Medal standards for USATF masters nationals? Fuhgeddaboutit!
Recent NMN cover
World Masters Athletics unveils a virtual Hall of Fame (with PDFs)
Chris Stone photo at 2012 Trials.
Ken Stone photo of Cassie Steppat being named Miss La Mesa 2013.
Masters mile with prize money (and Nike shoes) returns to Oregon
Dave Clingan
Kevin Castille crushes own M40 American record in 10K at Stanford
Tom Bernhard graciously informs us: “Kevin Castille is originally from Louisiana and now lives in Nicholasville, Kentucky, but he may now consider Northern California to be his second home. For the second time this month and for the fourth time in 13 months, he has set an American 40-44 age group record here. On 4/7/2013 he destroyed Paul Pilkington’s M40-44 10 Mile road record of 49:34 with a 48:56 (net time) at the SacTown Ten Mile Run in downtown Sacramento. Last night, he took down his own M40-44 10,000m mark of 28:57.88 set at the 2012 Payton Jordan Cardinal Invite with a 28:53.54 at the 2013 edition of the same meet in Palo Alto. Full results of the heat are listed here. The listed WR for M40 remains the amazing 28:30.88 by Finnish Olympian Martti Vainio back in 1991.
Kevin, shown the Carlsbad 5K several years ago, loves California.
Alisa Harvey wins first Drake 800, Nick Berra repeats for men
Nick Berra and Lance Elliott resumed their 800 rivalry Friday at the Drake Relays in Des Moines, Iowa, with Nick recapturing the masters men’s title in 2:02.70 to Lance’s 2:02.87. Last year Lance beat Nick, the 2010 champ as well. For the first time, women had their own race as well — running Saturday morning. But the field was much smaller as American record-holder Alisa Harvey won in 2:17.78 at age 47, handling Jennifer Burke, 41, almost 4 seconds back. USATF even noted Alisa in its press release on Drake. Congrats to the entrants and Mark Cleary for overseeing this USATF Masters Invitational event.
Alisa ran 800 at Mt. SAC Relays several years ago. She likes the challenge.
Penn produced 4×4 records: Athena women AR, Houston men WR
Ladies first: “Athena B W50 finished fifth in time of 4:34.03 for a new American record at Penn Relays Friday night. Order was Debbie Hoffman, Lorraine Jasper, Julie Hayden, Cheryl Bellaire (but picture order is different). Splits [were] 65,66,71,70 with some seconds in there somewhere,” said masters mole 6674d. They beat one of the oldest masters records on the USATF books: 4:36.85 from Eugene worlds in 1989 by Marylin Fitzgerald, Barbara Meadows, Jeanne Hoagland and Irene Obera. (The listed W50 WR is 4:10.80 from 2009 Lahti worlds by a British team.) And the Houston Elite M60 team of Bill Collins, Horace Grant, George Haywood and Charlie Allie clocked 3:51.33 (averaging 57.83) to beat the listed WR of 3:53.87 by an American team including M60 legend Larry Colbert at 1999 Gateshead worlds. Also revealed is a 4×1 world record for W40 in 4×100 of 49.48 by Toccata Murphy, Donna Lawrence, LaTrica Dendy and Renee Henderson. Not only crushed a British mark of 51.50 but also went sub-50! Congrats to all! Sorry for missing these earlier.
Athena women at Penn who broke an ancient 4×4 American record in W50.
Bill Collins, Charles Allie team sets M60 4×1 club AR at Penn
Charles Allie won the M65 100 at Penn on Friday, and M60 Bill Collins saved himself. Both were fresh for the 4×100 in Philly and added Ron Johnson and Rick Riddle as their Houston Elite team beat their own listed M60 American club record with a 48.33. Last year, Houston Elite ran 48.44 at Penn. The listed M60 WR was set at 2011 Sacramento worlds: 47.93 by Ralph Peterson, Thad Wilson, Allie and Leo Sanders. (So the Penn Relays site errs in calling 48.33 a masters world record.) Here are masters results from Penn. Also notable were victories by Val Barnwell in the M55 100 in his continued comeback from the Lahti doping suspension and Cornell Stephenson’s legs on winning 4×1 and 4×4 teams after years of injury rehab. An amazing legal 100 was run by M40 Christopher Williams of Jamaica Masters: 10.58. The listed WR is 10.29. Have I missed any other records? (Of course, no marks will hold a candle to mine at Saturday’s UCSD Triton Invitational, when I run the 200 against collegians. Pray for me.)
Charles Allie (No. 1) is shown on way to victory in M65 100 at Penn Relays.
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Masters sprint, hammer take back seat to WR in jump-rope 100
Congrats to Johnny Speed and M65 Larry Hart for exhibition victories in the 100-meter dash and hammer, respectively, at the Mt. SAC Relays on Saturday. Johnny beat fellow M49 Jeff Williams (the Atlanta Olympian) 11.76 to 11.97 — easily the top two M45 times in the nation. A masters hurdle race is listed, but no results are shown. I missed the Relays for only the second time in about 17 years due to a work project for Patch. Too bad I couldn’t also witness a WR for the jump-rope 100. But the race included Olympic silver medalist Lashinda Demus (in the London 400H), who turned 30 in March. W30 record!
M75 runner Bill Iffrig becomes poster child for courage at Boston
Our M60 multi-eventer friend Dave Ortman writes from Seattle: “Bill Iffrig, a M78 masters runner, is one of the Club Northwest runners (from Lake Stevens, WA) shown right at the finish line when the bomb goes off. He’s at about 00:36 of the second video clip. Also a writeup on him at Boston.” Bill won three medals at 2011 Sacramento worlds, including bronze in the 5K and 10K. I saw him interviewed on CNN Monday night, and a Google search shows close to 5,000 stories mentioning him and the Boston Marathon. We hope all our roadie friends and family are safe and find a way to get up and finish the way Bill did. Let us know what you heard or saw.
Bob Lawson dies at 78; coach was a prolific masters thrower
Our friend Roger Vergin shares sad news, originally sent by Lane Dowell, about the death of Bob Lawson: Lane wrote over the weekend: “I am sure that many of you are as shocked by the passing of this fine man/athlete as I. His class, support and the grace with which he competed will be greatly missed. He is truly fitting of the title, a role model for each and every one of us. Bob Lawson, one of the top track athletes in Aberdeen High School history, died unexpectedly recently at his home in Ocean Shores. A nationally ranked decathlete who narrowly missed making the United States Olympic team in 1956, the 1954 Aberdeen High grad remained active in sports well into his mid-70s. He was a perennial gold medalist in several events at the Washington State Senior Games.” Another remembrance was posted on the U.S. Sports Academy site.
Bob is at far left in 2008 photo from 45th Paavo Nurmi Marathon in Wisconsin.
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