Roadie Bill Rodgers among Masters Hall of Fame nominees
Bill Rodgers is 61.
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Nine women and 16 men are nominees for the USATF Masters Hall of Fame, according to the ballot sent by Norm Green to his Hall of Fame subcommittee. The Class of 2009 will be selected by a group that includes previous inductees, and they’re expected to pick 10. The Class of 2009 will be unveiled at the USATF annual meeting this December in Indianapolis. Marathon great (and masters roadie) Bill Rodgers — already a member of the National Track and Field Hall of Fame — isn’t the shoo-in you might expect. He’s up against such superstars as M70 sprinter Bob Lida, M50 high jumper Bruce McBarnette, M60 multi-eventer Joe Johnston, M80 multi-eventer Bill Daprano (hoping to join wife Jeanne, a 2003 inductee, in the Hall) and M90 sprinter Bob Matteson. Throwers Ray Feick and Ken Jansson have a good shot. Who do you like for the Hall (still only an imaginary place, since no physical location has been established)? My faves: Mary Harada and hurdle legend Charley Miller.
Click on ballot for a report on last year’s Hall of Fame class.
Records set at National Senior Games should be automatic
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A masters mole writes: “I note that there are a number of postings across the web concerning the validity of marks at the NSGA Nationals for record consideration. . . . You may be in a position to refer those with concerns to USATF Rule 262.3(a) that states ‘no record shall be acceptable unless it was made in an event that had been sanctioned by USATF, a member organization of USATF or another member Federation of IAAF by competitors eligible to compete under IAAF Rules.’ National Senior Games (NSGA) is a member organization of USATF and is listed as such in the USATF Governance Manual.” I’ve forwarded this note to records chair Sandy Pashkin, national masters chair Gary Snyder and others for comment and action. If this is the case, then Kay Glynn’s vault WR at the USATF Pacific Association meet in June 2008 also should be ratified, as well as any other record set at an “unsanctioned” USATF championship meet.
Smoking citation in USATF governance manual: NSGA counts for records.
September 18, 2009
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Pete Magill says ‘Drill, baby, drill’ in his latest training video
September 18, 2009
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Bruno Kimmel’s 100 WR for M75 almost defies imagination
On July 11, 2009, I was shooting sprinters at Oshkosh nationals, especially admiring my fellow Jayhawk, M70 Bob Lida. He outlegged Robert Whilden 13.58 to 13.68 in a wind-aided 100-meter final. Hard to fathom such speed at that age. I’d be a half-second behind! But what words describe what happened across the Atlantic the same day? At German nationals, 75-year-old Bruno Kimmel smashed a countryman’s world record in the 100, clocking a legal 13.54. That beat the listed M75 WR of 13.61 by Wolfgang Reuter. And it effectively erased Payton Jordan’s legendary hand-timed 13.4 from 1992. Bruno — born March 3, 1934 — is showing how speed persists well into the 70s. He later won the M75 title at Lahti, dashing 13.63 to lead a 1-2-4 German sweep (shown below). Now the race is on to see who will be the oldest man to run the 1 in sub-13. The current oldest appears to be Payton Jordan, who ran 12.91 at age 74. Incredible.
From left: Friedrich Ingenrieth, Rudolf Böckl, Alan Mellett (obscured) and Bruno.
Bubba Sparks takes mournful detour from Sydney to Swayze
Yesterday’s blog entry by Bubba “Heading Down Under” Sparks is a remembrance of his junior high teammate Buddy Swayze, better known as Patrick Swayze of “Ghost” and “Dirty Dancing” fame. Patrick died of cancer Sunday at age 57. Bubba writes: “I didn’t know that Buddy’s name was Patrick until I saw him in his first movie. Yep, THAT Patrick “Buddy” Swayze is the guy I learned how to pole vault with at Frank M. Black Jr. High School. I ran into him in Hollywood many years later by chance on the Paramount lot where I was with some friends who were actors in the Dynasty/Colby’s series as they were taping the wedding show. . . . He was my first vault hero.” Heroes are good. Who was your local track hero in school? Mine was hurdler Rhett Bray at Orange County’s Valencia High School in 1970, my alma mater. Rhett was the Tigers’ star hurdler when I was overcoming my fear of the highs. Watching him skim was a thrill.
If you like meet venue, tell ’em so! My love letter to PLNU
PLNU track overlooks Pacific
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Last Saturday, in my final meet of a memorable season, I ran the 200 at the San Diego Senior Olympics. Time wasn’t earthshaking — just 29.36 — but it was my fastest legal deuce in tres aГ±os. (I’m 55.) Later, while exchanging notes with meet director and announcer Dixon Farmer, he suggested that if I want the Senior Olympics to retain Point Loma Nazarene University as the San Diego Senior Olympic track venue, I should send the AD (athletic director) a note. Well, here it is. If you’re also a Point Loma fan, please consider sending Ethan Hamilton a similar note. I also CC’d the note to Steven Riddle, assistant AD for facilities. Or write any meet host whose event you appreciated. We do enough meet-bashing. Time for some meet-boosting.
EVAA Academy posts summaries of masters-athlete studies
Several years ago, the IAAF Web site began posting research papers about track and field and related issues. This year, the European Veterans Athletic Association (which I like to call Eurovets) began doing the same, but on a much smaller scale. Called the EVAA Academy, the list of abstracts is quite small. Five studies are summarized. But it’s a great idea. It could be a more valuable resource, however, if the full works were posted. A central location for medical and other research on masters tracksters would be a boon for the sport. If WMA doesn’t do this, EVAA is a suitable stand-in. I’ve posted or linked to dozens of such studies on this site (such as this one on masters motivations), but I haven’t listed them all on a single page. A chore for another day.
September 15, 2009
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Steve Peters’ sprint training attracts a convert in Arizona
Doug Thompson, my Finnish-speaking friend in Lahti, was so intrigued by Dr. Stephen Peters’ training routine he decided to give it a go. So out in Arizona, Doug is doing 100-meter repeats topped by a fast 300. He describes his first 5 weeks of this drill on our Forum. He summarizes it thusly: “Dr. Peters explained that his training regimen is to warm up for ten minutes, then run four 100-meter sprints of increasing intensity, with full recoveries, culminating in an all-out race-type effort. Then wait 30 minutes and run an all-out 300 or 400. His times for these reps are roughly 14.0, 13.5, 12.5, 11.5; and 36-38 for the 300. Do this three times a week — that’s it! No additional aerobic exercise, weight training or plyometrics.” Results so far appear good for Doug, an M50 half-miler. Actually, a variation of this workout is the core of Phil Campbell’s “Ready, Set, Go!” a book I reviewed in March 2002. It’s called the “Sprint 8 workout.” Just high-intensity stuff. My take: Anything that makes you sweat is all good. But watch out for hammie pulls on the last, fastest rep!
September 14, 2009
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Rita Hanscom misses 300 hurdles WR by less than a second
Despite hitting the next-to-last hurdle, W55 multi-eventer Rita Hanscom clocked 50.02 in the 300-meter hurdles yesterday at the San Diego Senior Olympics — and just missed joining the sub-50 club. In the W55 age group, the club has one member: world record holder Phil Raschker, who ran 49.14 at Orono nationals in 2002. It was Rita’s third try at the event. Her second try netted her Lahti gold five weeks ago. This time, she alternated lead legs near the end after going out in 17 steps between hurdles. It was a great attempt at a world record, made possible because Lahti short hurdles champion Thad Wilson (who ran a wonderful 45.02 at age 59), Terry Rowan and Steve Kleinstuber joined her race. (Three are needed to make it record-worthy). Another star of the meet, held in mid-70s temps at Point Loma Nazarene University, was Phil McConkey, 52, who won the 100 in a legal 12.17 and the 50 in a windy 6.54. Phil, new to masters track, is a familiar name to football fans. He helped the New York Giants win the 1987 Super Bowl. Phil said he got tired of rough-housing in basketball. Welcome to a safer sport, Phil! And welcome back to San Diego, where you starred in the first Holiday Bowl and also played for the Chargers (in 1989).
Frank Condon enjoys setting records, profile makes clear
M65 miler Frank Condon of Central California talks a lot about his records in this nice profile in his local paper. “I’m number one in the World Masters Track and Field at 800 meters (run) three years in a row,” Frank tells Mary Nugent of the Enterprise-Record newspaper. “I’m the only American in the top 20. This year I had the best time in the world.” But Frank also is klonopin frank about the folks who helped him reach his goals, noting the publisher of National Masters News — his coach. “I hired a world-class coach four or five years ago in Sacramento. I needed a coach to train properly. Randy Sturgeon coaches a number of people, and took me on. He e-mails me the workouts.” No mention of StemEnhance, though — a product Frank endorsed.
Frank at the 2007 Huntsman World Games in Utah.
