The Brits held their masters nationals in mid-September in Birmingham, and I was briefly bummed while scanning the results. See them here.Listed in the M55 age group is an exceptional sprinter-hurdler named Ian Broadhurst. He took bronze in the 200 (26.09), bronze in the 400 (58.53) and gold in the 400 hurdles (67.98). I can’t even run the flat 400 in 68. But what dismayed me was his age: 59. Thus he had a chance of taking my possible title as world’s oldest quarter-mile hurdler for 2013. But according to his stat profile, Ian was born in August 1954. I popped out in June 1954. Whew! My title is safe for now. According to his club, Ian won M50 golds in the 4×1 and 4×4 at 2009 worlds in Lahti, Finland, after the DQ of the American teams thanks to the doping sanction against Val Barnwell.
Thursday night, I submitted a dozen questions to Rex Harvey and incumbent Stan Perkins, candidates for president of World Masters Athletics. I gave ’em a deadline of Oct. 11 to complete the surveys, so I could post them the weekend ahead of Porto Alegre worlds. Usually, reporters don’t publicly share questions before responses. But what the hell. See my list below. One question I didn’t ask was about whether WMA should launch a seasonal list of top performances, such as the IAAF Top Lists. I doubt WMA could afford this, but why not have a self-service site the way mastersrankings.com is run? As noted on this Facebook page, athletes have a keen interest in world masters rankings. But as I commented, the lone statguy keeping such lists, Martin Gasselsberger of Europe, does it as a hobby, and is hamstrung by limited data. Should WMA allocate funds to keep seasonal lists?
Masters Mole No. 673(c) has shared a copy of what appears to be a detailed time schedule for Porto Alegre worlds. The mole, an American, says he got it from a Brazilian. In any case, the official world championships website still hadn’t posted this as of 11 p.m. Pacific time Thursday, Oct. 3. So be aware that this schedule may not be official. In any case, with 13 days until opening ceremonies, it would be wise for the Brazilians to post the formal sked ASAP. Lots of folks are interested.
The top of a 16-page Porto Alegre schedule shared with an American.
Folks in Porto Alegre have yet to post the minute-by-minute, venue-by-venue schedule for worlds. I’m also getting questions about transportation and other nitty-gritty details. Aside from the FAQ posted on the WMA website, some questions are addressed in the 48-page athletes book, which can be seen here. (Thanks to a Canadian friend for sharing the PDF.) Most world meets appear well-run on the surface, and certainly Brazil has a deep interest in making worlds go smoothly (lest their World Cup and 2016 Olympic reputations be tarnished). But I’m getting a little nervous about behind-the-scenes train wrecks. Let’s hope the delay in posting a detailed time and transportation schedule isn’t a sign of dysfunction. I’ve written to Porto Alegre for time sked. Stay tuned.
Vaulters love their poles, but they hate the ordeal of shipping them to foreign meets. So WMA world meets make available a selection of sticks — from 11-9 to 16-4 in length. Today’s WMA site lists which poles are available for the world meet. Also revealed are the surfaces of the tracks and which spikes to wear. Mondo and Rekortan are on the menu — both being familiar to Americans. They’re also common to Olympic Games. Good to know, too, is that “Transport to the tracks will be available from outside recognized hotels. … Transport should be available at least two hours before the first event each day and be available for athletes leaving the track after the last events conclude.”
Don’t book your flights to Vancouver just yet. An exchange of email reveals that proponents of a British Columbia masters games are targeting 2016, not 2014, as reported earlier. Herb Phillips, a record-setting 1500-meter man in his 70s, posted a comment to that effect. Herb also wrote me privately: “Although I haven’t had it confirmed by Charmaine Crooks,Walt Judas at Tourism Vancouver says The Americas Masters Games Vancouver 2014 is now 2016. Burnaby lake (where I do most of my running) had said they were hosting the rowing for the Masters Games in August. Apparently they didn’t all get the memo. … A lot of information out there needs to be updated but I’m solidly behind the 2016 plan.” Earlier, I got this note from Brian McCalder, president/CEO of BC Athletics: “While we have not heard anything since 2012 and recently in 2013, … BC Athletics and the BC Athletics Masters Committee were aware of the proposal by the City of Vancouver, PAVCO (BC Pavilion Corporation) and Tourism Vancouver. Charmaine Crooks (five-time Canadian T&F Olympian) was/is the spokesperson for this initiative.” My thanks to all for staying in touch.
Olga Kotelko is pictured at lower left of info sheet graphic.
Jimson Lee, our Canadian masters sprinter friend, is reporting that Vancouver, British Columbia, will host a regional masters games in 2014. Similar to the European Masters Games, it’s under the umbrella of the International Masters Games Association, whose Turin meet this summer will be followed by one in Auckland, New Zealand, in 2017. The Vancouver meet is set for late August 2014, according to this info sheet. The USATF masters nationals are mid-July, so won’t be in direct competition. But many masters may opt for scenic BC over steamy NC.
Rick Reaser is meet director of the open Red-Black Meet at San Diego State University. He writes of the Saturday, December 3, event: “It is already sanctioned by USATF SD-I. Our FAT timer, Jim Waters, has been reserved. This year, we are providing a team option. And we should have some other universities coming which will add a lot of energy to the events. The past two years, we have had really good Masters participation. Attached is our current event flyer.” This meet features interesting events, such as the 60 hurdles and 150-meter dash. (Here are results from last year.) Of course, we also have a little meet down in Brazil in a few weeks. WMA reports on Porto Alegre: “The winner of the coming WMA Championships is the region of South America. Almost 50% of 4,159 competitors are coming from the South American countries (2,024 athletes). The header is the hosting country Brazil; 579 Brazilian participants are registered, followed by 550 Argentinians and 314 athletes from Chile. USA is sending 240 athletes, Germany 164.”
Announcer Pete Taylor is flanked by victors Nick Berra and Lorraine Jasper.
If you pit sprinters vs. distance runners vs. middle-distance racers, which group has the best all-around athletes? Track doesn’t have a Hot Stove League, but it does have a way of settling hypotheticals: the Greater Philadelphia Runners Pentathlon. The fourth annual event was held Aug. 18 at Germantown Academy in Fort Washington, Pennsylvania. Meet director Kyle Mecklenborg says 45 took part on a cloudy Sunday with early light showers. Kyle writes: “Lorraine Jasper of Athena Track Club led in the early stages of the event up until the last event. But it was a stellar 800 mark for Nick Berra of Greater Philadelphia TC which put him on top of the leader board for good. The following four places were Lorraine Jasper, Gary Patton, Birger Ohlsson and Joshua Smith.” Complete results are here. Kyle continues: “Eleven teams participated in this year’s version of the Team Pentathlon, now in its second year. Athena “MCC” of Mary Swan, Cheryl Bellaire and Coreen Steinbach won the event handily dethroning 2012 champs, Greater Philadelphia TC. Team results are here. “Pete Taylor once again did the announcing duties. Volunteers were mostly from Greater Philadelphia TC. The youngest competitor was 15 while the oldest was 77 years old.”
Melanie Berra took pictures of hubby Nick finishing 1500 plus the one above.
Colin O’Leary, a graduate student at University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, writes that he and his adviser, Anthony Hackney, are “launching a study that is examining the effects of exercise training on sexual libido in adult males. To assess whether a full research study is needed to answer this question, I am doing a preliminary questionnaire that will ask questions about training history and sexual libido that has been approved by the UNC institutional review board. … Follow [this] link to take an online survey about the effects of physical exercise and training load on sexual libido in adult males conducted through the UNC Exercise and Sport Science Department. The survey should only take 5-10 minutes to complete. Please only do so if you are a male between the ages of 18-80 that regularly participates in endurance activities, such as running, walking, biking, or swimming. Thank you!” Consider it done, Colin. (But watch out for the ladies remarking: “Hey, what about us?”)
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...]
Folks in Porto Alegre have yet to post the minute-by-minute, venue-by-venue schedule for worlds. I’m also getting questions about transportation and other nitty-gritty details. Aside from the FAQ posted on the WMA website, some questions are addressed in the 48-page athletes book, which can be seen here. (Thanks to a Canadian friend for sharing the PDF.) Most world meets appear well-run on the surface, and certainly Brazil has a deep interest in making worlds go smoothly (lest their World Cup and 2016 Olympic reputations be tarnished). But I’m getting a little nervous about behind-the-scenes train wrecks. Let’s hope the delay in posting a detailed time and transportation schedule isn’t a sign of dysfunction. I’ve written to Porto Alegre for time sked. Stay tuned.
Don’t book your flights to Vancouver just yet. An exchange of email reveals that proponents of a British Columbia masters games are targeting 2016, not 2014, as reported earlier. Herb Phillips, a record-setting 1500-meter man in his 70s, posted a comment to that effect. Herb also wrote me privately: “Although I haven’t had it confirmed by Charmaine Crooks, Walt Judas at Tourism Vancouver says The Americas Masters Games Vancouver 2014 is now 2016. Burnaby lake (where I do most of my running) had said they were hosting the rowing for the Masters Games in August. Apparently they didn’t all get the memo. … A lot of information out there needs to be updated but I’m solidly behind the 2016 plan.” Earlier, I got this note from Brian McCalder, president/CEO of BC Athletics: “While we have not heard anything since 2012 and recently in 2013, … BC Athletics and the BC Athletics Masters Committee were aware of the proposal by the City of Vancouver, PAVCO (BC Pavilion Corporation) and Tourism Vancouver. Charmaine Crooks (five-time Canadian T&F Olympian) was/is the spokesperson for this initiative.” My thanks to all for staying in touch.
September 26, 2013
One Comment
