Renee Henderson, Lovell Butler sharp in Mid-Atlantic meet sprints
Donna Aylsworth of Philly shares results from last weekend’s Mid-Atlantic USATF Open & Masters Championship Meet held at Widener University, in Chester, Pennsylvania. See results here. The boldfaced marks are ones that better All-American Standards. Ones that popped out for me (being a speedster of no renown) were the 12.34 for 100 by W45 Renee Henderson and the 11.96 by M50 Lovell Butler. (But he ran an 11.57 earlier this season.) Sadly, Lovell isn’t entered at Sacramento. But Renee is. She won world titles at 2009 Lahti, and set an American record or two.
Renee leads a race (200?) at Lahti worlds in 2009. She's again a favorite.
‘Talk about Sacramento’ message board added to masters forums
Ask and ye shall receive. A masters thrower wrote me yesterday: “How about a general forum about Sac where athletes can post and answer questions? Contacting the Sac folks is impossible. People may have local questions about Sac or about the nuances of worlds in general. I’ve never been to one and have questions about [competitive] flight status. When do they post flights? They have scheduled reporting times for flights that differ by hours but don’t list which flight you are in. Throwers have different circumference standards in Shot Puts. Any so on.” Well, you have a space in out Forum for all such questions, labeled Talk about Sacramento. I even moved it to the top. So go for it!
National Senior Games releases schedule for 65-and-over groups
The folks at National Senior Olympics have released a June 21-26 schedule for age group 65 and up. See it here. So whose ox is gored in this sked? Less than a week out, many people have already made their mind up: This may not be worth the trouble. How do you view this slow-motion train wreck?
Tony Harlin dedicates M50 shot put record to memory of his dad
Tony Harlin, who took fifth in the 1984 Olympic Trials, broke the M50 American record in the shot Friday, throwing 17.34 meters (56-10½) in a USATF Masters and Junior Olympics qualifier at Monsignor Farrell HS in the Oakwood section of Staten Island. That improved the listed AR of 17.09 (56-0½) by John Nespoli of Tennessee. The story of Tony’s comeback two years ago and his recent breakthrough has been wonderfully told by Marc Maturo, writing for Nanuet Patch — an East Coast cousin of my left-coast La Mesa Patch. See Marc’s story here. Another masters mole wrote me: “Harlin’s series of six throws was 16.17, 16.94, 17.34, 16.40, 16.72 and 17.08!” The story quoted Tony as saying: “This one was for dad.” Some might remember this commercial back in 1984 starring Tony, now 53:
Decathlon nationals marred by Chris Bates injury; may skip worlds
Chris Bates was on a tear at the national masters decathlon championships in Dallas over the weekend, getting three personal bests (for his age group, I assume). Then disaster struck. “I popped my left hamstring badly on my second attempt at 3.80 in the vault.” He soldiered on in the javelin, however, and threw a PB from a couple steps “but just couldn’t run at all and had to hobble straight-legged in the 15 just to finish the dec.” He ran an 8:35 in the last event and still won the M45 age group. But his record hopes — and perhaps chances at worlds — were toast. “Now I’m questionable for Sac,” he wrote before heading home to Oregon. (See results here.)
Let's hope Chris Bates can find a way to hurdle his latest barrier: hammy pull.
Read the rest of this post »
M90 seeks world record for ‘1600 meters’ — OK, whatever you say
Strange story in the New Orleans paper. It says an M90 gent named John Boots is training for the world record at 1600 meters. Say what? Did he mean mile? Did he say 1500 meters? Confusing as hell. In any case, John ran the 1500 in 11:50 last year (at a meet where all the races were hand-timed apparently.) The listed M90 world record is 8:07.17 by Holger Josefsson of Sweden. Good luck, John.
Scott Threlkeld photo of John stretching, appearing in the Times-Picayune. He'll run at Ohio nationals
Read the rest of this post »
Mystery illness sidelines Bill Collins — unsure about rest of season
Bill Collins is ill. His status as world’s fastest man over 60 may not be tested this season. In response to a query I sent him last week, he replied: “Thanks … for your concern and everyone in the masters track and field community. Yes, I have been ill; doctors are still not totally sure what was the cause of the illness and what is the actual illness. Still having more tests done. One area we are sure of: I did suffer a severe case of dehydration. Making a very slow recovery, and I want to thank everyone that has called and sent emails of prayers and well wishes. Will update more at a later date.” Here’s what we could miss at Sacramento worlds:
Valle, Gillespie win masters middle-distances at big Portland meet
Britain native Ian Gillespie, 41, won the masters mile in 4:22.18 and American Lisa Valle took the masters 3,000 yesterday at the Portland Track Festival — in races notable for no-shows as much as their marks. Women’s race organizer Joanna Harper says almost half her field couldn’t come, but “it was still a good race with Tania leading Lisa the whole way and Lisa kicking to the win. They were both close to the 9:57 W45 AR, but there was no record to be had last night. It was a beautiful night for racing and some of the open races had impressive results.” (See results here.) They also had a masters 100-meter dash, with some names I’m not familiar with. The winner in 12.35 was Mark Berry, who mastersrankings.com lists as 49. Pretty nifty. Here’s the mile:
Trent Lane at 101 will be the oldest at Sacramento worlds in July
Trent Lane in 2006.
National Senior Olympics schedule finally posted (and we have it)
Here’s the schedule for the National Senior Olympics, which came out today — only seven days before the meet opens. That has to be a record for causing frustration. No friends made here, but once you’ve paid your entry fees, what choice ya got? Here’s a link to entrants. They’ll compete, you’ll remember, at Humble, Texas — not Houston. The meet honcho’s explanation was given here.
Meet was switched to this venue because of problems with original site.
