M85 distance star Gunnar Linde, a Latvian-born former ski champion in Europe, now lives in Venice, California. He moved to the States in the early 1950s, so he’s a complete Yank. Sunday at the Southern California Indoor Meet … Outdoors(intended to give athletes a chance at distances contested at Boston indoor nationals), he ran the mile in 8:13.43 — beating the listed M85 American outdoor record of 8:22.59 by John Hosner in 2010. In 2011, Gunnar won M80 gold in the 2K steeple at Sacramento worlds and bronze in the 1500. I took some pictures at the meet, held at Mater Dei High School in Santa Ana, Calif. Got a nice series of jumps by 68-year-old Jim Goodreau, who cleared 1.48 meters (4-10 1/4), which he called his best mark in four years. Former NFL’er Phil McConkey, 56, won a football 40-yard dash in 5.34 seconds. (Ignore board saying 40m.)
Starter Duke Fuller congratulates Gunnar of the Los Angeles area after filling out USATF record paperwork for his 8:13 mile at age 85.
Hours before the national telecast, and while the Millrose crowd was still finding its seats, Athena Track Club’s fab four of Debra Hoffman, Lorraine Jasper, Julie Hayden and Joan Hunter scorched the Armory track Saturday in New York with a 4×4 of 4:26.18. That beats the listed world indoor W50 record of 4:27.73 set by same team two years ago but with Cheryl Bellaire as anchor. In other masters relays, Shore AC won the M60 4×4 in 4:13.04 with a team of Rick Lapp, Ronville Gravesande, Spider Rossiter and Tony Plaster. And Southwest Sprinters TC ran a 3:34.66 to win the M40 event with Andre Miller, John Cormier, Lyndell Pittman and Marek Wensel. In other highlights, Bernard Lagat, 39, set an American open best of 4:54.74 in the 2,000 (essentially a sub-4 mile with another sub-60 lap tacked on for fun). Sadly, USATF and WMA don’t keep age-group records for the 2K. But it means Bernard is a shoo-in to shatter M40 mile records next year if he’s still competing. Lemme know if I missed any other masters records at Millrose.
Matt McCue of Runner’s World celebrates the sellout of Saturday’s Millrose Games — and its high ticket prices. Matt writes: “Three-fourths of the 5,000 seats at The Armory cost between $80 and $180. (The latter has increased from $65-$145 in 2012.)” He excuses the inflation because it’s Noo Yawk and “the Armory is a non-profit, so the money does find its ways back into the sport for athlete development rather than, say, funding some NBA player’s salary at the Garden. Millrose Games tickets sales help to subsidize the other 100 or so track and field meets The Armory puts on each year for everyone from middle schools to masters runners.” Right. Please tell me how masters benefit from Armory charity. Anyone?
Christa Bortignon reports from Canada: “After breaking the 1500m world record last month, Helly Visser now broke the 3000m with a time of 15:57.73 at the 2014 Alberta Indoor Games, Feb 08-09, 2014, in Edmonton, Alberta, at the Universiade Pavillion. The current listed record is 16:04.94 by Melitta Czerwenka-Nagel, of Germany in 2011.” Helly also ran the 1500 at the meet in 7:47.78, a half-second faster than her late-January WR. She was last in both fields, but she was running with some girls born in 1996 — 62 years younger. Can’t wait to see what the kiddies are running in the year 2076 (a century after the Montreal Games). Here are results from Edmonton. Notice how Helly keeps her speed at twice the distance.
Deadline for entering the men’s masters 60 and women’s masters 1500 exhibitions at the USA Indoor T&F Championships closed at midnight Wednesday. But according to the Status of Entries, only three men and four women are entered. That means three open lanes in the 60 and six spots open in the 1500 field. Not good. Our events are Sunday, February 23, in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The SoCal Track Club’s Mark Cleary is head of the Masters Invitational Program. Perhaps he may extend the deadline. In any case, you might write him directly if you’re interested in joining the fields — with a time better than 7.50 for men and 5:18 for women (or about a 5:38 mile). Entry fee is $25, but “athletes not selected to compete will be refunded 50% of the fee,” says the entry site. My apologies for not highlighting the shortfall earlier. I learned of the deadline via a Robert Thomas post on Facebook. Wish someone had alerted me, though.
Women also ran a 15 at outdoor nationals in 2005. From left: Terri Cassel, Mary Thane, Sheri Wright, Mary Grene, Karen Steen and Carrie Sherburne.
At the start of last weekend, Horace Grant held world indoor 800 records in M55 and M60. Today he has none. Joe Gough of Ireland claimed the M60 Sunday. Now we learn that the M55 record fell the same day — to Joaquin Joyas Albertus. Competing against youngsters, Joaquin, who turned 55 in mid-November, ran 2:06.87 to lower Horace’s listed WR of 2:07.05 from 2010. “It was actually the third time he beat the Spanish record this season with marks of 2:09.71 (Jan. 26), 2:09.23 (Jan. 31) and the current [mark],” said a Facebook post by Andres Martinez. See results here from the Catalonia Indoor Championships in Sabadell, Spain. I suspect one of the finishers in this video is Joaquin (which one?), apparently at same track as Sunday’s:
Long sprinter Kettrell Berry has been a star since at least 1995, when he won M30 titles in the 200 and 400 at Michigan State nationals. Now 51, he continues to train and coach. But his life has been a nightmare since May 2012, when he was arrested and charged with child molestation. He maintains his innocence in the wake of his arrest and firing at the San Diego Center for Children, a school for troubled kids. How troubled? One — a teen named Elizabeth C — has a history of drug abuse, lying and stealing, according to school records Kettrell and his attorney hope to introduce as evidence. Elizabeth is Kettrell’s accuser. Last Friday morning, I attended a hearing in downtown San Diego Superior Court where Judge Joan Weber set a June 16 trial in the case. It’s expected to last 10 days. A jury pool of 85 has been ordered.
Kettrell (left) battles world champ Mike Sullivan at a May 2009 meet.
Joe (in green) posed with winner Nolan Shaheed and Brit Derek Leitch at 2008 indoor worlds in Clermont, France. (Tom Phillips photo)
Results haven’t been posted, but Europeans are abuzz over the M60 world indoor record for 800 meters set Sunday at the Irish Leinster Indoor Track & Field Championships. The hero is Joe Gough, 61, of West Waterford A.C. His reported time: 2:14.06. It nipped the listed record of 2:14.23 by American Horace Grant. “This was the first World Record to be broken in the Athlone International Arena and Gough’s achievement had on Monday already attracted over 15,000 hits on facebook at home and abroad,” said one report. “This was a terrific performance by the West Waterford runner who has been involved in athletics since age 11. Gough has won a total of 68 national masters titles over the years, 8 European gold medals, 10 British Championships and 2 silver medals at World Masters Championships.” Joe is entered at Budapest worlds and said: “I have received many messages of congratulations on my weekend World Record. I was delighted with my performance and to have set a World Record in Athlone was something very special.â€
Correction: AW indeed ran sub-4 mile at 40, and made cover of AW.
Certain distance runners have staying power into their late 30s, like Bernard Lagat in the 3K or 5K. But in the sprints and middle distances, few M35s are still at the elite game. So check out Britain’s Anthony Whiteman, now 42. He holds the M40 world outdoor record for 800 at 1:48.22. This weekend, he barely missed qualifying for the final at British nationals,running 1:50.92. Anthony, a two-time Olympian, set the outdoor record two years ago, and he’s still in the elite game. His target: the M40 indoor WR of 1:48.81 by American Johnny Gray. AW’s all-time best is 1:45.81, according to his profile. His best mark last year was 1:49.52. On his Twitter feed, Anthony posted: “I think my 1.50.92 800 today was my 2nd fastest ever [indoors]!! … Although I did split 1.49.5 when I ran 2.18 1k in ’96!” He explained why he missed the finals: “Spot in the final missed by 1/10th! Despite not getting to run in my lucky @swiftwick socks as I mixed them up with my kid’s school socks!”
Rhode Island runner Mike Galoob turned 40 on Friday and celebrated Saturday at the New Balance Indoor Grand Prix Saturday at the the site of Boston indoor nationals next month. He won the masters mile in 4:23.48, beating 1992 Olympian and M45 John Trautmann by less than a second. “I knew if I took the lead early, I had a good enough kick that I could hold people off,” Mike said. “I knew they all had good speed, so I had to get out there and be out of reach.” Results are here. John’s mark, however, is but 7 seconds off Brad Barton’s 4:16.83 world indoor record from 2013. Mike appears to excel at longer races on the road, according to this site. In the elite mile, Galen Rupp quit with two laps to go with what he said was a sore left leg. What a wuss.
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...]
Hours before the national telecast, and while the Millrose crowd was still finding its seats, Athena Track Club’s fab four of Debra Hoffman, Lorraine Jasper, Julie Hayden and Joan Hunter scorched the Armory track Saturday in New York with a 4×4 of 4:26.18. That beats the listed world indoor W50 record of 4:27.73 set by same team two years ago but with Cheryl Bellaire as anchor. In other masters relays, Shore AC won the M60 4×4 in 4:13.04 with a team of Rick Lapp, Ronville Gravesande, Spider Rossiter and Tony Plaster. And Southwest Sprinters TC ran a 3:34.66 to win the M40 event with Andre Miller, John Cormier, Lyndell Pittman and Marek Wensel. In other highlights, Bernard Lagat, 39, set an American open best of 4:54.74 in the 2,000 (essentially a sub-4 mile with another sub-60 lap tacked on for fun). Sadly, USATF and WMA don’t keep age-group records for the 2K. But it means Bernard is a shoo-in to shatter M40 mile records next year if he’s still competing. Lemme know if I missed any other masters records at Millrose.
Rhode Island runner Mike Galoob turned 40 on Friday and celebrated Saturday at the New Balance Indoor Grand Prix Saturday at the the site of Boston indoor nationals next month. He won the masters mile in 4:23.48, beating 1992 Olympian and M45 John Trautmann by less than a second. “I knew if I took the lead early, I had a good enough kick that I could hold people off,” Mike said. “I knew they all had good speed, so I had to get out there and be out of reach.” Results are here. John’s mark, however, is but 7 seconds off Brad Barton’s 4:16.83 world indoor record from 2013. Mike appears to excel at longer races on the road, according to this site. In the elite mile, Galen Rupp quit with two laps to go with what he said was a sore left leg. What a wuss.
