Blog post taken down; my mistake and my apologies to all
Early this morning, I posted an entry about the USATF ledgers from 2008 that showed how much various committees paid officers and subcommittee chairs. I mistakenly said these folks were subject to the same Code of Ethics prohibitions that Dave Clingan was when USATF clawed back $2,500 of a $4,500 check he was sent. Turns out I didn’t understand the difference between reimbursable expenses and honoraria. The USATF Code of Ethics is a little dense, and I was denser. My apologies to everyone involved.
Vaulter as victim: USATF tells 94-year-old to take flying leap
Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor? Hell no! USATF’s decision to sweep aside records set at the National Senior Games is considered a closed book. But not to me. USATF is picking on the wrong guy. It’s dissing the wrong superstar. I’m talking about 94-year-old Don Pellmann, whose pole vault WR at Palo Alto was chucked like so much moldy leftovers from Turkey Day. Sandy Pashkin, our official records-rejecter, told me at Oshkosh that one of the reasons she’s so picky about rules being followed is that she felt an allegiance to existing record-holders. She wanted to make sure their marks weren’t overridden without solid cause. Right. But in the process, she (and others who support her) ignore the interests of legitimate would-be record holders like Don. Ned Pellmann, one of Don’s sons, sent me a note that bespeaks the pain of being denied a record because of a nonsensical technicality beyond his control.
Don Pellmann, photographed by Katie Leighton in Palo Alto, deserves better.
Reynaldo Brown recounts biggest high: beating kidney failure
Reynaldo Brown’s greatest leap wasn’t the 7-3 he straddled in September 1968 to make the Olympic team at age 17. It wasn’t the 7-0 1/4 he cleared at Mexico City to take fifth behind the gold and silver of teammates Dick Fosbury and Ed Caruthers. His greatest effort came several years ago while hospitalized with kidney failure. After hearing a doctor say: “I hope this guy is still here in the morning,” Rey vowed to jump out of bed and begin training for his life. A living legend and my schoolboy hero, Reynaldo gained fame for his Compton High School exploits of the late 1960s. But his recent life isn’t as well-known. At the Southern California Striders annual awards banquet November 29, guests including fellow Olympians Caruthers, Dwight Stones and John Carlos heard him tell his story with humor and humility. See my photo gallery of the event at the Foxfire restaurant in Anaheim Hills.
Reynaldo, who jumped 5-6 in 2009, has beaten cancer, cardiac and renal failure.
Huntington Beach HS in SoCal has series of all-comers meets
It’s subfreezing in many parts. But now is when a masters’ fancy lightly turns to thoughts of January all-comers meets. One such series is at Huntington Beach High School, south of Los Angeles. It’s a hand-timed affair, but the price is right: $5 per event. And masters sprint star Doug Smith calls the new track there “terrific.” Doug writes: “Thought some masters would like to enter these, particularly if they plan to compete in Kamloops in March. The coaches at this high school became very interested in having masters enter, especially after I told them that the World Masters’ Indoor Champs were being held in Canada this coming season.” Indeed. If you can’t make it to SoCal next month, look for all-comers meets in your area. Many can be found at Andy Hecker’s legendary listing of all-comers meets nationwide. The current list is dated, but most are annual affairs. Write the contact person listed.
USATF COO tells why Dave Clingan didn’t get full payment
A major reason for Dave Clingan’s resignation from all USATF committees was a holy hassle over getting paid for his work on a stand-alone, independent USATF Masters T&F Web site. USATF budgeted $4,500 for this project and Mike McNees, the “masters advocate” within the national office, signed off on this. But when time came to pay Dave for this work, USATF Chief Financial Officer Gina Miller balked, citing a little-known provision in the USATF Code of Ethics limiting such payments to $2,000. Despite offers of creative bookkeeping, Dave decided not to fight. Mike, the USATF COO, emailed his explanation to Bob Weiner and CC’d me, Gina, Andy Martin and USATF Masters T&F Treasurer Carroll DeWeese. It is reprinted below.
New rules, deadlines for therapeutic use exemptions in WMA
TUEs, or therapeutic use exemptions, are fig leafs under which World Masters Athletics allows athletes to compete at certain meets if they take banned drugs under a doctor’s care. Even though very few folks ever get dope-tested at world masters championships, some athletes submit TUEs to be on the “safe side.” Now there are new policies regarding TUEs, which of course aren’t mentioned on WMA’s Web site (except as a dead link to the TUE form) but appear elsewhere, especially the German federation site. And WADA, the world drug police, has issued its latest list of no-no’s. Check out this PDF. So don’t sweat this too much. Just be aware of the new banned drugs.
Masters indoor exhibition events: men’s 1000, women’s 1500
Mark Cleary, coordinator of the Masters T&F Invitational Program, reports on the exhibition events he’ll organize for the USATF national indoor open championships February 27-28 in Albuquerque, New Mexico: “The indoor events are 1000 meters for men and 1500 meters for women. The outdoor events will be finalized shortly.” He says he’s off to club cross country nationals this weekend in Kentucky and he’ll try to get details on qualifying standards posted to the masters invitational page next week. Last year in Boston, the events were men’s 1500 and women’s 400. In 2008, it was men’s 60 and women’s 400. In 2007: men 800, women 800. In 2006: men 200, women 200. In 2005: men 400, women mile. In 2004, men 1000, women 1000. In 2003, men 3000, women 200. In 2002: men mile, women 400. In 2001: men mile, women mile. And the first year, 2000: men 200, women 200. So I guess we should count on sprints in 2011.
Dave Clingan resigns from USATF Masters T&F committees
Several years ago, my friend and co-webmaster Dave Clingan announced his retirement from running, citing severe knee issues. Turns out that was premature. He eventually returned to world-class middle-distancing and made the M55 finals in the 800 at Lahti last summer. But his latest retirement announcement is irrevocable, he tells me. And it’s a huge loss to our sport. Here’s the note he sent this morning: “Dear friends and colleagues: I need to let you know that I am giving up all of my administrative, support and volunteer responsibilities with USATF and the Masters Track and Field Committee, effective immediately. This includes MTF webmaster, awards chair, and support roles in the media, rankings and invitational committees.”
Dave (far left) worked hard to make the finals in Lahti 800
— but not as hard as he toiled for USATF Masters Track & Field.
USATF posts Final Approved Rule Package; bylaws await
The traditional scorecard of rules changes (or rules rejections) is now posted on USATF’s Web site. See the PDF file here. Still to come is the final wording of the bylaws changes, which were approved by voice vote yesterday at the Indy annual meeting. It’s possible that some of the bylaws were modified before the “unanimous” voice vote. So I’m not ready to celebrate a rule that allows automatic transfer between associations if you live within 100 miles of the destination association. One notable change came in masters LDR: “In Track and Field and Race Walking, the Masters classification shall be limited to athletes who are at least thirty-five (35) years old on the first day of the meet. In Long Distance Running, the Masters classification shall be limited to athletes who are at least forty (40) years old on
the first day of the meet.” This is at odds with WMA, but U.S. men ages 35-39 men can still run in WMA nonstadia events.
USATF also adopted new WMA hurdle and implement specs as shown above.
New German/Dutch social networking site targets throwers
Masters are a big part of the mix of lampis.net — yet another social network for trackfolk. Actually, this site is all about the throws. It includes some instructional videos and several dozen members already. Its members are mainly Dutch and German, including M60 champion Axel Hermanns of Germany, who apparently is the founder as well. He has a sense of humor about the project, telling the Koops in an e-mail: “And I’m certainly no computer and / or Internet freak.” Then good! Neither are we (hehehehehe). Best of luck, Axel and friends.
