masterstrack.com

Older, slower, lower: Ken Stone's hobby blog for showcasing and watchdogging adult age-group track and field

Paaso, Berra claim masters exhibition titles at USA open nationals

Kris Paaso won the 3000 and Nick Berra took the 1500 at masters exhibitions at USA open nationals today. Kris ran Joy Upshaw sent along some shots from the stands at the USATF open nationals at Hayward Field in Eugene. Top is the finish of the masters men’s 1500 and the bottom is near the start of the women’s 3000. Here’s the men’s race:

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June 26, 2011  16 Comments

Peter Taylor won’t be part of announcing crew at Sacto worlds

A major American masters meet without Peter Taylor behind the microphone is almost unthinkable, but Sacramento worlds will feature a half-dozen announcers — none named Peter Taylor. As Pete mentioned in a comment recently, he’s not ticketed for worlds. He writes me: “On March 30, 2011, I received by e-mail an application to officiate at the 2011 WMA. I responded the same day with some questions. On May 12, 2011, I received an e-mail whose second sentence said, in part: ‘unfortunately … application to announce … has been turned down.’ ” And that was it for Sacto, he says. This isn’t a disaster. It’s just show business. I wrote Bob Burns at the Sacramento LOC, and he responded with the names of the official meet announcers. And they are all class acts. Bob writes: “The main announcers are Willy Van Hove, Bob Steiner, Carl Bryan and Bob Rush.”

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June 26, 2011  33 Comments

Newlyweds watching a masters meet: Anything more romantic?

Leo Sanders and Theresa, his bride of almost five months, were among the spectators at yesterday’s Chuck McMahon Memorial Masters Meet at Cal State San Marcos north of San Diego. Normally he’d be piling up sprint medals. But he said he recently broke a few ribs mountain biking at nearby Lake Hodges. He says he hopes to be sprint-ready by worlds. In any case, congrats to Leo (60) and Theresa (46) — married in San Diego on Feb. 3.  (They honeymooned in Saint Lucia and make their home in San Diego.)  For more snapshots from the meet, check out this photo gallery, which includes images of a showdown of two NFL legends — Phil McConkey and James Lofton. Also check out the best sprint form you’ll ever see.

June 26, 2011  15 Comments

Masters Track Hall of Fame Class of 2010 revealed (6 months late)

Last December, at the annual meeting in Virginia Beach, the USATF Masters Hall of Fame Committee headed by Norm Green chose the latest class of honorees. I forgot to ask for the list. (USATF didn’t post it either.) So it remained a relative secret. Today, at the request of one honoree, Norm shipped the official announcement. Norm writes: “I owe everyone an apology for being so tardy about publicizing the Masters Hall of Fame class of 2010.  It has been only this past week that I have prepared the article for National Masters News.  I have attached it here so that you can make use of the information in whatever other media would be appropriate.”

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June 24, 2011  5 Comments

Crowd-source me! How do you rate National Senior Games meet?

National Masters News has been updating subscribers via email on news from Humble, Texas, and the National Senior Olympics. See note below. But the key change in these games compared with previous years is that USATF Masters T&F has a relationship with the National Senior Games Association. In other words, we’re helping them run the meet, providing expertise like Games Committee honcho Jim Flanik and member Carroll DeWeese (who provided the report below). So my question is: Is meet better run this year, compared with previous editions?

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June 24, 2011  9 Comments

Olympian Ed Burke among highlights of Western States Invitational

Meet director Mary Woo writes about her 4th annual Western States meet at UC Davis, a three-day meet ending Sunday west of Sacramento. Turnout was down about 20 entries from last year. (She had expected 50-entrant rise). But perhaps avalanche of big meets this summer led to athletes saving their shekels for Sacramento worlds. “I understand we were up against the National Senior Games,” she writes, “but not many from our region attended those, and of course it was Father’s Day weekend. However, we really thought the timing of the meet made it a perfect tune-up for the WMA meet.” See results here. Cool feature of results are splits in several races. “(Olympian) Ed Burke made a VERY strong return to the hammer ring after injury/surgery. His best throw of 53.98 meters (177-1) was beaten by only two other throwers — both about 40 years Ed’s junior!” (Ed is 71.)

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June 23, 2011  6 Comments

Jerry Smartt dazzles and regales radio hosts in YouTube video

“The fastest 79-year-old guy in the world.” That’s what hosts of a radio show say of distance runner Jerry Smartt of Warsaw, Missouri, in a 12-minute interview with lots of great photos from Lahti worlds, where he was a top-7 finisher in the M75 5K and 10K. “I’ve got another 20 years, for sure,” he says. He tells of his elite career in the 1950s, and the lessons he learned from a Finnish coach in 1956 (about landing on the balls of his feet first). “I don’t have hip problems or knee problems,” he says as a result. “There you are.” See him race at Sacramento worlds, where he hopes to defend his titles.

June 22, 2011  16 Comments

Kay Glynn snags W55 world record in vault, but was it wind-aided?

Check out yesterday’s 200-meter results from the National Senior Olympics down in Texas. Everyone fought a gale. The worst headwind I saw was 5.9 meters per second, or about 13 mph. Oscar Peyton won the M55 deuce in 24.92. So one has to marvel at Kay Glynn vaulting 3.08 meters (10-1 1/4) to win the W55 vault by three feet! That shatters the listed world record of 3.05 (10-0) by Phil Raschker in 2002. And guess who won the W60 vault down in Humble? Phil, of course, going 2.60 (8-6 1/4). Of course, Kay had to deal with either a monster headwind, a noxious crosswind or a step-upsetting tailwind. Kay needs to go a bit higher, though, to claim bragging rights for best female vaulter over 55. That title belongs to Nadine O’Connor, whose W60 and W65 WRs are 3.12 (10-2 3/4) and 3.19 (10-5 1/2), respectively. The technical term is ohmygodwhatanoutlier! But good for Kay! She’s worked hard for this up in Iowa.

June 21, 2011  15 Comments

Ed Whitlock putting M80 world records outtasight for 80 years

Ed Whitlock is our Usain Bolt. The likes of him will not be seen again. On Saturday at Canadian masters nationals in Ontario, reports Doug Smith, “Ed ran the 10,000, the first event of Day 2 … under perfect conditions. The world record stood at 44:29.4 — set by Ed Bedham USA — for almost 25 years. Ed finished in an unbelievable 42:59.16 — a minute and a half under the record. And 25 hours later, on Sunday morning, Ed ran 20:58.12 in the 5000, another world record, bettering his own mark that he set two weekends ago on the same Varsity Centre track at the Ontario Masters Championships.” On the Age-Graded Tables, Ed’s 42:59 is worth an open (age 20-30) time of 26:23. The real world record is 26:17.53 by Kenenisa Bekele. Another stunning comparison: Ed ran 6:55-mile pace the entire way. The listed M80 WR for the mile is 7:09.60 by American Joseph King. Of course, Ed ran an indoor 1500 this season in 5:48.47. What a beast!

June 20, 2011  6 Comments

National Senior Games sprinters buck big headwinds at Humble

Phil Raschker, Charles Allie, Mike Waller, Oscar Peyton and Amanda Scotti — all USATF masters national champs — tuned up for worlds yesterday by winning their 100-meter finals at the National Senior Olympics in Humble, Texas. But expect them to run a half-second faster (or more) in Sacramento. They all ran into major headwinds. (When will meet organizers ever learn? Just turn the race around!) See results here. Finals in the hammer and triple jump were held Friday, with Brian Hankerson winning M50 and then taking the long jump title yesterday with a 20-1 1/2. He won at Sacramento nationals last year as well. Masters Mole 45e also writes: “Silver medal went to a guy (Robert Bayless) who has apparently improved his LJ by 4 feet, and his TJ by 6 feet in the past few years. Wow!!! Superhuman??”

June 19, 2011  11 Comments

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• About Ken Stone

  

  Ken Stone

  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...]
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