Masters sizzling at Penn Relays; American record in women’s 4×4
Tenth place in Friday’s women’s 4×4 at Penn may have slipped under the radar. But look again. The Central Park Track Club/New Balance team of Marie-Louise Michelsohn, Deborah Barchat, Judith Tripp and Mary Rosado clocked 6:17.80. That’s almost 42 seconds under the listed American W60 club record of 6:59.09 by SoCal Track Clubbers Darlene Backlund, Kathleen Frable, Yoko Eichel and Jolene Steigerwalt at 2010 Sacto nationals. See all the Friday results here. Also word from Penn: “Most masters competitors who participated in the Penn Relays may not be aware of this . . . The clerk at the awards table is awarding medals to the top five places rather than the normal three. This applies to Masters 100 meter sprint competitions only. The medals for fourth and fifth places are bronze.” Phil Felton is the masters majordomo. Great work, Phil!
Royal wedding news not here! Go away and get jollies elsewhere
In fact, masters track royalty steps onto the track Friday in Philadelphia! The Penn Relays, as usual, features more than a dozen masters exhibition events this weekend. See all masters results here. And for the first time (in my stunted memory), I see a team called Jamaica Masters entered in the M40 4×100 on Friday. So Yanks, let’s show who the geezer speedsters are! However, I don’t see Bill Collins listed in the 100-meter dash. But Reggie Pendland is in the M40 and many big names are sprinkled elsewhere. Best of luck to everyone at Penn! Send me pictures and stories!
Nolan Shaheed named USATF Athlete of the Week at usatf.org
The Mother Ship in Indy has honored Nolan Shaheed as USATF Athlete of the Week for his 2:08.5 world age-group record in the 800 over the weekend. A story about him, presumably by Katie Landry of USATF press staff, is live here. At 61, Nolan somehow finds new ways to amaze. “I will be one of the 95-year-old guys running masters races,” Shaheed told USATF. “I never want to retire from track and field; it’s good for your body, and it’s good for your mind.” Nice to see usatf.org give him wide recognition. And the season is young!
Nolan specializes in the 800 and 1500, where he's set several records this season.
1,817 Americans — a third of worlds entries — on sked for Sacto
The latest Sacramento worlds newsletter says the meet is still on track to exceed 5,000 entrants. Total in hand now is 4,510, which includes 1,817 Americans and a goodly number from the People’s Republic of China. Bob Burns of the LOC also writes: “After May 6 until a to-be-determined date in mid-May, athletes who register directly online will be charged a $100 (USD) late fee per person. This late fee will be combined with the Registration Fee, so athletes will see the Registration Fee increase to $166.25 during this period.” So the effective deadline for entry is mid-May. See the latest newsletter here.
Jeff Laynes CRUSHES American record in M40 100-meter dash
Masters mole 658c writes: “Strange, somehow this got missed. I was talking about it with a friend at work who spoke to Jeff by phone- 10.5 legal wind at Woody Wilson meet. He said he was on track for a 10.3 this season.” Yes, newbie M40 Jeff Laynes clocked 10.50 for the 100 with a 0.6 meters per second wind April 16 at the Woody Wilson Classic at the University of California at Davis, near Sacramento. See results here (and below). This beats anything Aaron Thigpen or Willie Gault ran as an M40. For complete meet results, check this out. Am I overlooking any other great geezer marks? Only worrisome thing: Jeff Laynes isn’t signed up yet for Sacto worlds. What is he thinking?
W60 Bernie Portenski is New Zealand’s version of Nolan Shaheed
When last we checked on Bernie (for Bernardine) Portenski down under, in March 2010, she was lighting tracks and roads afire with stuff like world records in the track 10K. A year later, she still hasn’t cooled off. She’s 61 now, just like our friend Nolan Shaheed. This season, Bernie came within a tiniest tick of breaking 11 minutes for the 3000, for example. Now she’s the subject of a nice newspaper profile, which concludes: “Next summer’s goal is the world 1500 record for her age group, which would really be pushing things to the limit. Eventually she’ll be 65 and into the 65-69 bracket and on and on her wonderful obsession will go.” Go, Bernie, go! (And thanks to Desmond Young for sharing the Kiwi news link!)
Bernie, a hairdresser, has the extra advantage of looking good while running.
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Breaking my vow once again: Here’s a road runner website of note
Yeah, yeah. I don’t do roadies. But this German gent asked nicely to post a link, and his work is breathtaking. So check out this ultramarathon stats website. Leader of this stat team is JГјrgen Schoch, who writes: “You can find complete and up-to-date rankings for all ultra-marathon running events. They can be filtered for every distance, age-group and nationality. If you find them useful we would be happy if you put a link on your nice website. (Here is) the more direct link. By the way, a small part of performances was achieved on tracks, which is indicated by T in the column right of the performance.” Ah, so it’s eligible for this site after all!” And they really do measure marks by sundial.
Nolan Shaheed lowers his already stunning 800 WR to 2:08.56
Hey, kids! Learn from the master. If you want a great time in the 800, shoot for even splits. That’s what Nolan Shaheed did Saturday at the Tiny Lister meet at Cal State Los Angeles, where he ran 64-64 and ended up with 2:08.56 — taking a half-second off his week-old M60 world record at Mt. SAC. Nolan writes: “They awarded me Male Athlete of the Meet and gave me a wonderful trophy. That is a GREAT HONOR.” Indeed. And but for the wind, he might have shared the honor with M50 Willie Gault, who ran wind-aided sprints of 10.90 and 22.49 with the listed world age-group records being 10.95 and 22.53. Results are here. Nolan’s 2:08.56 corresponds, on the Age-Graded Tables, to an open mark (ages 20-30) of 1:42.17. And Willie? Try 9.72 and 19.38. Call him Willie Bolt.
Gault made good on his WR predictions, but couldn't control the wind.
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Montreal Olympian Duncan Macdonald seems to be Sacto entrant
Duncan Macdonald shown in 1982 race.
Aussies in the middle of outdoor nationals, aim for awesome results
I signed up for Sacramento worlds yesterday. Pain-free operation. M55 hurdlers around the world can breathe a sigh of relief: I’m bypassing the short and long barriers this year, focusing on the sprints and high jump. (But London 2015 — hope, hope — will be my M60 debut, so be very afraid.) At the same time, Australians launched their four-day masters outdoor national championships in Brisbane, site of 2001 worlds. See results here. I’m hammered for time right now, but if you see some exceptional marks, post them as a comment. I also note a new book: a history of Aussie masters track. Check out details.
