Mary Bowermaster dies at 93; breast cancer survivor turned to track
Mary Bowermaster
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Albuquerque aftermath — announcer Peter Taylor as chick magnet
David Albo writes: “I had the pleasure of driving Peter Taylor to a post-meet dinner with the Athena Track Club at a nice place overlooking the city. … With a mere rasp of a voice after three long days of work, he still talked it up big time (while) commuting up and during the fun dinner. So I got to experience his fascinating mental process firsthand. His amazing memory is exceptional. For our sport, most everyone agrees, he brings a lot to the events: detailed knowledge and bringing to life appropriate meaningful drama in real time—on and on all day every day. To paraphrase: He goes out hard from the starting gun in his announcing. I think Day 1 was 10, maybe 12 hours for him. Followed by Day 2. Then Day 3.” David shared this wonderful photo:
David on Peter: "I just want to thank him for all he adds to these meets"
How many of the 18 WRs at Albuquerque should get an asterisk?
USATF reports more records galore at New Mexico indoor nationals. Can anyone top the meet of Bill Collins? He set an M60 American record Friday in the 400, a world record Saturday in the 60 and a world record today in the 200 — 24.32 seconds, which crushed the listed indoor WR of 24.85 by his friend Charles Allie at Boston last year. So many incredible marks, so little time. But a question for the record: How much did the mile-high altitude contribute to the WR spree? Could Bill have beaten the 60 WR by a hundredth of a second at sea level? Could the throwers have heaved the weight so far at Boston? Also take my shameless poll on the Athlete of the Meet. Of course, this is comparing apples and aardvarks, but what the heck. Let’s see who was most impressive in thin air.
In his M60 debut at nationals, Bill Collins set three American records, two of them WRs. This shot and others are posted on usatf.org.
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Another day, another avalanche of records at Albuquerque meet
Bill Collins likes being 60. He added to his legend at Albuquerque masters nationals today with a world record at 60 meters of 7.65 seconds — barely beating the listed indoor WR of 7.66 by Slovakia’s Vladimir Vybostok in 2007. So fast and furious has the record-setting been that USATF had to add footnotes: Michael Sullivan busted the M50 world record for 400 meters Friday with his amazing 52.44 (old record: 52.54) and Canadian Karla del Grande added this notch to her belt: an 8.40 for 60 meters, improving the previous listed WR of 8.46. Now a disclaimer: Results from the European masters champs will have a dog in this fight. Vets at Ghent, Belgium, in two weeks will also rewrite the WMA record books. More than 3,300 are entered. Also check out this great interview with Burt Saidel, M80 sprint champ:
Chris Bates opens masters nationals with M45 pentathlon WR
More than a dozen records were set on Day 1 of Albuquerque masters nationals. Haven’t had a chance to scrutinize these marks (which sometimes are surpassed by unreported earlier bests). But no doubt Chris Bates is the Man of the Meet so far by raising his own M45 pentathlon world record from Kamloops — or until Bill Collins runs the 60 and 200. Bill crushed the M60 American record for 400 with his 55.68 (beating the listed AR of 55.91 by New Mexico’s Don Neidig in 2005.) See results here. The only quarter-miler faster over 60 is Canadian legend Harold Morioka, who clings to the WR with his 55.62 from 2003.
Spread the word! ‘Forever Fast’ masters promo video is a beaut!
Years in the making, “Forever Fast” is being rolled out as a marketing video for USATF masters track. It was posted on YouTube this week, and I saw it for the first time this morning. It kicks ass! Hits on all cylinders — great interviews, production values, action clips and humor. I especially like the use of W55 multi-eventer Kim Williams, a Maine resident who says, “Your body ages, but your spirit doesn’t age.” Kim doesn’t have an “athlete’s body.” But frump is good when it comes to reaching the masses of menopausal women who might say to themselves: “I can’t do that.” Fact is, Kim can! She rocks.
Travis Padgett cousin faces fast introduction at masters nationals
M40 newbie Calvin Padgett is a cousin of Olympian Travis Padgett, but Calvin is in a different class, speedwise. A story in his local paper says he won an indoor regional title for 200 meters in 30.84 seconds. Uhm, nice start, Calvin! Of course, I can’t be dissing people’s lack of blazing speed—since W70s are breathing down my tortoise neck. But it’ll be interesting to see how Calvin fares at Albuquerque this weekend when he runs with the big dogs. Best of luck to all!
Calvin shows off the first of many medals he'll win in his masters career.
Albuquerque Journal begins trumpeting masters indoor nationals
Nolan, horn.
Fresno ‘Dream’ meet shows open spots in some masters races
Masters tracksters availed themselves of open lanes last weekend at the Fresno “Race for the Dream” indoor meet—but not enough. Women could have jumped into races with Liz Palmer (who ran hurdles and a sprint), and the old 600-yard race could have used more oldsters than Jeff Lawrence and Steve Hardison. But the men’s hurdles (won by Richard Holmes) and the 55-meter dash (won by Eric Lietz) were competitive. And how about Eric’s time of 7.20? I want to learn more about him! (He was M45 in 2008!)
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Kiwi in crisis: World record holder evacuated after boulder hits
Kiwi Tony McManus, whose M60 season last year included a mile world record, survived the killer 6.3 quake that struck Christchurch on Feb. 22. “Life has changed dramatically for us,” he writes from Down Under. “No running water or electricity. Our house is livable; however, we have been evacuated due to a visitor—a boulder which came through our section missing the house by 5 meters. One of our top coaches and ex-runner Brian Taylor is missing. He was the director of the Language School in the CTV building that collapsed.” Tony says he was on track to break the M60 world record for 1500 following a 4.28.42 on Feb. 5—0.77 short of Ron Robertson’s record.
Quake sent this boulder crashing into Tony's New Zealand neighborhood.
