Teague takes Reebok masters mile; Lagat sets 5K record
Somewhat off the beaten track of exhibitions, the masters mile at today’s Reebok Boston Indoor Games was still a doozy. Results are here. Chris Teague held off Ray Puglsey, 4:29.05 to 4:29.43 as a dozen men dipped under 4:40 at the site of the indoor masters nationals next month. USATF reports that Chris “waited until the last lap to take the lead of the men’s masters mile run and held on for the victory.” Larry Eder also blogged the race, posted here. In other masters news, M35 Bernard Lagat set an American open record two hours later in the 5000 with a sterling run described here. His time of 13:11.50 would probably be an M35 world record, but WMA and USATF don’t list the indoor 5K. The listed outdoor M35 American record is 13:26.03 by Steve Plasencia in 1993. The outdoor M35 WR is 13:07.40 by Germany’s Dieter Baumann in 2002.
Bernard eyes finish of a honkin 5K in Boston. (Photo by Adam Hunge)
M50 heptathlon champ figures out his body — and our sport
Nice piece in a Northern California paper today about Tony Giovannoni of Napa, who won the M50 indoor heptathlon title last week in Wisconsin. Not familiar with the gent, but I applaud his instant grasp of masters mortality. Tony tells Executive Sports Editor Marty James: “Once you’ve reached middle age, you’re always going to have some physical limitations. I’ve got a hamstring that’s been hampering me for over a year, and elbow and shoulder issues that bother me when I throw and vault. A huge part of my success has been learning to read my body, figuring out what I can and can’t do, and manipulating my training so that I get the most gain with the least amount of pain.” Nailed it, Tony! Kudos on Kenosha.
Tony's a tiger: “I’ve been working out six to seven days per week for the past 2 1⁄2 years," he says.
National Senior Games posts minimum standards for 2011
Folks at the National Senior Games have posted “minimum performance standards” for the 2011 National Senior Olympics in Houston. It’s part of a long PDF on rules. See it here. The track and field qualifying standards are reasonable, but aren’t for the Bermuda-shorts-and-sun-hat crowd. As far as my wild-ass speculation about the NSGA “absorbing” USATF, well, it’s still in the realm of possibility down the line. At the least, an affiliation with NSGA would afford us full-time professional marketing help (as opposed to part-time amateur promotion now). And our dues would be better spent — as opposed to mostly absorbed by the elite budget of USA Track & Field. So forgive my jumping the gun. You haven’t heard the last on NSGA and USATF masters.
Here are the marks you need for the 2011 National Senior Olympics.
Team USA roster for Kamloops posted: nearly 300 entered
Jeff Brower over at usatfmasters.org, our new portal, has posted the complete roster of U.S. entrants for Kamloops worlds. See it here. I’ve been helping Bob Weiner (attending his first world meet) prepare a press release on the event, and I’m awed by the strength of our squad, which numbers 298 and includes Bill Collins, Mike Waller, Phil Raschker, Rita Hanscom, Kathy Martin, Becky Sisley, Jeanne Daprano, Christel Donley, Bill Murray and Nolan Shaheed. Nick Berra will be a beast in the middle distances, and Kathy is entered in about five indoor and outdoor events, including the half-marathon — a total of 21.5 miles on tap (if she doesn’t scratch.) I won’t be going, so please post your observations here in early March.
National Senior Games Assn. set to absorb USATF masters?
Ray Hoyt, director of national games and athlete relations for the National Senior Games Association, let the cat out of the bag yesterday. In the course of answering questions about 2010/2011 qualifying standards for the National Senior Olympics, he wrote me: “With regards to Track and Field, we are working with USATF masters on finalizing our long term agreement in the near future.” Further fueling suspicions that NSGA is engineering a friendly takeover of USATF Masters is this note I later got from USATF COO Mike McNees: “We’re having a conversation with Ray about building a cooperative relationship between the two organizations. We will hopefully be able to talk more definitively about that in the near future.” This could be the beginning of the end of masters track being a USATF stepchild. Stay tuned.
Sad news: Robert Thomas cancels his bus trip to Kamloops
Members of the Robert Thomas round-trip bus trip to the Kamloops world indoor meet already know this, but plans have gone bust. Robert writes: “I did cancel my bus. Dave (Provo) and I both had buses coming from Seattle to Kamloops. At the time, neither one of us had a full bus so I decided to cancel mine and forward people to Dave.” Robert says he didn’t want to get stuck with a half-full bus and be forced to raise rates.” Robert, a world champion long sprinter, is taking some folks in mini-vans, however, since “I had people that didn’t like Dave’s schedule for departure from Seattle and Kamloops.” David Lee Provo Jr. (also a champion sprinter and a Canadian) is still booking his bus trip, however. David writes: “I’ve still got a few seats. I know that there’s a ton of people who rented cars and had no idea that I even had a bus.” Read the rest of this post »
The Millrose Games 4×4 record-setters from Greater Philly TC
Dr. Cheryl Bellaire shares this great shot of her Greater Philadelphia TC team, which set an American Club record in the W50 4X400 at last Friday’s Millrose Games. Alison Suckling, Joan Affleck, Wendi Glassman and Cheryl ran 4:59.41, beating the Atlanta TC time of 5:02.25 set in 2008. Splits were Alison (73.9), Joan (76.9), Wendi (79.2) and Cheryl (69.4). What a gorgeous quartet! (And they’re getting used to the team shot drill. They combined last June for an outdoor 4×8 record.)
From left: Alison Suckling, Joan Affleck, Wendi Glassman and Cheryl Bellaire
Women sought for invitational 60m dash at Mid-Atlantic prep meet
Charmaine Roberts passes along word of an invitational 60-meter dash at Mid-Atlantic Track and Field Classic high school meet February 27-28 at the Prince George’s Sports and Learning Complex in Landover, Maryland (site of last year’s indoor nationals). The race is for women 40-49. If you’re interested, write to Thomas Jones. “The top eight seeded times will be chosen for this event,” Charmaine says. BTW, this meet isn’t to be confused with another Mid-Atlantic indoor meet March 7 in Concordville, Pennsylvania. Now go and show the kidlets how it’s done!
Al Oerter’s art museum opens, and Olympians give their support
Masters thrower Ed Burke sent a note to his Olympian friends and CC’d a copy to me (an honor in itself). Ed writes about the opening of Al Oerter’s Art of the Olympians Museum in Fort Myers, Florida: “Olympians, this is a project begun by Al Oerter and is being carried through to fruition by his wife of 25 years, Cathy. It honors the artistic talents of Olympians as it engages youth in the essence of Olympism. Got talent? Got energy? Want to display your work with your peers of the Olympiads? Contact Cathy Oerter.” Roald Bradstock, the British Olympian and artist, also was present. He wrote me: “Museum is really beautiful. It is a shame Al is no longer here to see the realization of his dream.” The museum Web site is gorgeous, too.
Cathy Oerter, Al's wife for 25 years, said: "It's a happy time. Every time I walk in the door, I smile." (Photo by Amanda Inscore)
Funky usatfmasters.org off to the races, redesigned by Jeff Brower
Our official portal is up and running. As noted two weeks ago, usatfmasters.org is live and online. But it now sports a new (but quirky) look, with fresh content. Jeff Brower, taking over from resigned webmaster Dave Clingan, has redesigned the site. Gone is the logo that featured miler Tony Young. Now the logo incorporates a trio of ghostly geezers. But the home page has a nice touch: It cycles through action shots. (To grok this, do Control-R or Command-R to refresh your browser.) And a news item solicits news!
Only one thing missing from the home page frame: an explicit link to USATF
