Karla Del Grande grabs W55 world indoor record in 400
Karla Del Grande of Toronto had a good day Sunday. Competing at a Toronto “mini-meet,” Karla clocked a dazzling 8.57 in the 60 to set a Canadian W55 record and just miss the listed world indoor record of 8.53 by Germany’s Ingrid Meier in 2004. But in the 400, Karla really went krazy, sprinting 65.91 to take down the listed WR of 66.82 by Belgium’s Caroline Marler in 2006. (That’s roughly equivalent to 51.4 as an open mark.) Hers were among a dozen Canadian age-group records set at the Toronto Track & Field Centre. Great job, Karla!
Bob Weiner savoring the Democrats’ return to power
Bob Weiner, chairman of the USATF Masters T&F media subcommittee, has been popping up all over Washington — in radio interviews, in press releases — now that his fellow Democrats are back in power. After eight years in the wilderness, Bob is ramping up his presence and the work of his PR agency.В Of course, Bob has long been active in the doping wars, and his latest blast piggybacked the news of A-Rod and his steroid confessions as a Texas Rangers superstar. Here’s a shot of Bob at the first Obama press conference February. 9 (I circled him in red). Now if only I can find masters track listed in the recently signed stimulus package. . . .
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Willie Banks representing masters track on USATF board
Willie Banks set a world record in 1985 — and again in 2001.
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Yesterday’s track chatter was all about the new USATF Board of Directors. One name immediately leaped out: Willie Banks. Of course, I was thrilled to see my masters track friend and county neighbor named to the 15-member board. But then I gulped. “I hope he does well,” I thought. “If he doesn’t, I’m in deep doo-doo.” Why? Cuz I nominated him. Around 3:30 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 6, 2008, the USATF Masters T&F Executive Committee was meeting at the Reno convention and brainstorming folks to nominate to the new Board of Directors. (Update: See my comment below for timeline correction.) They’d submitted Rex Harvey’s name as a placekeeper, but they needed a couple formal nominees. Although I was attending the session as an observer, I couldn’t help myself. I threw in a few names. One was Willie Banks. Everyone was familiar with Willie the Triple Jumper, but they didn’t know his more recent credits. I explained that he had a lot of respect within USATF, had legal training (although he isn’t a practicing lawyer now), was an Olympic consultant and was active in the U.S. Olympians Association and USATF Alumni Association. (Check out his Web site.) Willie, a member of the National Track & Field Hall of Fame, has a special affinity for Japan (and he speaks the language). He even taught there for a while, according to this revealing interview in Osaka. In 2001, Willie discovered masters track. His comeback was spectacular: an M45 world record in his former open world record event, the triple jump.
Nadine O’Connor adds indoor hurdles record to collection
Multi-eventer Nadine O’Connor of Del Mar, California, smashed the W65 American record in the 60-meter hurdles Sunday at the USATF West Regional Indoor Championships in Flagstaff, Arizona. Nadine, 66, clocked 11.03 to beat the listed AR of 12.53 by Barbara Jordan at Idaho nationals in 2005. The listed indoor WR is 10.58 by Belgian Edith Graff in 2007. Results are posted here from the meet at Northern Arizona University’s Skydome track. Ralph Haynie, 54, vaulted a nice 4.12 (13-6 1/4) — which happens to be the listed M55 American indoor record. So hold on another year, Ralph! But the coolest thing is that masters competed at the same time (but not alongside) kids as young as 4 years old! The oldest entrants were Sumi Onodera-Leonard, 80, and Tom Patsalis, 87 — both of Southern California. How did they fare against the munchkins? Sumi ran the 60 in 12.96 and 4 in 2:25.41, which would have lost to the sub-bantam girls. But Tom ran the 60 in 11.90, which would have beaten a couple dozen 7-and-under boys and girls. Tom is a 7-year-old at heart.
New T-shirts tout Oshkosh, Lahti masters championships
Thanks to the artistic skills of my son, Bobby, our masterstrack.com shop has several new designs for your inspection, including the ones below. To save on price, we’ve taken off the masterstrack.com logo from the backs of these shirts — which bumps up the price appreciably. We’ve also added some generic USA, Canadian and British flagged shirts for masters track. Other national flag designs are in the offing! So visit again.
Italian lady, German gent set indoor WRs over weekend
Emma Mazzenga of Italy, who set the listed W75 world outdoor record for 800 meters last August (3:36.11), dropped down to the 200 over the weekend and apparently became the oldest woman to go sub-40 in that event indoors, as this report indicates. Emma clocked 38.88. The previous listed record was 40.13 by Germany’s Ingrid Lorenz at 2003 Eurovets in San Sebastian. In Germany, Kurt Goldschmidt on his third throw at this meet upped the M65 world indoor record in the shot to 15.69 meters (51-5 3/4) to smash the listed record of 15.29 (50-2) by Wolfgang Hamel. He now owns the M65 shot record indoors and out. My eternal thanks to Andrea Benatti for informing me about Emma’s great mark.
Distance legend Henry Rono enters masters indoor nationals
Henry Rono, who trains in Albuquerque, has fought to slim down in his 50s.
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Three years ago, 1970s distance god Henry Rono sparked an explosion of interest by announcing his goal of taking down the M55 world record in the mile. The letsrun.com thread grew to a mile long, but he fell way short of the record (4:40.4). Last Thursday, Henry turned 57. He shows up at some major road races (often expecting organizers to pay his way). But now he’s finally ready to race the best masters — on the track. He’s entered in the 800 and mile at Landover indoor nationals next month. Henry will face fellow M55 Nolan Shaheed, according to the status of entries. Despite being close to 60, Nolan is the overwhelming favorite at Landover. But Henry shows his courage by entering an event outside his comfort zone. He’s been through a lot since his superstar days. If Henry doesn’t satisfy expectations, no sweat. He has a lot of good years ahead of him. Last summer, he reported the death of his grandmother. At what age? Henry says 118!
Masters vaulters to be showcased at 100th Drake Relays
Who says only sprinters and middle-distance types can represent masters in major outdoor meets? A bunch of world-class geezervaulters (some in their 60s) will compete in a masters exhibition event at the 100th Drake Relays in Des Moines, Iowa. Doug “Bubba” Sparks made the announcement on Becca Gillespy’s site. Bubba, who won M55 silver at Spokane, wrote: “After six months of back and forth with inside help and influence, the (Drake Relays) committee has approved the event and final field for a Masters Vault at the 100th Drake Relays. The vault is planned for 3 p.m. on Thursday, April 23. The field includes Gary Hunter, Paul Babits, John Altendorf, Trevor Richards, Jeff Kingstad, Bill Halverson, Bubba Sparks, Don Curry, Joe Johnston and a few others we are trying to confirm. This will be the first major masters vault competition in a major meet.”
Australian Masters Athletics playing mum on Sydney WMG
A week ago, I wrote Australian Masters Athletics Inc. about reports that it had been frozen out of involvement with the 2009 World Masters Games in Sydney — even though the WMG track meet was sanctioned by World Masters Athletics. My questions (reproduced below) were simple: Why is AMA not listing the WMG on its website? Is it true that throwers and horizontal jumpers will get only four attempts? What about records set under such conditions? So what was AMA’s response? Politely, they’ve taken a pass. Yesterday I received a note from Lynne Schickert, president of AMA Inc., who wrote: “As the AMA Board considers it is
not in the best interests of all concerned for these matters to be
aired in the public domain, the Board therefore declines your
invitation to provide a full response to your questions.” Ah so. And oh so interesting.
Exclusive flashback: Bill Cosby in masters relay at Penn 1985
Through the magic of video sharing, we can now see Bill Cosby running at the 1985 Penn RelaysВ (not 1988 as labeled) in a race staged for his sitcom. (Click here for the video.) It’s a two-team race in which Cosby (as Dr. Heathcliff “Combustible” Huxtable) runs the anchor leg of a 4×4.В I timed his leg in 57 seconds — part of the fantasy fiction of “The Cosby Show.” We chatted about this episode a month ago. Bill — then an M45 comedian — is surprised to see a woman passing him before the finish, and it turns out to be a 1984 Olympian. Enjoy this 14-minute clip, which was shortened to leave out a few family storylines.
