Yank hurt when Lyon starter skips ‘Set’ command in hep hurdles
Rita Hanscom of San Diego soared 4-6 in heptathlon high jump at Lyon. Photos by Rob Jerome
Christel Donley (left) and Flo Meiler battle in hep hurdles, won by W80 Flo.
Here’s complete Team USA roster with hometowns, events
Thanks to yeoman work by several USATF worker bees, we have a complete roster of Team USA for Lyon worlds by hometowns and events entered. Here’s a PDF of athletes (nearly 430) and their towns. This Excel spreadsheet adds their events. Please share this link with local media, advising them of athletes from your town or media market. Go get ’em, guys! Look for results here.
W60 Rita Hanscom of San Diego is one of the faves in hep starting Tuesday.
French media covering Lyon meet — and admission is free!
A French story contradicts U.S. notice about guest credentials being needed at Lyon venues. Grandlyon.com reports: “For the first time, France hosts the World Championship of athletics veterans (WMAC) . The competition takes place in the Lyon Metropole 4 to 16 August 2015. Run attend and encourage athletes – it’s free!” And to stress the point of free admission, the report adds: “For the public, the entrance in stadiums is free! Do not miss the races of the half marathon and the marathon, Sunday, Aug. 16 at Parilly Park. With top performance – to be the envy of joggers Sunday! – Veteran World Championships have something enthusiastic sports fans as curious!” (That’s a Google translation, BTW.) The local paper appears to be 20 Minutes. But national papers will likely check in as well.
Team USA boasts 426 entrants for Lyon worlds starting Tuesday
In his latest press release previewing a WMA meet, media chair Bob Weiner summarizes the U.S. squad for Lyon worlds, noting 426 are headed for the Aug. 4-16 meet in south-central France. “The team is expected to be among the top contenders both for individual and relay titles, as well as for gold and overall medal counts by country,” he writes. “The meet has 8,078 competitors from a record 98 nations with athletes 35-99 years old. The American team has 1,093 event entries.” At 2014 Budapest indoor worlds, Yanks won 23 golds including relays. “A third of entered Americans won medals,” he notes. “No other nation came close to the U.S. gold or overall total of 59 medals, including 21 silver and 15 bronze. At the 2013 WMA Outdoor Championships in Porto Alegre, Brazil, the USA won the gold count, with 83. Among the 58 countries, Americans were second in overall medals, with 183 against 195 from host country Brazil. Australia was third with 148.”
Noble goals for Lyon-goer Stacey: W45 hurdle, long jump records
Stacey Noble teaches sixth grade in Elk Grove.
Finally! USATF Masters has Twitter, Facebook, Instagram feeds
It took years for USATF Masters T&F to launch its own website. It took only months to establish a social media presence — after my rant of November 2014. Thanks to the efforts of several ladies, we now have an official USATFMastersTrack account on Facebook. Our Twitter handle is @USAmasterstrack. On Instagram, we are also usatfmasterstrack. Credit national sprint champ Sandy Triolo for the latest breakthrough. She follows efforts by another woman, who contacted masters media czar Bob Weiner with an offer of help. The USATFMasters.org is a great reference site, but it’s lame for newsy news. (In fact, it still bears this note: “Outdoor Nationals (Jacksonville, FL) are around the corner!”)
USATF masters T&F joins the 21st century with social media accounts.
Lyon note on guests, uniforms from Team USA manager Mary
Mary Rosado is nonstadia team manager for Team USA (helping Phil Greenwald) at Lyon worlds, and she has some notes for folks: “The need for all non-athlete guests to buy a non-athlete credential at the Technical Information Center (TIC). Unlike past years when anyone could attend any of the venues without a credential, this meet has very strict security regulations. In order to enter any of the venues when events are going on, both the athlete and any guests with them must have official WMA credentials.They must take their passports with them to obtain the official credentials at the TIC. After that it is best to leave their passports in the safety of their hotel and carry a color copy of their passport.” Mary also has info on uniforms.
That’s Mary at right at 2009 Lahti worlds General Assembly, with Carroll DeWeese (left), national chairman Gary Snyder and Jerry Donley.
VICTORY! USATF will pay the way of Anselm, Renee to Beijing
Anselm LeBourne and Renee Shepherd can relax now. They won’t have to pay their own way to compete in masters exhibition races at IAAF Beijing worlds. Today (Wednesday) I got confirmation from both that USATF will take care of travel expenses. “I sent my passport info to USATF yesterday and they booked the flight to Beijing,” Renee said via email. Anselm says details are still being worked out. But this is wonderful — and the news comes exactly one month before Renee runs the 400 and Anselm the 800 at the Bird’s Nest stadium. I’m hoping to learn what brought about this change of heart. I won’t credit my petition just yet, since other factors may have been at work. But THANK YOU to all 104 who showed support for this effort!
USATF did the right thing — and will handle travel expenses for U.S. stars.
Dates and place of 2016 Michigan masters nationals confirmed
Lou da man
Grand Valley State University will host 2016 masters nationals in mid-July.
American record in W55 4×4 fills USATF gap, but others remain
At Jax nationals, the top three finishers in the W55 400-meter run were Daphne Sluys (68.15), Vicki Fox (70.36) and Susan Loyd (72.88). Someone noticed that USATF has no listed record for the W55 4-by-400. So the trio joined with veteran relayist Cheryl Bellaire and clocked a 5:03.58 (average time 75.9 in the muggy weather Sunday). Instant nonclub American record! Cheryl, the W55 winner of the 2000 steeple in 9:11.21, was on the Athena TC team that set a W50 club American record in the same event at the 2013 Penn Relays. Give them credit for seizing the moment and filling in the vacant space between W50 and W60. Now all we need are records in the age groups W75 and up.
Susan, Vicki, Cheryl and Daphne finished brutal meet with 4×4 record.
