At the same meet in Glasgow that 39-year-old Bernard Lagat won the 3000 in 7:49.83, another M35 quietly crushed the listed indoor WR in the 400. Chris Brown of the Bahamas clocked 45.93, which beats the 47.45 of France’s Pierre-Mariew Hilaire in 2001. But given the sausage factory that is masters track record-keeping, who know what the real best is? The Eurovets records database shows an M35 time of 47.35 for Russia’s Rusian Maschenko in 2007. The IAAF database shows 47.06 for American Alvin Harrison. Outdoors, the listed M35 WR for 400 is 45.76 by France’s Ibrahima Wade in 2004. But mastersathletics.net lists a M35 time of 45.68 for Harrison in 2009. (The listed USATF record for 400 indoors is 48.58 by Mitchell Lovett and outdoors is 46.38 by James King, way back in 1984.) Confused yet? At least Chris Brown appears to have cut through the clutter. Nice race. (Thanks to my Italian friend Andrea Benatti for noticing the Chris Brown record.)
Tom Phillips photo of UK star Bernadine Pritchett at Helsinki meet.
Pennsylvania’s Nick Berra, won his first M40 Hartshorne masters mile since 2010, clocking 4:25.09, and London’s Bernadine Pritchett, 47, won the women’s elite race in 5:17.53 as dozens turned in great efforts Saturday at Cornell University’s Barton Hall indoor meet in Ithaca, New York. The top 50-plus woman was Marisa Sutera Strange of Pleasant Valley, New York (5:32.01). Alan Wells of Orlando won the men’s 50-plus race in 4:52.86. But the top age-graded miler among the men was 64-year-old Nolan Shaheed of California, whose 5:03.07 was graded 94.64 percent. The top age-graded woman was 62-year-old Coreen Steinbach of Pompey, New York, whose 6:20.77 was worth 92.65 percent. Bernadine — coached by the late legend Frank Horwill — has run the Hartshorne at least twice before, in 2012 and 2010, when she traveled the farthest. Here are results as an Excel file, thanks to meet director Tom Hartshorne.
Middle-distance stars Scott Weeks and Nick Berra went 1-2 in last year’s Hartshorne Masters Mile men’s 40 elite race, and guess what? Both are back for Saturday’s meet in balmy Ithaca, New York. Thank goodness it’s an indoor meet, since a high of 25 is forecast outdoors. About 70 milers ages 38 to 85 are entered in the 47th annual affair at Cornell University. Besides Scott, the only other 2013 champ defending a title is W50 Lorraine Jasper. (See last year’s results in a meet whose attendance was hit by the flu bug.) The oldest man and woman entered are Edna Hyer, 79, and Richard Sullivan, the M85. Nolan Shaheed will be the oldest entrant in the M50 elite race — at age 64. (So 64 is the new 50 in his case.) Complete 2014 fields are listed here. Here’s the men’s elite 40 mile from a year ago, when Scott won in 4:23.39:
Talk about masters moles! America now has one at World Masters Athletics. National class M50 hurdler Jeff Brower has been named manager of the WMA website, replacing former Eurovets President Dieter Massin of Germany, who was the Karl Rove of masters track for his campaign support of WMA President Stan Perkins in his one-vote victory at Lahti in 2009. Jeff, a former USATF Masters T&F Committee secretary, has been webmaster at National Masters News and the USATF masters website. He’ll continue those roles, he says, while seeking other jobs. He writes: “I’d be happy to help others with similar needs, i.e., a website that needs maintenance, or perhaps they want to start a new website (perhaps USATF Association or TF Clubs). I can help them save money and avoid costly mistakes. I support dozens of websites worldwide, and enjoy helping people save money while putting the Internet to good use for their organization.”
Texan Jeff (in red) competed with the best at 2009 Oshkosh nationals.
Christa Bortignon, as Canadian masters records coordinator, reports that Helena “Helly” Visser over the weekend broke the 1500 world indoor record with a time of 7:48.23 at the Golden Bear Open T&F Meet in Edmonton, Alberta. “Just missed the world record in the 3000m of 16:04.94 by 19 second with a time of 16:23.93, a Canadian record,” Christa adds. Helly turned 80 Jan. 9 so she didn’t wait long to attack age group’s records. Her mark, set at the Universiade Pavilion (aka the Butterdome), beats the record of 7:52.11 set by Germany’s Melitta Czerwenka-Nagel in 2013. Helly ran for a video in 2011. Except for her white hair, she looks 35! She won W75 gold in the 800 and 1500 at Sacramento worlds. She also hold WR in W70 4×800.
Helly, handing off at 2011 worlds, has been competing since the 1980s.
The late Bob Fine was chair of the AAU Masters T&F Committee and wrote the first WAVA Constitution. He also edited the first issues of National Masters News. One of his goals was promoting masters democracy. In the very first issue of NMN (see Page 1 in PDF), he asked whether masters athletes wanted a single committee or one split between track and LDR. The split view eventually prevailed, but it took individual votes into account. And not just from delegates who attended an annual meeting. He sought ideas from anyone with access to the National Masters Newsletter (as it was called). A project underwritten by the USATF Masters T&F Committee has begun — posting every page of every issue of early National Masters News. As I commence scanning thousands of pages of NMN from 1977 to sometime in the early 2000s — for later posting on USATF-underwritten mastershistory.org — I’m struck by the courage it took for masters leaders like Fine to involve every adult age-group athlete, not just the ones able to attend conventions. Bob in 1977 would have loved an online vote. But that doesn’t keep us from developing such systems. Why can’t USATF masters track reach out to membership? Surveys and elections are conducted around the world this way. What’s stopping us?
Media worldwide have reported the death of Chris Chataway, the famed broadcaster who helped pace Roger Bannister to the first sub-4 mile in 1954 and was a 1952 Olympian and later a member of Parliament. He also ran masters track of a sort. I doubt he competed in UK nationals or worlds, but he was still a great distance runner in his later years. The New York Times reports: “Chataway started running again in his late 50s. At 64, he ran a 5:48 mile on the Iffley Road track, his first race there since Bannister’s sub-four-minute mile. John Hartley, Chataway’s television colleague, said Chataway had told him that as he stood on the starting line this time, he calculated that in the 41 years between those two miles, he had absorbed 400 pounds of tobacco and 7,000-plus liters of wine…. In 2004, at age 73, Chataway ran a 10-kilometer race in 49:08. The race was the Chris Brasher Memorial. The starter was Bannister.” The BBC story quoted Seb Coe: “He ran with a couple of my brothers in the Great North Run about three years ago, doing it in a very respectable time.” He also ran a half marathon in one hour, 38 minutes, 50 seconds at age 75 in 2006. Not too shabby. R.I.P., Chris.
Roger and Chris savor moment after first sub-4 mile. Chris was key to record.
NBC’s “Today” show aired its Olga Kotelko segment Friday morning — with great clips of her throwing the hammer, sharing her food faves (sauerkraut and pickled herring) and working out with host Natalie Morales. Bruce Grierson, author of “What Makes Olga Run?” is briefly interviewed. Olga tells Natalie her goal is to live to 120. But I think that’s modest. Go for 130, Olga! And force WMA to add age groups W105, W110, W115, W120 and W125. (The highest now is W100.) The NBC clip is here.
Irene was elected to USATF Masters Hall of Fame in first class: 1996.
World champion and sprint record-setter Irene Obera has retired at least twice. But after turning 80 in December, the Hall of Famer made a big mistake. She glanced at the record books. “I can do that!” I hear her saying. And Saturday at the famed Cal Berkeley track, she demolished the listed W80 world record for 200 meters, becoming the oldest woman to go sub-40 by clocking 38.10 into a slight wind. (See results here.) The mark won’t be recognized because the all-comers meet appears not to be USATF-sanctioned. But it means Irene has plenty in the tank. And just to prove her fitness, she also ran the 60 in 10.84 (under the listed indoor WR of 11.31) and the 400 in 1:42.40 (off the listed outdoor WR of 1:31.21. So nice job, Irene. Welcome back! (And thanks, fellow long sprinter Larry Barnum, for spotting the marks!)
Sacramento Bee shot of Irene winning W75 200 at Sacramento worlds.
Quarter-mile studs Alice (left) and Karla at Ontario meet.
Two weeks after serving notice of her fitness, Karla Del Grande took down two W60 indoor world records Sunday in Ontario. Doug Smith reports via Facebook (and shares photos on this post): “THREE World Records at today’s Ontario Masters Winter Mini Meet #2 at the Toronto Track and Field Centre. Karla Del Grande broke the W60 60m in 8.56 (WR 8.68). She also broke the 400m WR in 1:07.17 (WR 1:08.34) Alice Cole from Montreal broke the W80 WR in the 400m in 1:39.83, She broke the old WR of 1:54 by over 15 seconds!” Results are here. On Jan. 4, at the first Ontario mini-meet, Karla ran 50 meters in 7.51. So 8.56 sounds about right. Her 60-meter record beats the listed W60 best by Britain’s Valerie Parsons in 2007. Her 400 knocks off the venerable record by American Phil Raschker in 2008. Alice annihilated the W80 record by Switzerland’s Ruth Helfenstein in 2012 at Jyväskyla worlds.
Alice crushes the listed W80 world indoor 400 record by 15 seconds.
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...]
