Mile record-holder Mary Harada admits to yogurt, chocolate doping
Mary at Lahti worlds. (Photo by Tom Phillips)
Sandy Pashkin responds to post, gets 4×8 record fixed on USATF
USATF Records Committee Chairman Justin Kuo today updated usatf.org’s records page. We now see the official M35 world record for 4×800 as a pending American record. Kind of quirky, but what the hell. Sandy Pashkin, USATF Masters Records Committee chair, wrote me: “Ken, It would have been more professional if you had asked me before posting your blog. As you can see from Justin’s email below, it was a missing field from the database that caused it not to be posted. Americans must first satisfy the USATF requirements for records before they are accepted by WMA.” Earlier Justin wrote Sandy: “The current M35 4×800 mark was missing from the list of American records that were posted on the USATF website. I located the mark in the database and found one field that was blank. I changed that field to “record” and updated the web site.” Also: Someone asked for Sandy’s email address. Here it is: spashkin@q.com.
Should everyone over 80 be exempt from USATF drug-testing?
Fine for anyone over 80?
Jerry and Christel’s love story — with each other and masters track
Jerry and Christel
Americans officially have WR in 4×8 — but not American record
Like God, USA Track & Field acts in mysterious ways. But God isn’t stupid. USATF is. At least when it comes to masters age-group records. The latest howler is the listed M35 record for the 4×800 relay. According to this USATF record page, the pending American record for the 4×8 is an April 16 mark from Mt. SAC of 8:12.33. But as y’all know, the best M35 4×8 is 7:55.67 by a quartet running April 3 at the College of William & Mary. (See our interview.) World Masters Athletics agrees. See the outdoor records page. What’s the deal? Here’s my best wild-ass guess: Sandy Pashkin, who serves as both USATF and WMA records chief, lacks crucial information for recognizing the 7:55.67 mark as an American record. So she won’t list it. But apparently WMA rules are squishier. So 7:55.67 is the mark shown on the WMA records page.
Top chart shows WMA world records in 4x8. Bottom shows AR as of today.
Read the rest of this post »
New look for Aussie masters athletics portal — including a forum
Last September, M50 jumper Geoff Bramley of Brisbane told me about his cool, new Aussie masters track site. Now he’s given it a new look. More important, he’s added a message board (which still has kinks, though. I couldn’t figure out how to post a note to it, after registering.) See the site here. Mastersathletics.info still has oodles of neat content, including videos and databases for Aussie masters rankings, clubs and training venues. It currently features details on the Oceania Masters Athletics Championships in Papeete, Tahiti — set for July 3-10, 2010. Tahiti in July — a masters dream vacation!
Geoff's site is cleaner in design and adds more databases, bells and whistles.
Douglas Kalembo shares DOB proof: passport and driver’s license
Douglas Kalembo is indeed 49, and his recent 50.02 for 400 should be recognized as an M45 world record. Today he sent me images of his passport and driver’s license, which both indicate July 24, 1960, as his date of birth. Driver’s licenses aren’t always reliable. But passports — especially American ones — are pretty much a gold standard for accuracy, since a birth certificate is required (or other solid proof). In addition, the photo of Douglas on these documents hardly looks like a 39-year-old man. He holds dual citizenship (U.S. and Zambia), so he can claim two national records. Congrats to Douglas, and we hope he’ll soon be the oldest man to go sub-50 in the 4.
Passport indicates July 24, 1960, date of birth for Zambia-born Douglas.
Atlanta TC, Lifeforce TC claim relay records in NW, SE meets
In the past week, an Atlanta Track Club foursome in Atlanta and a Lifeforce TC team in Eugene each set relay records — while wearing similar red tops! On Tuesday, at the ATC Classic, the host club’s W50 women lowered their own American club record, clocking 56.69 in the 4×100. The listed record was 58.73 from 2008. “Our winning team was Debbie Carter, Linda Lowery, Loretta Woodward and LaVonda DeWitt,” writes Lesley Chaplin-Swann. The Lifeforce team broke the USATF Northwest Region Masters and Hayward Masters Classic 4×1 records on Sunday. “We ran 47.49,” writes Fidel Bañuelos. “Per the Hayward Classic website, the (M40) meet record was 47.9h and the NW Region record was 48.43 set in 2006. Steve Sanders was also part of that team. Team members in order of legs are: Steve Sanders, Jay Martin, Fidel Banuelos and Byrke Beller.” Video of the relay (and a 200) also is posted here. Since the ladies are better looking, their photo goes first:
Atlanta TC relayists (from left) are LaVonda, Loretta, Linda and Debbie.
Mary Harada lowers W75 world record in mile: 2nd time this month
Mary Harada
Dates announced for 2011 USATF masters nationals in Ohio
The biggest revelation in Gary Snyder’s latest chair report (see it here) is the time frame for the Ohio masters nationals in 2011. It’s been a mystery till now. The meet will be July 28-31 at Baldwin-Wallace College in the Cleveland suburb of Berea, Gary says. This means affluent age-groupers can attend three major meets in a little over a month: the National Senior Games in Houston (June 16-30), Sacramento worlds (July 7-17) and the Cleveland nationals two weeks later. Now the question is: Which meet will have the most miserable weather? (My money is on Houston.)
