Berra, LeBourne and Shaheed ran Hartshorne miles with smiles
Nick Berra, Anselm LeBourne and Nolan Shaheed were among the men starring at Saturday’s Hartshorne races in Ithaca, New York. Nick won the M40 elite race, Anselm the M50 elite race and Nolan — well, he just shattered the M60 world indoor record with a 4:57. After the meet, I wrote all three, asking them about their race plans, their rabbits and what the whole experience was like. You’ll like their replies, which show some truly thoughtful gents — as well as incredible runners. Said Nick, speaking for most entrants: “Even if things had not gone my way, I still would have gone home with a huge smile on my face.” Read the rest of this post »
Commenters can have gravatars! (Stands for groovy avatars)
Just kidding. Gravatar means “globally recognized avatar.” It’s an image that accompanies any comment you post on any Forum or blog that has gravatar functionality. Check out my comment below, with a mug of moi. Currently, folks see artsy colored squares beside their comments. But by using the free Gravatar service, you can pick any image you want. (It doesn’t have to be a portrait. It can be a cartoon figure or any icon you’d like to represent you.) To create a gravatar, go here and sign up and follow the easy steps. Just another fun feature of WordPress.
Notice a change? Masterstrack.com migrates to new platform
At 9:37 a.m. today, this site moved from Movable Type to WordPress, a content management system and blog platform. Many of the changes are cosmetic, but my blog just became turbocharged. You’ll see. It’s the equivalent of trading in a VW for a Ferrari. A few bugs are being worked out, but I’m thrilled by my new digs and plan to roll out some great new features. (One is an improved hit counter, based at Quantcast.) I have a backlog of a dozen newsy nuggets to post, including interviews with a half-dozen stars of Saturday’s Hartshorne masters miles. That will come soon. I spent a day with my web-genius brother Al Stone in Santa Monica to accomplish this transformation. (But we still had fun, seeing “Avatar” and having brunch at Izzy’s deli.) Hope you have fun as well. Lemme know if you spot any glitches.
The other winners at Hartshorne: Cannon and de St. Croix
Nolan Shaheed set a world record at the Hartshorne miles Saturday, but he wasn’t the top miler there. Not according to the WMA Age-Graded Tables. One of the side contests at Cornell was for best age-graded percentage, and Nolan’s 4:57 at age 60 wasn’t No. 1. See this age-graded results sheet, prepared by Bill Quinlisk. The top male runner, on an age-graded basis, was David Cannon (M53 4:38.64 93.59%), just ahead of Nolan’s 93.17%. The top women were Maureen de St. Croix (W56 5:54.68 91.25%) and Coreen Steinbach (W58 6:06.76 90.74%).Tom Hartshorne notes that: “This year we gave unrestricted first, second and third ($100 – 50 – 25) to both men and women (for age-graded percentages). It is quite popular with the runners and I will augment the prize money next year.” Presumably, next year’s Age-Graded Tables will reflect the May 2010 revamp of the AGT.
Nick Berra (left) nips Tracy Lokken in the M40 mile. Look for Q&A with Nick soon.
Don Neidig posts second M65 world indoor record for January
Running at the same venue as his 60-meter WR, M65 Don Neidig yesterday beat the listed world indoor record for the 200-meter dash at the Cherry and Silver Invitational in Albuquerque. Official results again fail to note his mark. But Don posted a time of 25.54, which edged the listed WR of 25.59 by Germany’s great Guido Müeller in 2005. The listed American indoor record is 25.81 by Stephen Robbins at Clermont-Ferrand worlds in 2008. Steve also holds the M65 American outdoor record of 25.20, which now is in Don’s sights. On the Age-Graded Tables, Don’s 25.54 is worth an open (age 20-30) time of 19.9! Let’s see what Usain Bolt does in 42 years!
Nolan tells Hartshorne reporter: ‘I was thinking of Diane’
Aaron Munzer’s Ithaca Journal report on the Hartshorne masters miles is posted here. I was touched by this passage: “(Nolan Shaheed) mentioned Diane Sherrer, a longtime advocate of masters running and
columnist for this newspaper, who died last year, as the inspiration
for his win.“Diane didn’t make it here physically, you know, and as I was running, I thought of Diane,” he said.”
M60 Nolan Shaheed is stupendous at Hartshorne: sub-5 WR
Nolan Shaheed
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Pasadena’s Nolan Shaheed, injured before Lahti, couldn’t compete at worlds last summer. But he made up for that today. Flying cross country to run at the Hartshorne Memorial Miles at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, he took eighth in the M50-59 race — but shattered the listed indoor world record for M60 with a sensational 4:57.06. (Complete results are here.) The mark will count. The meet was USATF-sanctioned. The old mark was 5:01.76 by American Dan Conway in 1999. The M60 world outdoor record? It’s 4:54.07 by Holland’s Joop Ruter in 1993 — and well within Nolan’s reach. In fact, Nolan’s indoor mark now beats the listed American outdoor record of 4:58.2 by James Sutton in 1991! On the current Age-Graded Tables, Nolan’s 4:57 is worth an open time of 3:58.9.
Pat Manson: seeking 18-footer in four different decades
Pat Manson isn’t that old — a mere babe at 42 — but he thinks it would be “neat” to say he vaulted 18 feet in four different decades. The 2010s are in his sights now, thanks to the confidence boost he got at the Air Force Academy last weekend. Pat says: “They tell me the 17-7 jump was perhaps enough for an 18-footer, so that is
encouraging. I was on the right poles to go higher, anyway.” In a wide-ranging interview conducted by email, Pat shows he’s lost no enthusiasm for the event. (Actually, I shot him five or six questions, and he went to town.) Most interesting reply of all: “Perhaps soon I’ll try some other events for fun, but not now.” (That’s like Liberace saying he’d like to play trombone.) Anyway, check out his note to me from Superior, Colorado.
Pat is so old they didn’t have color film when he was elite.
World Cuppin’? You’re invited to S. African masters nationals
Pam and Stan Immelman in South Africa send along this gracious note: “If any USA Masters are contemplating attending the World Cup (soccer tournament) in South Africa in June, they may wish to come a month earlier and participate at our nationals in Bellville, a suburb of Cape Town! Even though it will be approaching autumn, the weather in Cape Town is still superb at that time of the year and besides the weather, there is a lot more on offer — pristine beaches, good food, wine, lovely scenery at good prices! On top of all that, athletes would be able to enjoy the build-up to the World Cup! Our website www.mastersathletics.org.za will be posting details within the next month or two.” Cool! I can’t make it this year, but if you attend, tell Pam and Stan hi for me!
What’s Geb gotta do to get WMA marathon world record?
I know, I know. We don’t cover masters marathoning. But WMA’s epic scandal of ignoring legitimate road marks is ongoing. Latest reminder: Haile Gebrsellasie’s world open record of 2:03:59 — at age 35 — is still nowhere to be found on the World Masters Athletics site. Geb turns 37 in mid-April, and today he won the Dubai Marathon in 2:06:46 — still better than WMA’s listed WR of 2:07:12 by Carlos Lopes in 1985. It’s his fourth mark under Lopes’ since turning 35. Geb would have gone faster but for a back problem. How’s this for a masters complaint: “I was watching TV and I slipped into an awkward position which meant I had to sleep in a different way. I normally sleep on my stomach but I had to sleep on my back. When I woke up I found my disc was troublesome and in a bad way and I still cannot bend.” Looks like WMA can’t bend either. Any chance an IAAF world record can be allowed to count in the WMA universe?
Five months after turning 35, Geb finished the first sub-2:04 marathon in Berlin.
