Sumi Onodera-Leonard completes comeback: USATF honor
Everyone in Southern California knows Sumi Onodera-Leonard. Now the world will. Yesterday she was named USATF Athlete of the Week after setting two W80 world records at Landover nationals. This completes an incredible comeback from a near fatal auto crash in Arizona. Sumi has long suffered from hearing loss, but when the gun goes off, she takes off! She’s a tiny woman with the biggest heart in masters track, and this honor is well-deserved. Just wish USATF had noted her return from the near-dead.
Sumi Onodera-Leonard can hide within hurdles,
but not from our admiration or USATF recognition.
Snyder promises corrected Landover results in 2 weeks
Last night, USATF Masters T&F Chairman Gary Snyder publicly tackled the Landover results mess for the first time. He says results will be reposted next month, and “I have also initiated a complete review of procedures for the timing (of) future USA Championship meets including the option (of using) our own equipment and crew.” His entry began: “As many of you know there are some problems with the results from the USA Indoor Championships last weekend. The USATF Masters Track & Field Committee members who were at the meet are working to correct the results. Immediately after competing we all want to know what our time was, me too. It is disappointing if we do not know immediately. If the time is not on the display board we begin pacing the results area for the sheets. Did I run well? Did I make the finals? Is it a record?”
Landover’s legacy: World and American records lost forever?
For whatever reason, the timing operation at Landover nationals last weekend was a botch. Posted results still haven’t been fixed. Athletes are in a fog about their marks. One is Earl Fee of Ontario, Canada, among the greatest masters runners of our time (and author of the sensational book at left). He turned 80 the day he ran the 800 in Maryland. “There was no photo timing of my 800 age group 80-84, including the other competitors in my race,” Earl wrote me yesterday in reply to my query. “There was one hand-timer only. I was told my time was 2:50.0, which is 17 second below the old (world) record by Joe King. Joe finished second in 3:20, he says, in my race.” Earl says two USATF officials may be able to “salvage” his record. And he salutes folks who were “doing their best to help me.” But he says: “It seems the local Landover volunteers don’t have the experience to handle or organize a big meet like this without some problems.”
It’s the Eurovets’ turn — monster meet begins today in Italy
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You shouldn’t judge a track meet by its program. But the online version of the Eurovets indoor championships “competition book” is sensational. It’s 68 pages, with lots of information about countries entered. Long lists of athletes and their events. Gorgeous photography and design. The meet’s technical manual also is posted. Another model for major meets anywhere. But the proof is in the pudding. We await results, which we hope are timely and accurate. The meet lasts five days, so there should be plenty to savor. Lemme know if you see any especially great performances. Meantime, best of luck to our Euro friends, nearly 2,800 of them! If you’re into Twitter, the microblog, you can catch Annette Koop’s tweets from Ancona. Her Twitter site is here. (Does Twitter do instant English translation from German?)
Paging Jules Lucas, chief timer of Landover masters nationals
Jules Lucas was the chief timer at Landover nationals. His old Web site at R and R Timing in Maryland said his company’s mission “is to provide reliable, high quality track
& field timing & data management services. The job of effectively
managing track & field information during a meet is not easy. We pride
ourselves in providing a dependable service to Coaches and Meet Directors
enabling to focus on what really counts — the competition of the meet, rather
than the validity of the results.” According to the meet program, Jules was assisted last weekend by Quentin Wilson, who has coached a youth team in Maryland called the Columbia Express. Behind the scenes, USATF leadership is working furiously to straighten out the results and find a way to prevent similar breakdowns in the future. Gary Snyder, our blogging national chairman, has promised as such (privately so far). Stay tuned for more details. I’ve written to Jules and Quentin for their account of the problems.
Empire State Games are back: officially set for early June
New York masters athletes, rejoice! As telegraphed here, your Empire State Games are back. This note was sent to earlier participants: “The Empire State Senior Games are back on and will be held June 2 – 7, 2009 in Cortland! Entry deadlines: Individual entries – May 1, 2009. Team entries – April 24, 2009. Sport and Entry Information is now available on the Empire State Games website: www.empirestategames.org/senior. Entry booklets will not be mailed (all the information is on the Games website, including the entry form) to you unless you request one by calling one of these phone numbers: (315) 492-9654, (212) 866-2794, (518) 474-8889. Thank you, The Games Staff” What a relief! Go run, jump and throw.
Landover meet director invites questions, promises fixes
Craig Chasse, the Potomac Valley Track Club leader, was meet director for the Landover nationals, and he writes: “Let your bloggers know I will resolve any error they might find in the results.  They can send their event and details directly to me if they haven’t already done so.” His address is cchasse.acds@juno.com.  That’s brave of Craig — the least he can do. But the timing and results fiasco at our indoor nationals — with several world and American records at risk — needs to be fully understood and explained. Descriptions of the debacle  continue to pour in, including one by a high jumper: “There were 17 women doing the open high jump at the same time.  After the first 3-4 competitors were out, there was a conference among the officials that lasted almost 10 minutes.  Then the officials had to have a shorter conference every time the bar was raised.” Â
Reform records NOW! Track can use swimming as a template
Walt Reid of Tacoma, Wash., handles records and rankings for USMS and FINA.
Results botched at Landover nationals? Triage is under way
The hurdlers are outraged. Runners are up in arms. Even the high jumpers have questions. How much is wrong in the posted results of Landover nationals? M35 hurdler Don Drummond posted this comment today: “Hurdle results were not correct. I went to the Meet Manager who was performing the finish times to see a picture and he openly admitted that they did not have a photo and (there) were a lot of mistakes. I asked where the times came from and no answer, so these were probably hand times or just made up results.” Specifically, M40 Johnny Watson should not have been given a time of 8.14, an American record. Rod Jett’s listed AR of 8.22 “was not broken,” Don insists. Earl Fee, the great Canadian champion, ran the 800 in somewhere between 2:50 and 2:53 at age 80, but results say: “under review.” The listed M80 world indoor record is 3:07.66 by Joseph King. (Earl’s birthday is March 22, 1929, but he’s listed in the M75 results. Age as of Day 1 of the meet determines age group, but not records.)
Peter Taylor’s Landover memoir and masters T&F critique
When meet announcers finally become eligible for the Masters T&F Hall of Fame, Peter Taylor will be a first-ballot shoo-in. But in his latest report from the front, he’s a little forlorn, saying: “I didn’t have a very good meet at Landover, but I’m mature enough to accept that fact.” Of course, Bill Collins might say the same thing of his own efforts, since he suffered a rare loss in the 200 on Sunday to Oscar Peyton (by the slimmest of margins). Same for Nolan Shaheed, who lost another titanic 800-meter battle with his friend and rival Horace Grant. But when you’re in the elite ranks — of sprinting or announcing — small chinks loom large. Mere mortals would be thrilled with a silver at nationals. In this edition of his nationals report, however, Peter also reflects on the ongoing battle over how to ratify masters records. (BTW, videos from Landover are being posted here, including Val Barnwell’s amazing M50 WR in the 60.)
