Soon-to-be board member of NSGA offers critique of meet
Jerry LeVasseur competed at the National Senior Games last month — as he has for nearly 20 years. But unlike other athletes, he will soon have a place at the table. He will join the NSGA board as its only runner sometime this year. He wrote me that it’s “very disappointing and an embarrassment that the NSG track event was not santioned. There have been many records set and accepted in the past. The NSGA Board and staff are good people and want to do it right . . . The games committee is working on guidelines to give to the LOC to make the games better and consistent. Other venues were well run. I have emailed the board to look at the comments on masterstrack.com. I hope this will spark discussion to improve and not let this happen again.” Jerry wrote an article for National Masters News, and I’m printing it here as well. “I hope that athletes won’t write the NSG off but will offer suggestions to improve them,” Jerry says. “There are a number of world-class athletes that support the games.”
USATF brass made aware of masters athlete advocacy group
Dexter McCloud, an M45 hurdler from Georgia, helped Stephanie Hightower get elected president of USATF last winter in Reno. Now he’s helping Stephanie get up to speed on issues raised by Anselm LeBourne’s masters athlete advocacy group, launched in Lahti. In a note to the group, Dexter writes: “Part of the new Strategic Plan for the Board of Directors will help to
address our issues. Part of my responsibility via Stephanie’s
direction is to work on the tactical steps to achieve the vision of the
Plan. I said all that to say this: I will certainly do what I can to
make sure the issues you raised remains on Stephanie’s radar (in fact,
I copied her on this reply).” Dexter also says Robert Thomas will have the ear of USATF COO Mike McNees, our official “masters advocate” in Indy.
Jerry Bookin-Weiner posts pics from Portland throws meet
USATF throws maven Jerry Bookin-Weiner sends word of two online photo albums from the masters national throws championships in Portland, Oregon. He writes: “There are a couple of guys in the UWP album whose names I didn’t know. Someone please let me know who they are so I can label their pix.” Check out this Photobucket site for throws pentathlon shots. Check out this second gallery for ultraweight pentathlon pictures. Great job, Jerry! (He can be contacted here.)
Mark Landa heaves weight on way to one of his several M35 titles.
Italian sprinter is latest to launch rebel masters movement
Vincenzo Felicetti,
an M60 sprinter from Italy, won three gold medals at Lahti worlds. Now he wants to win something else: more support for Italian masters from his national federation. In Anselm LeBourne’s latest note about the U.S. masters advocacy group, he writes: “I want to thank Robert (Thomas) for bringing to our attention a similar movement by an Italian masters group. . . . So we are not by ourselves. I guess the movement may have just gone international.” In a letter to his federation’s president, Vincenzo writes: “This is a historical moment with little happiness for our Italietta, chaos at the political level, confusion in the choices, a fall of values, low morale and the economic conditions of the population.” His full letter, translated (poorly) from Italian, appears below, as well as an update from Anselm.
Vincenzo Felicetti anchors Italy to gold in the 4×4. He also won the 200 and 400.
Anatomy of a debacle: NSG indifference to sked concerns
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In August 2008 — a year ahead of the National Senior Games — Dr. David Janson of Ohio, an M55 sprinter, began writing to NSG officials about the 2009 meet schedule, seeking info for travel planning. Later, he became concerned about the crowding of sprint events. After several exchanges, he got this reply from someone writing under the address intern@2009seniorgames.org, who wrote on September 30, 2008: “The 2009 Senior Games Track and Field competition is following the format of most all masters and Senior Games Track and Field meets. Once the 2009 Senior Games participant numbers for each event are decided by April or May the event time formats will be set in place. The Competition Manager will then make an evaluation to determine that the safety and well-being of all participants will not be at risk because competition be run too close after. These participants will be allowed sufficient rest in between competition.” We know how that turned out. Badly. Rest was promised but not provided.
Dragutin Topic’s 7-7 jump is highest M35 mark on record
While poking around the IAAF Top Lists for notable masters marks, I came across a previously unreported high jump of 2.31 (7-7) for Serbia’s Dragutin Topic, now 38. This beats the listed world age-group record of 2.27 (by Dragutin on 7/7/07) and also the unratified M35 best of 2.30 by American Charles Austin. Dragutin didn’t make the final at the IAAF meet in Berlin, but he was one of many 35-and-older athletes at worlds. How many masters-age entrants competed in Berlin? Take a guess. Two dozen? three dozen? Way off. According to the IAAF Berlin database, 84 athletes over 35 ran, jumped and threw at IAAF worlds, including 11 over 40! Many you know, such as M35 Derek Miles and W35 Stacy Dragila, U.S. vault stars. The oldest was 48-year-old Bulgarian thrower Ellina Zvereva. In any case, Dragutin’s mark, made July 28 at Kragujevac, Serbia, should be checked out by WMA for possible record recognition.
USATF’s Snyder seeks ‘middle ground’ on records set at NSG
Gary Snyder, national masters chairman of USATF, sent this note today: “I thought it would be helpful to provide an update on the NSG situation. I was informed that the meet was
not sanctioned last week by Sandy Pashkin, who began processing record forms and
was told by the USATF National Office that a sanction was not applied for. I contacted the co-meet directors for confirmation and both of the co-meet directors stated a sanction was not obtained. We all know that the rules state no sanction, no record. I plan to confer with key members of the Masters Track & Field National Committee and the National Office to find some middle ground to help the athletes.”
Ken Weinbel honored at National Throws Championships
Ken Weinbel was the USATF Masters Track and Field Committee chairman in the late 1990s, and he took a lot of guff (from me) in a day when I wasn’t up to speed on his powers and organizational limits. But Ken was upfront with me at all times. In recent years, he’s been battling various ailments. But he’s still hanging in there, and he must have been mightily heartened by being honored at this month’s masters national throws championships. A trophy was named for him — the perpetual Ken Weinbel Outstanding Ultraweight Pentathlon Athlete Award (presented in absentia to M60 Tim Edwards).
George Mathews (right) congratulates Ken Weinbel on trophy in Ken’s honor.
More vault world records vanish in USATF-sanction swamp
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Flo Meiler and Don Pellmann came away from this month’s National Senior Games pleased and proud — both having broken world records in the pole vault for their age groups. In Palo Alto, Flo went 6-7 at age 75 and Don went 5-1 3/4 at 93. But like Kay Glynn’s never-to-be-WR in 2007, set at a USATF association meet in nearby Los Gatos, Flo and Don’s marks were made in the Bermuda Triangle of vaulters. Their records won’t be accepted for the same reason: The meet lacked a USATF sanction. How can a major national event featuring dozens of USATF officials and thousands of entrants bungle such a simple detail? I’m still seeking answers.
Latest gallery features 4x4s at Lahti: our best and brightest
Richard Rubenis of the Telford AC may have been the shortest M35 sprinter at Lahti. But he must have felt 9 feet tall after anchoring Britain to the 4×4 gold medal at the world masters championships this month. The love he got from his mates, shown in my latest photo gallery, says it all about this meet: serious fun, joyful exhaustion. Pride and pain. I focused mainly on Americans in this gallery — all about the 4x4s — but also feature the M70 and W45 world record quartets from Germany (with my heroes Guido MГјller and Annette Koop). The gamut of emotions of the long-sprint relays also is reflected in the faces of emotional Brits and patriotic Americans. Check it out, and use the slide-show function. Write me if you’d like a high-resolution image.
Richard Rubenis is target of celebratory dousing after anchoring M35 winners.
