Ed Whitlock goes sub-3:30 in Rotterdam Marathon for M80 WR
Ed Whitlock went from a WR in the mile to a WR in the marathon in three weeks. Today in Rotterdam, Netherlands, Ed ran 26.2 miles in 3 hours, 25 minutes, 40 seconds. As Race Results Weekly reported in its last paragraph: “Race director Mario Kadiks did manage to have a world record on the day, however. Canada’s Ed Whitlock, 80 years old, ran a spectacular 3:25:43 (3:25:40 net) to smash the world 80-84 record of 3:39:18 set by Australia’s Robert Horman at Brisbane in 1998.” So how did you do on our prediction poll? Pretty good. About 43 percent of you said he’d run 3:25. Ed is pretty good, too. (Age-graded as 2:08:15.) Congrats on mind-boggling us again, Ed.
Ed, pictured in 2004, has another reason to smile after latest marathon WR.
Report: Dale Campbell lowers own M55 American record in steeple
I turn 57 in two weeks. So around this time, my radar goes up for marks by cohorts. Today I learned about a 57-year-old prolific runner names Dale Campbell, who covered a mile in about 5:45. But wait! He did this nearly back-to-back with 10:38.15 for 3,000 meters. But wait! He did this over 36-inch barriers and water jumps. Yup: Dale ran a 3K steeple in a time that beats his own listed American record of 10:39.56, according to a note from fellow M55 star Rich Burns. (The listed M55 world record is the ungodly 9:55.05 by New Zealand’s Ron Robertson in 1997.) Haven’t found results posted online yet, but I suspect the meet was the Coast Classic Invitational at Orange Coast College in Costa Mesa, California. Nice run, Dale!
Dale wears a medal from a 2010 road race at SCA championships.
Masters national chairman Snyder sets deadline for Albu answers
Several days ago, an Albuquerque nationals entrant sent me an eloquent plea for resolution to the indoor records morass. The athlete listed six events where records were set but never acknowledged. The note closed by saying: “I haven’t even been given the courtesy of an official time.  I feel like all of us … runners are being treated like something of very little consequence, like we should just shut up and go away instead of insisting we be credited with times and records.”
Oregon TC plans masters exhibition events at big Eugene meets
Oregon TC Masters is reprising its masters exhibition events at elite meets, starting Saturday. Local paper even mentioned them weeks ago. Details on entering are on the OTCM website here. Craig Godwin is the go-to guy for event info. Craig writes: “The Oregon Track Club Masters is once again putting on masters only races at two major University of Oregon meets. This is a great chance to race at Hayward Field, in front of a crowd! We want to showcase masters athletes in all age groups from 40 up, so don’t be shy about participating. We have had athletes up to age 82 compete in past years.” I’m sorry about delayed posting of this, since deadline was a week in advance. But maybe if you say you saw it here, he’ll cut you some slack.
Belated congrats to Darren Scott and mates on M35 WR for 4×200
Lesley Richardson sent along some great photos from the Eurovets indoor meet in Ghent, Belgium — M40 sprint champ Darren Scott and W55 distance queen Gail Duckworth. Darren’s picture reminded me that I never got around to sharing news (from early February) that he and some friends broke 1:30 in the indoor 4×200 for a world record at a Midlands AA meeting. Darren wrote me: “I put together a relay team to have a crack at breaking the world indoor M35 4x200m record at the Birmingham Games (on Feb. 6, 2011). The team was Mark Dunwell M40, Jim Tipper M35, Bernard Ward M35 and Darren Scott M40. The record was held by the italians in 2008 with 1.30.38. We ran 1:29.95 to set a new world indoor 4x200m record. The day before, I ran my quickest indoor 200m so far winning it in 22.16 at Sheffield. My main aim is to peak for the Eurovets in March, where I will be running a 200m and 400m.” So how did Darren do in Belgium? Not bad: 22.31 (a mammoth 0.7 ahead of second place) and 51.02 (a second ahead of No. 2). Meanwhile, check out the rest of Lesley’s masterful images.
Lesley's shots of Darren and Gail at Eurovets indoor meet last month.
Tom Phillips uses ‘slow’ ISO to capture fast Eurovets action
ISO (aka ASA) is a camera setting that lets you choose between capturing action in low light or rich detail in normal light. In the olden days, an ASA setting of 1600 meant a lot of “grain” in a photo print. Nowadays, 1600 is on the bottom end of a digital camera’s offerings. Which leads me to cheer the latest masters track shots from UK sprinter Tom Phillips, who attended the Eurovets meet in Ghent, Belgium. See them here. Tom writes: “I have gone for a moody and artistic look to many of the photos, because the lighting in the stadium was really bad. I refuse to use flash all the time — field athletes hate me at the best of times! As a result, ISO 1600 was a slow speed most of the time. I had to rely on underexposing and mending in the computer. It has given me some good stuff, occasionally with a posterised effect. I could have gone for the Warhol look with some shots, but I am not sure the Masters world is ready for that yet.”
Tom Phillips posted a quadzillion shots from Ghent European champs.
Oldest American to go sub-32 in 10K might be Mike Blackmore
Mike at Sacto.
M100 record holder died in Japanese tsunami, IAAF report says
This was sadly inevitable: News of how the Japanese catastrophe affected masters athletes in Japan: “The IAAF is deeply saddened to receive the news that Takashi Shimokawara, one of the legends of Japanese and world masters athletics, was a victim of the recent tsunami which devastated large areas of Japan. The current world record holder in the World Masters Athletics’ M100 age category in the Shot Put, Discus Throw and Javelin Throw SP, DT and JT, Takashi Shimokawara was found dead in Kamaishi city, Iwate prefecture, an area seriously struck by the force of the tsunami. Shimokawara, aged 104, held the following World records of M100. SP 10.72m, DT 5.11m JT 12.42m. The IAAF offers its sincerest sympathies and condolences to his family and friends.” Takashi was mentioned in a 2008 Times of London article, but ignore the porn headline. Thanks, Mary Woo, for calling the tragic news to our attention.
Takashi may have been the oldest track athlete in the world.
Bogus record list bamboozles even National Masters News e-blast
Last weekend, a gent emailed me with the wonderful news of a W40 American record in the 1500: Kris Paaso, 40, running 4:29.54 at the Stanford University Invitational, beating the listed American record of 4:32.73 by Joan Nesbit in 2002. Then yesterday’s e-News from National Masters News revealed an even better claim: Sonja Friend-Uhl, 41, “took to the line in Vanderbilt University’s Black and Gold Meet” in Nashville and “finished strong to win the race outright in 4:27.00.” Wow! Two ARs in one weekend! Uh. Not so fast. As I wrote the Kris Paaso fan last Sunday: “It pains me to share this, but some listed USATF American masters records are as bogus as the day is long. Check this out.” I can excuse folks for being misled by USATF masters records. But there’s no excuse for the way Albuquerque nationals records are being treated.
Olga Kotelko video is on BBC: ‘I am what I am,’ W90 superstar says
What’s the most popular video subject on the BBC America website today? Japan? Libya? One-minute world news? Wrong on all counts. It’s Olga Kotelko, our W90 world-record superstar from British Columbia. She tells her story to freelancer Brandy Yanchyk. Olga is shown doing water training, weights and other stuff. Some of my photos from Lahti worlds are used as well. The news doesn’t have to be all disaster and war. We have Olga. Thanks, Brandy and BBC World News America!
Olga tells her track interest in this BBC World News America video.
