Olympian Trish Porter unveils book: ‘Rekindle Your Dreams’
Trish's book has just come out.
W45 high jumper Trish Porter competed for Team USA in the 1988 Olympics, and has been a regular on the masters circuit for years, setting world records and winning four world titles. But it wasn’t a straight line from elite to age-group meets. “In 1994, I had a bad neck injury during practice on a trampoline, and had no choice but to retire,” Trish writes. “After taking 11 years off from competing, having two children — Connor (June 1997, a fencer), and Shannon (April 2001, an ice skater) — I started competing again. I have broken the world record four times for women 40-44 years old. I have jumped 5-9 1/4, which is the same height I jumped in high school, and higher than I went in college.” And now she tells the secrets of her comeback and stellar masters career in a new book: “‘Rekindle Your Dreams.”
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Val Barnwell blames sabotage, racial bias in his doping case
The United States Anti-Doping Agency has issued the American Arbitration Association’s “final order” in the Val Barnwell doping case from Lahti. And it’s a doozy. I’ve posted it here. Val’s defense speaks for itself — and he may never recover from this. Among other things, he says he was the victim of an “elaborate sabotage scheme perpetrated by unknown persons” and contends meet organizers targeted him for testing “due to his race.” Val also told the hearing panel that he was a Guyana Olympian. But according to this Olympic reference, the only Barnwell to compete in Olympic track was an Irishwoman in 1984. We also learn exactly what Val took. “Dr. Larry Bowers, the Chief Science Officer for USADA, . . . testified that the results were consistent with an injection or repeated or multiple oral ingestion of androstendione.” In other words, Mark McGwire’s drug of choice.
Val gestured to Lahti crowd after winning the M50 200. He was drug-tested shortly after this race. (Photo by Ken Stone)
Raschker on latest honor: ‘totally surprised and very honored’
Phil Raschker, deep into tax season, graciously took time out from her accounting chores to answer my query about her latest honor: USATF Athlete of the Week. On her fourth win, Phil wrote: “I was totally surprised and very honored, especially considering the great performances and records set by other athletes in Kamloops.” But as impressive as her 10-medal effort was, I was more curious about how she keeps her 63-year-old body going day after day at worlds. She replied: “Keeping my aging body together is indeed a challenge at a competition like this. It certainly is much more difficult to do indoors as the events are crowded into a few days.”
Raschker named USATF Athlete of the Week for fourth time
By my count, Phil Raschker has won the top USATF weekly honor four times (corrected from three). First was in summer 2002 after Orono nationals. Next came September 2007 after Riccione outdoor worlds. Then in March 2008 after Clermont-Ferrand indoor worlds. And then yesterday in the wake of Kamloops, where she won 10 medals (seven of them gold). I don’t think a check comes with the title, but she deserves one just for showing folks you can go day after day. Phil, who turned 63 last month, was “The Legend” when I started covering masters track in 1996. So what do we call her now? She defies description.
Phil hurdled at Orono nationals in 2007. That and the vault are her fortes. (Photo by Ken Stone)
Canadian border guards almost spiked Team USA massages
No good deed goes unpunished. So it went for two volunteer chiropractors who helped American athletes at Kamloops last week. Turns out Dr. Greg Summers, whose service I touted a few weeks ago, had a limited gig at worlds. “Dr. Summers didn’t show up until Friday afternoon, so he was only there a day and a half,” one athlete wrote. But another chiropractor had a long stint — Dr. William D. Elliott of Alabama, who “set up on Monday morning and treated 27 athletes. On Tuesday, he treated 37. Wednesday was a slow day because he didn’t set up until after noon. He was there all day Thursday and Friday,” my mole tells me. But getting to the meet was an ordeal. “They were both stopped and questioned about work visas, and Dr. Summers was held for three hours and forced to buy a work permit when he came through on Thursday night. Dr. Elliott came across with (another entrant) on Sunday and they were subjected to questions for over 45 minutes.”
WMA prez denies post about Massin getting personal bodyguards
Val Barnwell: personal threat?
On Sunday, the day after Kamloops closed the books on the 4th World Masters Indoor Athletics Championships, a strange post appeared on Annette’s Seite, which covers German masters track. Translated, it read: “German competitors at the World Indoors made it known that WMA anti-doping czar Dieter Massin received temporary personal security (bodyguards) after the announcement of the positive test of Barnwell. Massin got the job after the Lahti world championships.” OMG. This I had to check out! So yesterday, when I first learned of it, I wrote to Dieter, the folks at Kamloops and Stan Perkins, president of World Masters Athletics. Almost immediately, I heard from the LOC: “This is absolutely not true!” wrote Bob Cowden, co-chairman of WMA 2010 Kamloops.
Dieter Massin, shown at Lahti General Assembly, is WMA's anti-doping chief. (Photo by Ken Stone)
Jim Wetenhall torches M55 American indoor superweight record
Toledo firefighter Jim Wetenhall shattered the listed M55 American indoor record in the superweight throw Saturday at the USATF Michigan Indoor Open/Masters Championships. Complete results are here. He heaved the 56-pound sucker 10.55 meters (34-7 1/2) to beat the listed age-group record of 9.86 (32-4 1/4) by Olympian Tom Gage in 2000. The mark also exceeds his own listed outdoor record of 9.93 (32-7). At the same Eastern Michigan University meet in Ypsilanti, Jim’s wife, Kathy, threw her superweight (25 pounds) 8.75 (28-8 1/2). Together, they threw 19.3 (63-4), which is probably a couple’s WR. Nice spinning, guys! Also: Results are in from Friday’s USATF regional masters indoor meet at LSU in Baton Rouge. See results here, thanks to the great work of webmaster Bart Stagg and masters chair Byron Turner.
Lesley Richardson begins posting Kamloops photos at UK site
Lesley Richardson, my Lahti foto friend, has begun posting thousands of pictures she took at Kamloops worlds. (She had to get home to Britain first.) Check out her galleries. Lesley competed in the W40 60 and 4×200 at Kamloops. But her results ambien online (like mine) are top secret. Anyway, great shootin’, sister!
A laid-back Lesley applauds Argentina's M90 wonder Efrain Wachs at Lahti worlds in August 2009. (Photo by Ken Stone)
Dang unbanked track! Shaheed barely misses M60 WR for 1500
On the final day of Kamloops, Nolan Shaheed of Pasadena gave it his best shot yesterday. He won the M60 1500 but missed the listed world record by four-tenths of a second. Had the 200-meter track been banked, he would have crushed the WR of 4:36.52 by France’s Raymond Zembri in 2009. Better luck was had by M90 Orville Rogers of Dallas, who ran 10:11.48 to erase the listed American age-group record of 14:34.2 by Herb Kirk in 1987 — a mark that should have been wiped from the books in 2008. That’s when Orville ran an M90 indoor mile world record of 9:56.58 at Boston nationals. I’m no math genius, but I think if Orville ran 9:56 for the mile, his 1500-meter time that day had to be better than 14:34.2. Thank goodness he finally buried Herb’s mark in Canada. Almost as ridiculous were the relays at ‘Loops — all 4x200s.
Bruce McBarnette with his latest world meet gold. Needed only three jumps to earn M50 high jump title at 1.80, and this was his only event at Kamloops. Sweet. (Photo from Bruce press release)
M60 John Altendorf raises own pole vault WR twice in Kamloops
John Altendorf of Corvallis, Ore., forgot to wear his helmet on a couple jumps yesterday at Kamloops. No matter. He still lifted his own world indoor record in the M60 pole vault, raising the roof in the process. The fieldhouse crowd cheered their lungs out when John, who turns 64 next week, cleared 4.02 (13-2 1/4) on his third try and then 4.05 (13-3 1/2) on first attempt, reports Bob Weiner, our media man. John’s previous age-group best was 4.00 (13-1 1/2) set in 2008. Americans kicked butt in the 60-meter hurdles yesterday, too, winning 10 titles. Don Drummond of Lawrenceville, Ga., missed the M40 American record by two-hundredths of a second. Don won in 8.24, just shy of the 8.22 by Glen Patterson in 2003 and Rod Jett in 2008.
John Altendorf signals all is well as he posed with a volunteer official who escorted him to drug-testing after his WR vaults. (Photo by Bubba Sparks)
