Rita Hanscom reprises 1973 ‘Battle of the Sexes’ on track
In 1973, 55-year-old Bobby Riggs challenged 29-year-old Billie Jean King to a tennis match in Houston. BJK spanked old Bobby good. Yesterday at San Diego’s old Balboa Stadium, 54-year-old Rita Hanscom had a sprint rematch with a 38-year-old male co-worker who used to play wide receiver in his prep football days. Guess who won? Yeah, the older lady outlegged the younger man. But unlike the 1973 “Battle of the Sexes,” this was done as a fund-raiser between two good friends. Here’s the complete story by my Union-Tribune colleague Don Norcross.
Family opts against funeral for masters icon Payton Jordan
Payton Jordan’s friends and admirers would fill L.A. Memorial Coliseum. But his family has opted against a funeral for Payton, who died three weeks ago. According to this newspaper account, “The family of the late Payton Jordan has decided to not hold any funeral services — honoring Jordan’s wishes, said his daughter Cheryl Melville. . . Melville said athletes Jordan coached have discussed holding an observance to celebrate Jordan’s life in the Stanford University area, where he used to coach. There are no definite plans made.” If anyone knows who might be organizing such a celebration, please let us know!
Can Birger Ohlsson push Tony Young to 1500 indoor WR?
Tony Young is flying cross country this weekend to compete in the masters exhibition 1500 at the USATF indoor championships in Boston. He’s in shape, we know from his recent 4:13 mile and 1:55 half-mile clockings on the oversized track at the University of Washington. Can he replicate those efforts Sunday afternoon on the 200-meter track at Roxbury Community College? The listed M45 indoor world record for 1500 is 4:02.24 by Spain’s Jesus Borrego in 2008. The listed American record is 4:04.80 by Ken Sparks way back in 1990. A 4:13 mile is worth a 3:56 for the 15. So Tony should be in kissing distance of the WR. Fortunately, he’ll be pushed (or pulled) by Sweden’s Birger Ohlsson, a 40-year-old cross counntry champ who ran the 800 last year in 1:53.94 and an indoor 800 in 1:55 last month at the Armory. The women’s exhibition at Boston is the 400, with no obvious favorite. Here’s Birger, BTW:
Would you like Joe@usatf-masters.org as an e-mail address?
Alan Roth was edged by our Willie Banks for a seat on the USATF Board of Directors, but Alan is still in the game — at least in the chatfest known as the USATF Associations listserve on Yahoo Groups. Yesterday, Alan was adding his $.02 to a debate over CEO Doug Logan’s goal of growing USATF membership by 30 percent (to well over 110,000). And Alan has a great idea! He wrote: “I think that offering special e-mail addresses to members would make membership more attractive to those who want to show their participation in the sport. Addresses such as @usatf-coach.org, @usatf.official.org, @usatfrunner.org, @usatf-athlete.org, @usatf.eliteathlete.org, @usatf.sprinter.org, etc. would probably help add to our membership.”
Karla Del Grande, Canadian half-milers go crazy — again
Doug Smith reports from Ontario: “Three Canadian (age-group) records were broken at Sunday’s Athletics Ontario Senior Championships at the Toronto Track & Field Centre. W55 Karla Del Grande continued her assault on the record book with a 28.34 in the 200m. She broke Diane Palmason’s 14-year-old record of 30.33 and Karla was running in the not-the-fastest Lane #2. (The listed W55 world indoor record is Phil Raschker’s 27.81 from 2003.) Tom Tushingham held the M45 Canadian record of 2:03.19 in the 800 that he set at the Ontario Masters Indoor Championships in 1987. The mark stood for 22 years until last month.”
Oshkosh event schedule now locked in; book your flights
Almost making good on a promise made at the Reno convention, masters Chairman Gary Snyder has announced that the day-by-day event schedule at the USATF National Masters Outdoor Championships in Oshkosh is now posted here. In other words, you can find out which day of the four-day meet you’ll need to be there for your events. In past years, such a schedule has often been a mystery until late spring or summer, handicapping folks who want to make specific travel plans. Of course, the “standard time line” for advance notice of schedules approved by the USATF Masters T&F Committee in Reno stipulated the following:
Alistair Dunlop falls short of M55 indoor world record in 800
The second-oldest WMA world indoor record for 800 meters is 2:08.15 by M55 Reginald Phipps of Great Britain in January 1999. (The oldest is an M65 mark by Canadian Earl Fee in 1994.) But Alistair Dunlop had a great try at the M55 record Saturday at the Scottish Masters Indoor National Championships at Glasgow’s Kelvin Hall. Alistair clocked 2:09.99, according to this local newspaper report. Still, it’s amazing — corresponding to an open time of 1:48.36 on the Age-Graded Tables. He was scheduled to run the mile Sunday, but I haven’t seen results. In any case, congrats to Alistair. His 1500 world record from January is remarkable.
Videos flash back to deuces at 2008 masters indoor nationals
Derek Lau writes of the upcoming Landover indoor nationals: “I hope everyone is pumped up for this year’s meet.” No question he was impressed with last year’s in Boston. Derek, of aideM Media Solutions Inc. in Pennsylvania, has posted 20 videos showing the 200-meter finals in all men’s and women’s age groups at the 2008 USATF Masters National Indoor Championships. A month ago, he posted clips of the 60-meter finals from Boston. As usual, I’m amazed by the likes of M80 Bill Melville and M55 Bill Collins, whose 23.63 would have won the M40 and M50 and taken second in M45.
Pete Magill launches a runnerpalooza-great masters blog!
Who needs National Masters News? Masters distance runners now have where to buy cenforce a rock ’em, sock ’em online home that puts NMN to shame. M45 fluffystud Pete Magill of South Pasadena, a many-times national cross country champ and distance ace on the track, has crafted a Web site https://www.faychildrensclinic.com/clomid/ with great and magical content. I’m awestruck. Featuring W35 steeplechaser Grace Padilla dancing a drill in the logo (below), Pete’s blog is about a week old. Yet it already has incredible profiles/interviews (and pictures!)В of Thom Hunt, David Cannon, Michelle and Dennis Simonaitis, David Olds, Padilla, Tony Young, Tania Fischer, Paul Aufdemberge, Ceci Hopp St. Geme, Christian Cushing-murray, Carmen Ayala-Troncoso and Nolan Shaheed. Yowza! Pete, also a coach, shares his own throw-away-the-stopwatch theories of distance training. If he can keep up this furious pace, he’ll own the universe! Great work, Pete!В Stay hungry!
В
Chairman Gary picks Brower, Funkhouser to lead panels
Bob Fine died more than two months ago while jogging in the Reno dawn, and today USATF Masters T&F Committee Chairman Gary Snyder announced Bob’s successor as chairman of the USATF Masters Race Walk Committee — Ray Funkhouser, a former masters Race Walker of the Year. (Gary doesn’t mention who will assume Bob’s role as chairman of the important Law & Legislation Committee.) At the same time, Gary also named USATF Masters T&F Secretary Jeff Brower of Texas — also the Web site liaison to usatf.org — to replace Bob Cahners of Florida as point man in charge of All-American Standards. “The Committee would like to thank Bob for his past contributions,” Gary wrote. Of course, other vacancies exist in the Masters T&F Committee, including Southeast regional coordinator and a bunch of association chairs.
