Marie-Louise Michelsohn takes 2 minutes off W65 10K record
Marie-Louise ran at Spokane nationals.
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Marie-Louise Michelsohn says conditions were chilly, “about 50 degrees (with a) scotch mist,” but had no problem demolishing the listed W65 American record in the track 10,000 yesterday. She clocked 44:47.58 at the USATF Pacific Association Open Championships at College of San Mateo, south of San Francisco. “The old record was 47:09.40 (by Masters Hall of Famer Toshiko d’Elia in 1995),” Marie-Louise says. “It wasn’t quite as fast as the 43:06 I ran two years ago but didn’t get credit for since the photofinish tape was taped over before a picture was printed. But it was sweet to run a record in the second half of my age-group. I was 67 1/2 on April 8.” She had two male runners in the race, she reports. “I was really concentrating on this race. Everybody at the race knew I was running at record pace and aiming for the record. The announcer was very helpful. He announced my splits and my lap times on the mike. It really helped me know right where I was. And he asked the crowd to cheer and help me in in my last two laps. It was great support. The paperwork is indeed all in order. Everyone was very professional. I have two copies of the finish photo. Someone took me around to get all the signatures. It was a wonderful experience.”
Nadine O’Connor goes back to the future: latest vault WR
Running pain-free at last and with help from an aiding breeze, Nadine O’Connor, 67, raised her own W65 world record in the pole vault yesterday to 3.13 meters (10-3 1/4) at the Southern California Striders Meet of Champions at Orange Coast College in Costa Mesa.  Her previous record was 3.07 (10-0 3/4) from 2008. But here’s the shocker: Nadine also beat her own W60 age-group record of 3.12 (10-2 3/4).  And the listed W55 world record is Phil Raschker’s 3.05 (10-0).  This is unprecedented in masters track: holding a W65 record superior to the W55 and W60 bests.  On the Age-Graded Tables, Nadine’s latest jump corresponds to an Open (age 20-30) mark of 6.55 (21-6). Her age-graded percentage is an impossible 127.24 percent — maybe a masters record. I didn’t shoot her jumps (drat!), but I got her relaxing afterward:
Carl Wallin, friend of masters track, retiring at Dartmouth
Carl Wallin ready to rock the ring again.
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Carl Wallin, a legendary field events coach at Dartmouth in New Hampshire and a 1989 world masters shot put champion, is retiring at the end of this season, and the big questions became: What becomes of the Dartmouth Relays, whose annual masters indoor component he began in the mid-1970s? And will he return to the ring himself? (His bio says: “At 6-3 and 245 pounds, he is still one of the most active coaches and competitors in the country.” He was M65 shot and weight throw champ at 2007 Orono nationals.) So I wrote Carl, and he went straight to the point: “I’m sure that Dartmouth will continue with the masters meets. I hope to be able to compete this summer. See you soon.” Cool! Can you imagine throwing against M65 Carl — and getting tips from the guy who coached world champion and Olympic medalist Adam Nelson? Congrats on your retirement, Coach! Now it’s your time to shine.
Christine Müller zaps own world record in W50 short hurdles
Europe must be track and field heaven. Latest proof is a meet they held in Basel, Switzerland, a week ago. Sprints and hurdles only. All age groups. Odds distances — including 60 meters, 150 and 300. And it was outdoors with some kind of IAAF connection! No wonder that 2008 IAAF Masters Athlete of the Year Christine Müller of Switzerland was so jazzed that she lowered her own world age-group record in the 80-meter hurdles. W50 Christine ran the short hurdles in 12.18, bettering her listed WR of 12.23 from last year. Imagine Eugene hosting a Hürden- und Sprintmeeting like Basel’s — where anyone could run.
Alisa Harvey cheers USATF choice for high-performance czar
Benita Fitzgerald Mosley: Oly champ
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Masters track may not benefit directly from USATF’s selection of Benita Fitzgerald Mosley as its new chief of sport performance, “responsible for overseeing all of USATF’s High Performance and Sport Science programs.” But if USATF gets more money and marketing, some resources might trickle down to masters. Benita is a University of Tennessee alumna, and it brought to mind a fellow Vol:  Alisa Harvey. I wrote Alisa for her reaction to Benita’s selection, and she replied: “It just so happens that I called to congratulate Benita yesterday morning after reading about her new position in the Washington Post. Benita lives in the adjoining town from me. I had spoken to her in person at my daughter’s District Track T&F Championships last Wednesday. I am thrilled to hear of her new position with USATF. Benita and I did attend the University of Tennessee. I just missed being her actual teammate since she graduated just as I entered, but she did train for the ’84 Olympic team in Knoxville during my freshman year.”
Richard Holmes, masters hurdler, coaching top-ranked prep
I’m probably naive, but I think masters athletes who coach have some kind of built-in advantage. While we desk jockeys toil for eight hours a day, coaches are outdoors training with their kids. One part-time coach is M40 national champion Richard Holmes. And his prize pupil is one of the best under-18 girl hurdlers in the world — Kori Carter, a junior at Claremont High School in stromectol Southern California. Kori is the nation’s top-ranked prep 100 hurdler (13.67) and 300/400 hurdler (41.09 and 59.89). See her in this video. I interviewed Richard by email recently, and he says: “High schools NEED good coaches! Just ask them. (But) most are so low in pay, that you must do it for the love of it.”
Tattoo on Richard’s shoulder shows a bulldog crossing a hurdle.
Another theory behind Landover debacle: Hy-Tek complexity
Andy Hecker, risking further USATF Dog Housedom, has written me about the Landover results and timing mess. His take? Blame the software underlying the timing operation, called Hy-Tek. It’s the industry standard, but it’s notoriously glitchy and hard to customize for masters meets. “I want this to be easy,” Andy concludes. “That way the function of meet management is an enjoyable experience, so people will put on more meets, and athletes can show up to have fun, without being bogged down by computer (software) driven restrictions.”
WMA swats down rogue report on 2012, 2013 championships
No surprise here. As noted two weeks ago, WMA has NOT chosen meet venues for the 2012 indoor and 2013 outdoor worlds. Today, the WMA Web site declared: “WMA has been made aware of some public statements made relating to World Championship awards for Indoor 2012 and Stadia 2013. These statements are neither authorized nor true. Championship awards will be decided upon only at the upcoming General Assembly in Lahti in August 2009.” Winston Thomas, WMA secretary (and unopposed for re-election) apparently was the one making this post. He blamed the erroneous information on a German masters track magazine and a German masters site, Annette’s Seite, which mentioned the 2012/2013 awards on April 29. But Porto Alegre, Brazil, is a candidate for 2013, as this Web page indicates. Now the question arises: Who in the powerful Eurovets organization is pimping for Porto Alegre? The EVAA calendar still lists Brazil as the “planned” meet host for 2013 worlds.
Sandy Pashkin running for World Masters Athletics office
Sandy Pashkin, multi-tasker and ex-runner.
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As George Mathews notes in a recent comment, USATF records czar Sandy Pashkin of Oregon is a candidate for vice president-stadia of World Masters Athletics. Her only rival at this point is Serge Beckers of Belgium. The election is at Lahti worlds this summer. Serge, in his late 40s, is a world-class short hurdler who annoyed Dexter McCloud at Clermont-Ferrand worlds last year. Serge, also a multi-eventer, has been on WMA’s Stadia Committee — which oversees conduct of WMA indoor and outdoor world meets — for about two years. He’s also the “stadia manager” on the Eurovets Technical Board of Managers. Sandy, a longtime member of the USATF Masters track Games Committee, would succeed Rex Harvey as stadia veep. Rex is running for WMA president at Lahti. A former USA team manager at worlds, Sandy has a reputation for being an organizational genius at big meets. But her baggage includes multiple failures on the records front.
Carmel chats up Aeron Arlin Genet, Marie-Louise Michelsohn
Pete Magill finally has some competition in the masters runner Q&A League. Carmel Papworth Barnum, the former editor of National Masters News, just posted a wonderful chat with W40 miler Aeron Arlin Genet. It’s No. 6 in a running series. The big news: Aeron, 41, says she’ll enter the masters women’s exhibition 1500 next month at the USATF open championships in Eugene. “This’ll be my first official masters race ever!” Aeron tells Carmel. “And it’s gonna be so exciting to run in front of the crowd at Hayward Field. Then in July we’re going to the Masters National Track meet in Wisconsin.” Theoretically, if Aeron dips under 4:32, she’ll automatically claim a W40 American record. A few days earlier, Carmel posted this insightful interview with record-holder Marie-Louise Michelsohn, 67, of New York. I love M-L’s feisty independence: “Val Barnwell has convinced me to do some push-ups but I only do them once in a while. I should do more. Everybody says to do core exercises. I don’t do them either.” Watch this space for more CPB interviews.
