Christian Cushing-Murray repeats as Carlsbad 5000 masters champ
While waiting for my wife to pass by, I shot the men’s and women’s masters races at today’s Carlsbad 5000. Christian Cushing-Murray, 42, won the men’s race for a second straight year (picking up another check for $1,000). His time was about 14:40. Amazing. He told me afterward that he took Coach Peter Magill’s advice not to take the lead too early. Cush says he went ahead just before the final turn for home. I don’t know the women, but I got some nice shots of them as well. See my gallery for the shots from this morning. (The men’s race started at 7 and and the women’s at 8.)
Cush leads his rivals down the final stretch at Carlsbad. (Photo by Ken Stone)
Kip Janvrin returns to decathlon at 44, rocks kids at Emporia St.
Kip Janvrin
Sydney Olympian Kip Janvrin, who set the M40 world decathlon record at 2005 San Sebastian worlds, turns 45 in July and appears to want that age-group record as well. Friday at Emporia, Kansas, he wrapped up his latest decathlon — an open deca — with a winning mark of 6,807 points. That’s before age-grading. (Can someone please plug his marks into the 2010 factors and see what he scores?) See complete results from the Emporia State meet. Kip now coaches at the University of Central Missouri. (Actually, he’s been there for 20 years.) After winning the 2007 Drake Relays masters 800 (in 1:53.89!), we haven’t heard much from him. Now it looks as if he’s pointing for Sacramento. In March he contested his 98th decathlon, according to this IAAF report. We learn: “In March of 2010 at age 44, (Kip) returned to the Decathlon to contest his 98th competition. The only other athletes who come marginally close – competing in more than 70 Decathlon/Heptathlon meetings – were: Tomas Dvorak (CZE) 78, Lennart Hedmark (SWE) 76, Jon Arnar Magnusson (ISL) 74, and Erki Nool (EST) 73.” Where will Kip do No. 100? Stay tuned.
‘Autumn Gold’ masters track documentary to debut in Toronto
Jan Tenhaven
Toronto folks are lucky ducks! They get to see the North American premiere of “Herbstgold” (“Autumn Gold”), the German-made masters track documentary that includes a lot of footage from Lahti worlds. It’s not the first masters track movie (that honor belongs to the American film “Racing Against the Clock,” which I reviewed five years ago.) But “Gold” could be the best. Alfred Proksch, the M100 Austrian thrower at Lahti, is featured in the film — and stars in the quickly made trailer below. (An “official” trailer is still in the works.) Watch for Alfred painting. (He’s a lucky duck, too!) Other athletes profiled are W90 thrower Gabre Gabric, M80 sprinter Jiří Soukup, W85 thrower Ilse Pleuger and M90 sprinter Herbert Liedtke. Written and directed by Berliner Jan Tenhaven, the documentary made the cut for the prestigious HotDocs film festival next month in Toronto. The film (detailed here) shows twice — 7 p.m. May 4 and 11:30 a.m. May 6. I expect a full report from you guys.
Hookit.com helps athletes find sponsors! Worth checking out
Apparently, you have to wear your ballcap sideways to lure a sponsor. But I’ve written the folks at hookit.com to see if there’s a market for underwriting masters tracksters. Here’s a detailed history of this San Diego-based outfit, which used to be called SponsorHouse or Loop’d. With youngsters sharing a major share of the market, there has to be a small slice for older adults to feast on. If you affiliate with this outfit, lemme know how it goes.
Here's a blank profile I created for myself. All I have to do now is set a few world records and corporate sponsors will come banging at my door!
Masters sprinter suffering clinical depression seeks our advice
We often celebrate comebacks by athletes who endured major injury or disease. But that’s not all we have to deal with. A masters sprinter has written me seeking advice on how to deal with clinical depression, especially the medications prescribed to deal with it. I have no wisdom on this subject. But y’all may have some advice. The sprinter in question is aware that the stigma attached to depression is lessening but still prefers to go nameless. Can anyone help?
Frank Levine stakes claim to M95 mile indoor world record
Since neither WMA nor USATF list an indoor record for the M95 mile, Frank Levine apparently is the de facto record-holder. Competing at the Mid-Atlantic USATF Indoor Championships March 7 in Glen Mills, Pennsylvania, forever-young Frank ran the mile in 15:18.99. (Complete results are here.) Actually, he has a faster time from a December 2009 meet at the same site: 15:11.9, hand-timed. But I think the 15:18.99 will end up being the accepted record, since it came at a championship meet. Of course, this hinges on whether Frank trotted around with the record forms in his hands, or meet directors graciously took care of this chore for him. Hope it’s the latter. Here’s a 2009 video about Frank after Oshkosh nationals:
We have work to do: Folks still don’t know about masters track
I’ve had this experience. So have you, probably. You’re training at a local track in your colorful meet T-shirt. Another older adult asks you: Are you a marathon runner? Nope, sprints and jumps. Which leads you to describe masters track as your new friend’s jaw drops. I’m reminded of this scenario by a story in the Kitsap (Wash.) Sun. M70 jumper Roger Vergin of Poulsbo is profiled, and the story reports: “Vergin didn’t participate in track and field in school — he didn’t even start running until he was in his 30s and even then he was a middle-of-the-pack runner — and started his track career two years ago when he noticed another member at his gym wearing a Bremerton West Sound Senior Games T-shirt. ‘I didn’t know that such competition for seniors even existed,’ Vergin said.” This should give everyone in USATF leadership pause. How do we reach folks like this?
Roger jumps at the 2009 Bremerton West Sound Senior Games.
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Aeron Arlin Genet targets W40 mile American record (and prize $$$)
Aeron photo by Chris Leschinsky
In Northern California, the Santa Rosa Press-Democrat informs us of a May 7 pair of miles with prize money. The Heart & Sole shoestore is sponsoring the races and the paper says: “Aeron Arlin Genet will attempt to break the women’s Masters (over 40) mile record of 4:46.29. Genet was part of a team that set the Masters world record in the 4×800 meter relay in Boston earlier this year.” That’s the American mile record, BTW. The W40 world record is outtasight — 4:23.78 by Russia’s Yekatarina Podkopayeva in 1993. USATF lists the W40 American record as 4:46.29 by Alisa Harvey in 2006. We also learn from the meet site “Top-3 finishers in each race earn $750-$350-$250. Additionally, there is a time bonus of $1,500 per race, to be divided amongst all those breaking 4:00 (men) and 4:40 (women).”
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Tony McManus claims M60 mile world record, threatens 1500 WR
Tony McManus
New Zealand’s Tony McManus, a masters champion since at least the 1990s, ran an outdoor mile in 4:53.29 on February 20 to break the listed M60 world age-group record of 4:54.07 by Holland’s Joop Ruter in 1993. The mile WR came in Christchurch “in front of a small but vocal crowd,” reported Tony’s club site. I hadn’t heard of this great mark until last night. The discovery came as I researched Tony’s background after his near-miss at the M60 world record for 1500 at New Zealand’s masters outdoor nationals in Christchurch. (Results are here.) Tony ran the 15 over the weekend in 4:29.01, which age-grades to an open equivalent of 3:31.04. The listed M60 WR for 1500 is 4:27.65 by fellow Kiwi Ron Robertson. On March 18, Tony ran the 1500 in 4:28.61. (Tony’s marks should help motivate fellow M60 miler Nolan Shaheed, who ran the 1500 in 4:31.33 recently.) The Kiwi meet was low-key but had some amazing metric miles, which also included W60 Lois Reed’s 5:44.66 (4:05.47 age-graded), M45 Richard Bennett’s 4:07.67 (3:41.60) and M50 Robin Grant’s 4:24.97 (3:42.61). The best sprinter was probably M60 Laurie Malcolmson, who ran the 100 in 12.76 (10.68) and 200 in 26.27 (21.15).
Time for Massin to man up on Kamloops story posted by Koops
Dieter Massin
I love a good mystery. But this one is getting tiresome. Nearly a month ago, Annette and Robert Koop posted a note on their German masters site about “Personenschutz für Massin” — a personal security detail at Kamloops worlds for Eurovets President Dieter Massin in the wake of the Val Barnwell suspension. Within hours, WMA President Stan Perkins and Kamloops organizers labeled the bodyguards report a lie. But the Koops stood by it, writing: “Ken, the story is true, that’s all.” The only person who could resolve this impasse is Dieter himself. So I sent him several queries, the latest being March 25. He never replied. I also sent notes to others, hoping they could nudge a response. No dice. So here’s my theory: Dieter made a boo-boo — planting the story to curry sympathy (or display his importance). But he miscalculated the blowback and is too ashamed and embarrassed to admit that he used the Koops.
Annette and Robert Koop watched events at Radiomaki track at Lahti worlds. (Photo by Ken Stone)
