Landover entrants look sharp in Marleen Van den Neste gallery
Marleen Van den Neste, a superb photojournalist, shot Landover nationals and posted nearly 1,000 images. She wrote: “I had the great honor to photograph the Championships. … Is there a way to make the participating athletes aware of my photos?” Well, let me think. According to Sharp Shooter magazine, Marleen is based in the Washington area and specializes in cross country, track and field, and road races. “Marleen is available for assignments in Washington, Maryland, Virginia and beyond. Marleen just won the Grand Prize in The PDN The Shot sports photography contest.”
Christel Donley of Colorado gets Rocky Mountain high in the W75 age group.
Leland McPhie at 99 gets star treatment in San Diego County
Our M95 multi-event friend Leland McPhie (pronounced Mc-FEE) was the subject of four or five stories last month when he turned 99 just before indoor nationals. The County News Center focused on his being the oldest retired sheriff’s deputy. So did local TV. His local paper had photo of him on a front page. And a local columnist mentioned his interest in “senior track,” whatever that is. Leland holds many records, of course, and is a longtime member of the SoCal Track Club. He doesn’t compete that often, but he’s still in the game. Keep going, Leland! Belated happy birthday!
On to Olathe—and a new twist on scheduling events at nationals
The USATF masters outdoor nationals are earlier than usual this year — July 11-14. That’s to accommodate those who want to compete a few weeks later in Cleveland area for the National Senior Games. But with Kansas heat as it is (and I vividly recall from KU days), organizers apparently are tweaking the usual schedule. All distance races will not be on the same day, for example. See the rough schedule here. Several people have written me about the sked, curious about the changes. I’ll write the organizers to confirm the reasons. Here’s what one mole wrote: “The 10,000 finals will be on Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday — all four days of the meet. The 5,000 racewalk will be on Thursday and Friday. The 5,000 run will be contested on Thursday, Saturday and Sunday. The 1500 finals will be on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.”
Eurovets insanity: M90/M95 sprint champs were denied medals!
When my UK friend Tom Phillips pointed out that the viral video stars from Eurovets didn’t get medals, I had to check it out. In fact, M90 Emiel Pauwels and M95 Ilmari Koppinen fell short of the medal standards by a second and half — even as they brought more public attention to our niche sport than anything EVAA has done in years. Someone in Eurovets should deliver golds to both gents with an apology. For goodness sake, they didn’t use canes or walkers at San Sebastian! They ran their asses off. (Here’s the Athlete’s Manual where standards are specified.)
So even if you’re older than 90, you have to meet a standard to rate a medal.
M90s bring the speed—and comeback drama—in 60-meter duel
Here’s the Finn at 2009 worlds.
This is a treat. Eurosport video has gone viral, especially on Facebook, showing Finland’s Ilmari Koppinen and Belgium’s Emiel Pauwels in the 60-meter finals March 21 at the Eurovets indoor championships in San Sebastian. Since one is 94 and the other 95 (but separated by only 11 months, both born in 1918), they both won gold, of course. Results for M95 are here. And results for M90 are here. Of course, the younger gent won. But by a whisker. Nice to see the Finn still flying. And here’s my Lahti salute to the elder statesmen of track and field.
Athletes panel unveils plan to overhaul masters records process
Chair Steve Robbins
This may be the most important issue identified in the records process.
McBarnette, Rogers explode for more world records at Landover
Orville’s fans keep him going.
Rob Jerome, who took the storytelling photos on this entry, wrote Saturday: “Bruce McBarnette just won M55 HJ with 1.88 (6-2). Doesn’t that beat the 1.87 WR he set just a weeks ago? I ran into Bruce right before the competition, congratulated him on the WR he set a few weeks ago, and asked him if he had any more WRs left in him. Apparently he did. Here’s a photo of the winning jump at 1.88. He made three attempts at 1.90 (6-2 3/4), narrowly missing each time.” Also shown here is Orville Rogers of Texas, the oldest entrant at Landover nationals and whose legend is growing by the hour after setting four WRs in this meet. He had his own banner-carrying cheering section. He now owns the best M95 marks in the 60, 400, mile and 3000. Yowza! Also setting WRs Saturday were Oscar Peyton (M60) in the men’s 60 (7.52), beating Bill Collins’ 7.58 of last year, and Hugh Campbell (M88) in the men’s 3,000 (15:48.61), crushing the listed M85 WR of 17:24.85 by Portugal’s José Canelo. For jaw-dropping perspective, consider this about Orville’s 60 of 14.82. On the Age-Graded Tables, it is worth 6.23 seconds as an open time. (The real WR is Mo Greene’s 6.39.) His 400 is worth 46.03 and mile is worth 4:39.3. And Bruce’s 1.88 is the equivalent of an open (ages 20-30) height of 2.43 (7-11 1/2). Meet results are here.
Bruce clears the open equivalent of 7-11 1/2 in his WR 1.88 jump.
Burke, Rogers set WRs to launch Landover indoor masters nationals
Didn’t take long to kick off record spree at Landover nationals Friday. Before breakfast, I’d already sent news and Ed Burke photo to his hometown Los Gatos Patch about his latest superweight throw record. Later in the day, records fell to Orville Rogers (M95 400 WR), Anthony Palazzo (M85 superweight AR) and Charles Allie (M65 400 AR).
Ed Burke spins to a world indoor record in superweight throw at Landover.
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Brits open Eurovets indoor championships with 3 world records
Landover indoor nationals start Friday and run through Sunday (including a live webcast), and organizers are giddy a record 1,043 are entered. Big whoop. Italian masters indoor nationals had 1,341 entrants, and the Eurovets indoor championships boast 3,200-plus (see the entrants). That meet began Tuesday in San Sebastian, Spain, and at least three world records have been set so far. The posted list says five WRs, but one by M75 high jumper Carl-Erik Sarndal is short of a mark earlier this season, and one is just plain wrong (involving Olga Kotelko). Here’s a video preview of Landover:
Women’s 800 added to masters exhibitions at the Drake Relays
Jim Schoffman shared this news with me recently — great news for the womenfolk. “I received this notice that the Drake Relays Masters registration has opened. But more important is the addition of a women’s master 800 this year.” The info on the entry form adds: “Master’s 800 Meter Run (40 years and older) Men – Friday, April 26, 2013 @ 12:58 p.m. (Tentative) New!! Women – Saturday, April 27, 2013 @ 11:20 a.m. (Tentative) INVITATIONAL EVENT: Entries will be considered based on previous performance. Please send your verification of performance with a $30 (non-refundable) entry fee by April 11, 2013. … Call 515-271-2114 with any questions. This is a USATF-sanctioned event.” Des Moines, Iowa, is close to a lot of folks in the Midwest and midway between the coasts, so this is a great opportunity to compete on an elite stage.
