masterstrack.com

Older, slower, lower: Ken Stone's hobby blog for showcasing and watchdogging adult age-group track and field

Sacramento nationals to charge athletes for parking: $13 pass

Oshkosh masters nationals outraged athletes last summer by charging family members just to watch. They also had parking fees. I doubt Sacramento will charge admission, but now we know what parking will cost: $13 for a week’s pass or $6 a day. That’s the word from Bob Burns, one of the meet organizers. (He works for the Sacramento Sports Commission.) Bob also replied to some heat-related questions I put to him recently. See my quickie Q&A regarding the July 22-25 meet in Northern California.

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July 6, 2010  71 Comments

100-yard dash is back! Mt. SAC all-comers going old-school

Mt. San Antonio College is catering to masters this summer with an all-comers series that includes the 100-yard dash July 7 and July 21. Anyone under 40 might wonder: What is 100 yards? What is that in meters? (It’s 91.44, FYI.) For the boomers who ran the 100 back in the day, however, this could be a letdown. We’re not running 9.9 anymore. And we’re also not wearing Tokyos on hard dirt tracks with chalk marking our lane. But it’s still cool of Mt. SAC, east of Los Angeles, to offer this. Here’s a flyer with details.

July 6, 2010  3 Comments

‘Flo-Go’ Meiler claims world record in W75 vault, AR in 2K steeple

From now on, Vermont’s Flo Meiler is Flo-Go! Point Flo to a meet, and she just goes. And for the umpteenth time in the past couple years, she’s set an age-group vault record. This time, however, it should stick. On the Fourth of July, she competed in the USATF East Region Masters Championships in Valatie, New York — and the meet was sanctioned! Thus she won’t lose yet another record to a technicality. (See results here.) She jumped 2.03 meters (6-8) to beat the listed WR of 1.91 (6-3 1/4) by Japan’s Midori Yamamoto in 2009. For giggles, she also set an American record in the 2,000-meter steeplechase of 14:07.34. (No other mark is listed.) The world record for W75 is 12:03.04 by New Zealand’s Dawn Cumming at Lahti worlds.

July 6, 2010  2 Comments

Hy-Tek meet software updated to reflect 2010 Age-Graded Tables

Charlie Hodgson, who wrote the software to run swim and track meets, reports that his Hy-Tek program now incorporates the WMA 2010 age factors used to score combined events in masters meets. This is great news. The bad news: Not everyone scoring masters decathlons, heptathlons and throws pentathlons has the latest software from Hy-Tek. Hence, the point totals are off at some events contested since May 1, when the new Age-Graded Tables took effect. (The complete meet-manager package for new users can cost $521, but folks who own the right software can upgrade for free.) So listen up. Make sure you have the latest upgrade. In my quickie Q&A, Charlie explains how to check.

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July 6, 2010  14 Comments

UK’s Heath headed toward record territory in M45 middle distances

David Heath of London turned 45 in late May, and he’s wasting no time inching closer to a world record. According to a British stat site, Dave, who competed in the world cross country championships as recently as 2000, ran the 1500 in 3:55.80 last month in Narbonne, France. But James Harrison, a former clubmate of Dave’s, writes: “I just found out from Dave that he’s done a 3:54 since then. That’s worth a sub-3.30, according to the Age-Graded Tables.” The listed M45 world record in the 1500 is 3:52.43 by Jesus Borrego of Spain in 2008, so Dave is close to being the world’s best.

July 5, 2010  2 Comments

Darren Scott smokes 100/200 in British open meet: 10.92, 21.74

Running for Trafford AC at a British Athletic League meet Saturday, M40 Darren Scott scorched the 100 and 200 in national record times. Darren ran the 1 in 10.92 (a Scottish M40 record) in a guest race and then a match race in 10.95 — both at Sheffield. His deuce was 21.74 with a legal wind of 1.1 mps — a British M40 record, pipping the listed national record of 21.75 by Anthony Noel at 2005 San Sebastian worlds. See results here. ” I got the performance of the day,” Darren writes. A British site lists Darren as among the top 25 100-meter sprinters in the United Kingdom, including open elites. Good show, Darren!

July 5, 2010  2 Comments

German masters nationals generate at least three world records

Germany splits its masters nationals into two meets — under-50 and 50-and-over. At the over-50 meet in Kevelaer, Christel Happ long-jumped 3.05 meters (exactly 10 feet) to again beat the listed W80 world record of 2.78 (9-1 1/2) by American Mary Bowermaster in 1998. (Christel also jumped 2.90 in June, say the Koops in Germany.) Three weeks after turning 75, Elfriede Hodapp ran the 800 in what the Koops call a “phenomenal world record time.” Elfriede clocked 3:13.66 to take a chunk off the listed W75 WR of 3:25.18 by Italy’s Emma Mazzenga in 2008. And yesterday morning Hermann Albrecht upped his own WR in the M70 hammer to 55.36 meters (181-7). The Koops say he threw 54.17 (177-8) in April. The listed M70 world record is 53.12 (174-3) by American Robert Ward in 2004.

July 4, 2010  4 Comments

Neni Lewis, Mary Roman go on record rampage at East Regionals

Neni Lewis and Mary Roman wreaked havoc on the record books yesterday in Albany, New York. Competing in the hammer, weight and superweight throws at the USATF East Region Masters Championships at SUNY, Neni set world records in the hammer and weight throw. Her mark in the superweight qualifies only as an American record, since WMA doesn’t recognize it as a record event. Results aren’t posted yet for the two-day meet (which continues today at Ichabod Crane High School), but USATF Masters throws coordinator (and world-class M60 thrower) Jerry Bookin-Weiner shared highlights.

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July 4, 2010  4 Comments

USATF site labels Sacramento nationals a non-sanctioned meet

By now, everyone knows you can’t set a USATF record unless the meet is sanctioned by USATF (or a partner). So what happens if the USATF masters outdoor nationals aren’t sanctioned? Check out the USATF calendar. Yup, the USATF Western Regional Masters Outdoor Championships and the July 22-25 Sacramento masters nationals have no black dot. That denotes lack of a USATF sanction. C’mon, guys! Get your acts together! (Here’s the sanction form.)

July 3, 2010  19 Comments

Muscle pull dooms season for Dr. Oglesby, record-setting thrower

The M75 world record in the shot is safe for now. Drat! Dr. James Oglesby, whose American records were creeping ever closer to a German’s WR, reports that his season has ended. Blame dehydration leading to a bum calf. “At present, I am on crutches,” Jim writes, “due to a severely pulled calf muscle acquired at a competition three weeks ago.” Jim says the day, held in Florida, was was very hot, and “I had finished shot put at 12:00, didn’t have enough shade, got dehydrated. Call came to warm up for discus — more energy and lots more sweating. Discus was stopped and called for another hour later, waiting, finally discus at 1:30, ran out of liquids warming up for discus.” Then on his second throw, “a severe cramp sledgehammered into my left calf just as I was putting all my weight on it on the turn. That’s all it took! My calf got 2 to 3 inches larger than the other and turned black and blue from posterior mid thigh to heel, and the usual pain as a byproduct. So I won’t be in Sacramento.”

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July 3, 2010  2 Comments

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• About Ken Stone

  

  Ken Stone

  Ken has followed track as an athlete, writer and web-master since the late 1960s, and saw most sessions of track and field at the 1984 Los Angeles and 1996 Atlanta Olympics. He also attended the 1988, 1992, 2000, 2004, 2008 and 2012 Trials, the last three as a blogger and Patch correspondent. [More...]
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