total number of 24 competitors have entered in this age group. He holds the South African Masters record in the 35-39 age group, but has not been actively participating in the 40-44 age group until recently.” Great to see the best going head-to-head. Welcome to M40, Shaun! Any other ex-elites coming out of the woodwork?
Two-time Olympian Shaun held the South African open record for 11 years.
WMA President Stan Perkins reports that Ruth Frith, a fellow Aussie who competed as a W100 at the Sydney World Masters Games, has died at age 104. Ruth was a thrower with a tart tongue. In 2009, The Australian profiled her as “Golden girl Ruth Frith, 100, master of shot-put universe.” She holds nine outdoor world-age groups records, starting at W85. She famously declared: “Don’t eat vegetables, because I never eat vegetables. I know people that like diets that will scream at me, (but) don’t eat vegetables. I never have.” One commenter on the Perkins post said: “Won’t ever forget her at Perth 2010, at over 100 years of age, wandering around with her own personal film crew and insisting on pulling her trolley of throwing equipment all by herself. A real role model.” Cause of death has not been disclosed. More details will emerge in coming days. We’ll miss you, Ruth.
Don’t know whether to laugh or cry. The Times of India reports, with a completely straight face: “Dharmapal Gujjar, a 116-year-old athlete from Uttar Pradesh, on Thursday cleared 200 metres in 46.74 seconds at the 35th National Masters Athletic Championship. Born on October 6, 1897, Gujjar was the only athlete in this category, as others were younger to him. Hailing from Gudha village in Meerut District, Gujjar, an agricultural labourer, said he was fit and had participated in many marathons across the country, including the one held in Kochi last year. He won the 400 metres on Wednesday. … Stating that his co-workers were helping him financially to participate in the event and at times also by providing food, he said he had not sought any financial help from the government. His only disappointment was that he was not able to represent India in international events, due to paucity of funds, Gujjar said.”
Mac has a full plate at Kiwi outdoor masters nationals.
Kudos to the Kiwis! This weekend, they stage their 40th masters outdoor nationals. (Ours were about seven years ago.) But a poll in a New Zealand newspaper, which profiled an M85 entrant, missed the point. It asked: “When you are 86 do you hope to ….” And the options were “Have good health, Be surrounded by good friends and family, Inspired by Mac Mackay and be at the masters, and Happy to kick back and enjoy life.” Why not a combination of all four? In any case, check out this profile of Mac Mackay. “The Invercargill athlete is the oldest Southlander at the New Zealand Masters Track and Field Championships, which start today and finish on Monday, at Surrey Park in Invercargill,” says the article. “His events are triple jump, high jump, long jump, 60m, 100m, 200m and 400m.”
Patsy is no patsy when it comes to sprints post-70.
How good is Patsy Forbes, the M70 dashman? Good enough that he can challenge German sprint god Guido Müller. So suggests a recent TV documentary that aired in Northern Ireland. See this review in a Belfast paper. We learn: “The ‘True North: Run Grandad Run’ programme screened on BBCNI on Monday night was one of the most joyous, humble works of television that was a true example of public service broadcasting. … Here he was slightly miffed at being pipped for a gold medal in the 100 metres by his arch-rival, German champion Guido Müller. What lust for life! And what a brainwave it was to screen this programme, especially with the weather on the turn.” The half-hour program aired Feb. 17 but apparently isn’t online yet. The description is tantalizing: “Patsy Forbes is aiming to be crowned the world’s fastest man over 70.” Would love to see this doc, my UK friends. Let us know if it goes online.
Clare is captured by Tom Phillips at the Feb. 23 Lee Valley meet.
Tired of seeing the Yanks set the pace, 50-year-old Brits Clare Elms and Greg Dunson set indoor world records of their own over the Valentine’s Day weekend. Competing at the South of England/Eastern Vets Championships, Clare ran the 800 in 2:21.09 to crush the listed W50 WR of 2:24.49 by Spain’s Aurora Perez in 2009. Greg scored 4231 points to nip the listed M50 WR of 4207 by Jean Luc Duez of France in 2013. Results are here.Steve Smythe of Athletics Weekly writes of Clare: “Elms had won a 5-mile cross-country day before and was first track race of season so surprised to take three seconds off world record but had to run that fast to win race against younger vets Denise Morley and Bernadette Pritchett.” Clare’s splits were 34.0, 35.5, 36.5, 35.1. On Feb. 23, Clare came back for the 1500 meters, clocking 4:46.12 to pip the listed W50 WR of 4:47.14 by Aurora in 2008. Five years ago, Clare had a similar rampage.
The Masters Mile was the genesis of U.S. masters track. David Pain added this event to a San Diego invitational in June 1966. Almost 50 years later, the Aztec Invitational at San Diego State University will feature Masters Miles on March 28. Meet director Rick Reaser says the women’s and men’s mile with be the first two events contested at the Friday Distance Carnival. “Consistent with USATF Rule 320, the Masters Mile will be open to men and women competitors 30 and older on the day of the race,” Rick says. “The men and women sections will be seeded by time if there are more competitors that a single section for each gender can accommodate. Results will be tabulated by the standard five-year age groups.” Here’s the entry site. Also, Kuba Wasowski says he has confirmations from top sprinters from three nations in the Flash 100 event in San Diego: Chris Williams (JAM), Jeff Laynes (USA), Reginald Pendland (USA), Lonnie Hooker (USA), Hiroaki Akabori (JAP) and Aaron Thigpen (USA). See the Facebook page for details. Again this year, the prizes will be $500, $300, $100, Kuba says. Here’s Hiroaki in 2012:
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...]
