John Tomaschke lost his sunglasses, but not his cool, in triple jump landing.
The 42nd annual Southern California Striders Meet of Champions is in the books. Weather was in the upper 60s and low 70s at Orange Coast College in Costa Mesa — Orange County, California. Most of the shots in our photo gallery are by Chris Stone, who toted a heavy 400-millimeter lens on a Nikon body around the 400-meter track. Our apologies for missing events, including the hurdles and distances. But we have a good selection of javelin, shot, long and triple jump images, plus the usual sprints (look for my cameo in the 200). If you see yourself and want a high-resolution image, write me at TrackCEO@aol.com. Results will be here eventually.
Striders teammates in red (from left) Joe Ruggles, Greg Pizza (Pie-Zah) and Damien Leake battle in 100, with Damien prevailing. They’d later team for relay.
Kathy ran 100 out of outside lane at Striders — not typical for her.
Kathy Bergen provided the highlight of Saturday’s Southern California Striders 42nd annual Meet of Champions. On a day when headwinds of 2-3 mps hampered sprinters, she cleared 1.21 meters (3-11 3/4) on her first try to break the listed W75 high jump world record of 1.20 by Holland’s Rietje Dijkman in 2014. She flopped easily over, and then tried for an astounding 1.25 (4-1 1/4) (mainly to accommodate the rest of the field). Kathy already holds the W70 WR of 1.30 meters. Video was shot of her efforts at Orange Coast College in Costa Mesa. We’ll post when available. Masters sprint great Eugene Driver, the new masters chair of USATF Southern California Association, was nursing a hamstring pull (from before the meet), but had great news about prize money in the association’s masters championships May 30 at Cerritos College in Norwalk. Nine events have been designated Grand Prix events, with the best age-graded marks getting prizes of $150, $100 and $50. (See details here.) I asked Eugene where he got the money. He said it was from his masters track budget. Great idea!
Masters stat dudes in Europe are tackling a major chore — preparing all-time top 10 listsin each age group. Many events are missing, but they’re trying to do for Europe what mastersathletics.net heoically tried to do for the world. The Eurovets site details the efforts and urges folks to share their marks. “The idea of creating a table of the ’10 European Best Masters ever started in 2004,” we learn. “It was Ton Peters from the Netherlands who asked statisticians in Europe to send him names and results of all different age groups. Unfortunately Ton Peters passed away before he could finish the collection of all results. Bernd Rehpenning — the man who created the age factors for WMA during the last years – has started this project with new energy.” Bully for Bernd! Would be great to see a similar venture in the States.
Here’s the M90 Top 10 list for the 100-meter dash. How does America compare?
Before he died in 1999, Wilt Chamberlain, the world’s tallest track fan, claimed in his autobiography that he had made whoopee with 20,000 separate women. Statisticians analyzed the figures. Some found it plausible, but Wilt later hinted he’d slept with just 1,000 women. (Still, a huge number.) Now comes my masters javelin friend Roald Bradstock. No scandal, sorry. But he claims in his blog (co-written with wife Clarissa) that he’s made 5 million throws in his life. That’s mainly in practice. He writes: “Fortunately, in addition to my training journals as documentation and some magazine and newspaper articles, I have a lot of former teammates, coaches and friends that have witnessed my ‘excessive’ throwing sessions over the years. And thankfully some of them came to my rescue defending me on Facebook and testified that they had witnessed some of my extreme workouts.”
Clarissa and Roald at Track Town Pizza at 2008 Eugene Olympic Trials.
Anselm LeBourne submitted a seed time of 1:59.9 for the 8 at Tuesday’s twilight meet at Randalls Island, New York, and it wasn’t a crazy stretch for a 56-year-old. In a Facebook posting that included a photo of the results board, we see Anselm ran 2:02.16 for his sixth world age-group record this year. The listed WR is 2:03.7 by South Africa’s Stan Immelman in 2001. Results should be here eventually. M40 national champ Peter Brady posted: “Ran my first race of the outdoor season tonight. Finished second in my heat in the 800m in 2:02.37. Went out around 58 for the first 400 and led until about 150 to go when Anselm LeBourne passed me on the way to setting the 55-59 age group world record. It’s never fun to fade and get passed towards the end of a race, but at least I was passed by a great runner who did something historic.” On the Age-Graded Tables, a 2:02.16 is worth an open time of 1:41.03! The real world record, of course, is the incredible 1:40.91 by Kenya’s David Rudisha.
If Google isn’t God, maybe Facebook is. At least that’s how I found some results from April’s 36th India masters nationals in the lower Himalayas. One of three masters federations events in India, the meet appears to be well-attended and run. Results were posted in the form of cellphone shots of printed results taped to a wall. Some Haryana club guy posted the pictures. In the meantime, still no results posted on the official site. But here’s a great race. Cheer for the short guy in yellow:
Canadian sourcesprofile Paul Osland, a 1988 Seoul Olympian, and Mike Sherar, also with the University of Toronto Track Club, for the men’s 800 on August 29 at IAAF Beijing worlds. America’s own M55 star Anselm LeBourne will be in the mix — but against two 51-year-old runners. (Paul clocked a 2:04.7 in 2014, and Mike has a 2:01.06.) We also learn: “All Master athletes will be accredited in the same manner as the IAAF athletes. This will entitle them to use the official training sites, admission to the championships competition including seating in the reserved athletes stands during the championships and attend all social functions the IAAF athletes are entitled to.” Nice. But who will prevail in the masters exhibitions? How do the other entrants stack up?
Ida Keeling, no stranger to these pages, turned 100 on May 5. Local TV station profiled her and posted a video. The Bronx sprinter ain’t stopping, we learn. “Now that Ida Keeling is in a new age bracket, she plans to compete in the 100+ category, break more records and earn even more medals and trophies,” the station said, and quoted Ida as saying: “Exercise is very good and is more like a medicine and a healer than a lot of medications because it keeps your body moving. It keeps you mentally strong as far as I feel.” Go, Ida, go! (My grandmother was Ida, too, so I have a conflict of interest.)
Ida has her pick of W100 records (all but throws held by the late Ruth Frith).
This breaks my heart. In a story profiling former high school track star Douglass Henderson, we learn he long-jumped 23-8 and triple-jumped nearly 49 feet. They remain Department of Defense Dependents Schoolsrecords in Europe. But as he looks back on those 1974 marks, he “paused to reflect on all he’s accomplished. He still thinks back to his athletic prime, and even entertains thoughts of competing again with USA Masters, an organization that stages track and field meets for adults. But he allows that he would ‘need a little bit of time’ to get into the necessary physical shape, and that’s a rare commodity at the professional level to which he’s ascended. ‘It’s crossed my mind,’ Henderson said. ‘I find myself sitting in the chair far too long during the day.'” Douglass is 59 now. He should know he’d be welcomed warmly and judged oh-so-lightly. Don’t hesitate, my friend. Let yourself go!
Five months ago, I reported from the USATF Anaheim convention that Nike would foot the bill for Team USA unforms for Lyon worlds, whose entry deadline is June 2. Five weeks ago, I began sending out queries on the status of the free kits (as the Brits call them). The result? Crickets. Nobody knows. In recent days, I’ve been getting private email from athletes asking: How do I get my uniform? Wish I had an answer. Gary Snyder, our national masters chair, was gleeful in making the announcement in December. Now he’s AWOL on the issue. Perhaps he’s fighting a bureaucratic battle behind the scenes. Whatever. I’m now taking the issue up with the highest possible track and field authorities. I’m writing to Nike. Stay tuned.
Nike corporate headquarters are in Beaverton, Oregon. Give us our unis, Phil!
Ken has followed track as an athlete, writer and web-master since the late 1960s, and saw most sessions of track and field at the 1984 Los Angeles and 1996 Atlanta Olympics. He also attended the 1988, 1992, 2000, 2004, 2008 and 2012 Trials, the last three as a blogger and Patch correspondent. [More...]
Five months ago, I reported from the USATF Anaheim convention that Nike would foot the bill for Team USA unforms for Lyon worlds, whose entry deadline is June 2. Five weeks ago, I began sending out queries on the status of the free kits (as the Brits call them). The result? Crickets. Nobody knows. In recent days, I’ve been getting private email from athletes asking: How do I get my uniform? Wish I had an answer. Gary Snyder, our national masters chair, was gleeful in making the announcement in December. Now he’s AWOL on the issue. Perhaps he’s fighting a bureaucratic battle behind the scenes. Whatever. I’m now taking the issue up with the highest possible track and field authorities. I’m writing to Nike. Stay tuned.
