Help vote Earl Fee into Canada’s Walk of Fame, their own Oscars
"The Great" Earl Fee
Oscar nominees were announced yesterday, and masters track was snubbed again. But in Canada, Earl Fee has a shot at stardom. Writes Doug Smith from Ontario: “Canada’s Walk of Fame recognises the achievements of exceptional Canadians once a year at a star-studded Academy Awards-like show broadcast on TV. Recent inductees include singers Anne Murray and Brian Adams, director James Cameron, actors Michael J. Fox and Kim Cattrall, wheelchair athlete Chantal Petitclerc, NBA player Steve Nash, etc. We think that Earl Fee more than deserves to be inducted in Canada’s Walk of Fame. . . . so we invite you to visit canadaswalkoffame.com/nomination.”
Read the rest of this post »
Sacramento nationals will give distance runners, jumpers a break
Bob Burns, who’s helping promote the 2010 Sacramento masters nationals (and 2011 worlds), has confirmed what some folks have noticed on the meet site: Distance runners won’t have to race in the hottest parts of the July meet. Bob writes: “You’re correct that all races 1,500 and (over) will be run in the morning. Generally speaking, all races 1500 or longer will be in the early morning and every effort will made to have oldest age groups run at the coolest times. Some distance races can be run Thursday night as well.” Read the rest of this post »
Shabunin shatters Coghlan M40 world record in 1500 with 3:44.39
Vyacheslav Shabunin
Only a matter of time before we see a sub-4 mile outdoors for M40. Here’s the news from David Monti: “Irishman Eamonn Coghlan, who lost his record for the most Wanamaker Mile wins at the Millrose Games to Bernard Lagat last Friday in New York, surrendered another record yesterday. Running in the Russian Under-23 Indoor Championships in Moscow on Monday, 40 year-old Vyacheslav Shabunin placed fourth in the 1500m in 3:44.39, toppling Coghlan’s previous 40-and-over best of 3:45.3 set in New York City on Feb. 26, 1993. . . . Shabunin is the Russian record holder for 1500m both indoors and outdoors, with career best times of 3:36.68 and 3:32.28, respectively.” On the Age-Graded Tables, the Russian’s mark is equivalent to an open (age 20-30) time of 3:30.6. (The real indoor WR is 3:31.18 by Hicham El Guerrouj.) The outdoor WR for M40 1500 is 3:44.06 by Jim Sorensen in 2007.
Christel Donley sets U.S. shot record at masters hep championships
While the rest of us were snuggled in warm jammies sipping hot chocolate, two dozen masters multi-eventers, including two women, chugged around the track over the weekend at the Tarble Athletic and Recreation Center of Carthage College in Kenosha, Wisconsin. They competed in the USATF Masters Indoor Heptathlon Championships. The event — held in January instead of the usual March — included (on Saturday) the 60-meter dash, long jump, shot put and high jump and (Sunday) the 60-meter hurdles, pole vault and 1000 (for men) and 800 (for women). Whew! Men’s results are here, and women’s results are here. Champions included M70 Emil Pawlik, M55 Bill Murray and W55 Kay Glynn, who turns 57 this week. The oldest entrant was Bill Daprano, 82. The other female entrant, Christel Donley, didn’t finish Day 2 but managed to set a W75 American indoor record in the shot, throwing the 3-kilo spheroid 7.09 meters (23-3 1/4) to beat the listed record of 6.94 (22-9¼) by Gloria Krug in 2008.
Kay Glynn of Iowa (left) and Christel Donley of Colorado made the trek north.
Millrose videos show men’s and women’s 4×4 relays, Willie Gault
Kimiko Nakatake, our masters high jump friend, was at last Friday’s Millrose Games and shot video of the masters events, including both 4x4s and the Super 60 with Willie Gault. You need a Facebook account to view these, but it’s not hard to sign up. Here is the masters men’s 4×4. Here is the masters women’s 4×4 (with Charmaine Roberts burning an incredible leg for Athena TC). And here is the Super 60, which Willie would have won had it been 70. Thanks, Kimmy!
Someone trying to scam Lahti entrants with fake invoice
WMA Secretary Winston Thomas of Britain has posted a disturbing note on the WMA Web site: “It had been brought to the notice of WMA that athletes who had paid for copies of the results booklet from the 2009 Stadia Championships in Lahti are now being invoiced for an extra payment of €25.00 . . . . Please note that this was not authorised by WMA or told to WMA before hand, and I have been asked to confirm that any such invoice to athletes should not be paid, but should be discarded.”
Here's the fake invoice that Winston wants y'all to ignore.
Italian site interviews world’s fastest masters photographer
I wish it were me. But no. The world’s fastest masters shooter? That would be Tom Phillips of Britain, a Lahti gold medalist (in the 4×1) and M55 sprint finalist who recently gave a nice interview to the Italian track site Web-atletica. I sympathize with Tom when he says he’s torn between taking pictures and taking warmups starts. He also says: “I have worked out some good “warm down” routines that allow me to recover and take photos.” I have to learn those!
Tom (left) battled Canada's Kerry Smith in the 200 semis at Lahti worlds.
Lagat’s 3:56 mile at Millrose not quite a world age-group record
In a comment, Chuck Shields asked if Bernard Lagat’s 3:56.34 mile victory in Friday’s Millrose Games was an M35 world indoor record. Bernard turned 35 in mid-December, so it’s a great question. But the answer is no. In checking the IAAF Top Lists for recent years, I found an indoor mile mark of 3:53.18 for Kenya’s Laban Rotich, when he was 36. That’s high on the all-time list, so I’m betting it’s the record. At the moment, WMA’s indoor records don’t even list an M35 mile record. (The page lists M35 records for every other event. So go figure.)
Bernard becomes the new Chairman of the Boards (a misnomer, since wooden boards aren't used anymore at Madison Square Garden).
Read the rest of this post »
Indoor world bests galore: Mile to Monica Joyce, 2/4 to Guido Müller
Pete Magill’s blog shares details of a W50 world indoor mile record of 5:08.65 by Monica Joyce on Friday. On Saturday, M70 All-Galaxy sprinter Guido Müller of Germany went deeply sub-60 for the 400 indoors, clocking 59.48, and also took down his own world indoor record in the deuce, dashing 26.88. (His previous records were 26.92 and 59.92, both from 2009.) It’s getting harder and harder to find a “soft” record anywhere in masters track. And not to be overlooked: Germany’s Christel Happ raised her W80 high jump world record to 1.08 meters (3-6 1/2), according to the Koops’ Web site. Her previous record was 1.00 (3-3 1/4). And last but not least, M50 triple jumper Wolfgang Knabe went 14.11 meters (46-3 1/2) in Hanover last weekend to crush the listed indoor WR of 13.76 (45-1 3/4) set 20 years ago by Finland’s Stig Backlund. Wolfgang’s series (see results here) also includes jumps of 13.94 and 13.90! Oh, mama!
German Ritte comes farthest to jump highest at Pole Vault Summit
M55 superstar Wolfgang Ritte of Germany won the masters vault at the National Pole Vault Summit yesterday in Reno, clearing 4.3 meters (14-1 1/4). Complete results are here. Nearly three dozen masters took part. His attempts at a world record 4.45 (14-7 1/2) fell short. (Wolfie already holds the indoor WR of 4.40/14-5 1/4 from 2009.) Here’s a video clip of his third attempt.
