Leon Joslin going strong at 98, aiming for his M100 breakout
At 96, San Diego’s Leland McPhie is the oldest entrant at Sacramento nationals. But he’s not the senior athlete on the U.S. masters circuit. Leon Joslin does him better. Leon, who lives in the Seattle area, turned 98 in March and is shown below in the shot at Saturday’s Seattle Masters Classic. When he was interviewed last year by a local paper, Leon said: “There is 100-105 age group I’m waiting to compete in.” (It’s 100-and-up, but he’s forgiven.) Leon is the listed American record-holder in the ultraweight pentathlon (3375points in 2008.) The video below was shot by M70 David Summers, a consummate thrower himself. Still awaiting results from Seattle.
Click to see Leon's impressive form. He's doing lots of things right.
Douglas Kalembo breaks the 50-second barrier for 4 at age 49.9
Six days short of his 50th birthday, Zambia Olympian Douglas Kalembo today ran his age in the 400-meter dash. This is historic. As the image shows, Douglas posted a 49.77 at the masters meet of the Georgia Games. His mark at Marietta High School — against world-class rival Marcus Shute — lowered his own M45 world record of 50.02 a month ago. According to this info page, the meet was USATF-sanctioned. But the USATF calendar doesn’t list the Georgia Games. So stay tuned on record-acceptability. On the 2010 Age-Graded Tables, Douglas’ latest mark is worth 45.06 as an open mark. Pshaw! He’s this close to breaking 50 at 50! That’s a sub-4 mile in my book. Kudos, Mr. Kalembo. Incredible race. Too bad you’re not entered at Sacramento.
Nobody older than Douglas Kalembo has run a sub-50 for 400 meters.
Services for masters great Tom Gage are Thursday in Montana
Tom Gage as collegiate thrower.
Drug-testing rules for USATF masters track to be kept secret?
Don't ask, don't tell?
Charlie Brown boosts M55 American record in vault to 14-3 1/4
Charlie at 2007 meet in Santa Ana, Calif.
The bad news: I won’t be a world-class hurdler anytime soon
The good news: I found a job! A month after being laid off at The San Diego Union-Tribune, I have a new employer. It’s Patch Media Corp., which operates a network of hyperlocal news sites across the country. Check out Patch.com. I’m going to be a local editor — working from home — of a website devoted to La Mesa, California — the San Diego suburb where I’ve lived for 11 years. I’ll hire free-lancers to write stories, take pictures and make videos. But I’ll do the major stories while covering City Hall, local schools and breaking news. The site will take time to build. (I’ll let you know when it’s live.) The gig returns me to my community journalism roots. I was editor of two small weeklies in north San Diego County in the late 1970s and early 1980s, and I was news editor of a south Orange County semiweekly. But my new job may well be the future of journalism. Patch is gonna be a blast! Sadly, I may not have tons of time to train. My M55 rivals will breathe a sigh of relief, no doubt. Deal with it.
German champion fights extortion — letter accused her of doping
Anne Fischer in 2008.
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Tom Gage dies at 67; Olympic hammer thrower was Hall of Famer
Olympic hammer thrower and Masters Hall of Famer Tom Gage died yesterday, possibly of heart failure, at his home in Billings, Montana, report buddies including Richard Hotchkiss. This shocking news comes less than a month after Tom, 67, won two golds and a silver in the M65 throws at the Hayward Masters Classic in Eugene. “Our friend Tom Gage died suddenly this afternoon after returning from a bike ride,” Richard wrote yesterday. “I am enclosing his last email to me dated this morning. It is with great sadness I have to send you this rather than in the form of a more personal contact. He was a great champion in all aspects of his life; we will all miss his exuberance and tenacious approach to his sport and to his life. I do not have any specifics about services yet as the passage of time does not allow for that information to occur that abruptly.” Here’s a video of Tom from 2009:
Results begin flowing in for Eurovets championships in Hungary
The 17th European Veterans Athletics Championships are under way in NyГregyhГЎza, Hungary, and results are being posted. See results here. Entrant lists are given for each event and age group. For example, the M55 100 list shows 31 guys, topped by world champ Steven Peters. The site also has a really cool search feature, which lets you look up entrants by event, nation or age group. Organizers boast 3,117 entrants (including 528 from Germany). That’s more than twice the size of Sacramento nationals. They’re also using multiple tracks. Weather? The long-range forecast expects highs about 90. The meet began today and runs through July 24. Best of luck to our pals across the Pond!
Distance races apparently are using timing chips like those at Lahti.
Marie Kay dominates W50 events at Oceania masters regional meet
Marie Kay at Lahti worlds.
Last year when she was 49, Marie Kay never got the memo to take it easy. Oldest in her age group? Time to cruise? Not our Marie. Instead, she set a W45 world record in the heptathlon at Lahti worlds and also dominated hurdles and jumps (amid injury). In January, Marie turned 50. So what’s the latest for Marie? Well, our Aussie superstar was in Tahiti last week for the Oceania Masters Athletics
