Wolfgang Ritte ups M55 indoor vault WR to 4.51 (14-9 1/2)
A week after competing at the National Pole Vault Summit in Reno, Wolfgang Ritte found a local German meet — and raised his own world indoor record in the M55 vault by 11 centimeters. He jumped 4.51 (14-9 1/2) to beat his listed WR of 4.40 (14-5 1/4) set at the Eurovets meet last year in Ancona, Italy. This news comes from several sources, including Annette and Robert Koop. Wolfie also holds the listed outdoor world record of 4.60 (15-1), set back in 2008. He’s now 57. Amazing.
Wolfie jumps during his world record competition Sunday.
Christian Cushing-Murray clocks 4:23 mile in rare track foray
Christian Cushing-Murray
Christian Cushing-Murray is called Chris in his old IAAF bio, “Cush” by friends and “Coach” by his track and cross country athletes at Foothill High School, where his son Nathaniel, a junior, runs. “My daughter Jessica, currently a fairly successful youth runner, will be a freshman there next fall,” Cush says. What else can we call this 42-year-old Southern California runner? How about Stud? On Friday, Cush ran a 4:23.46 mile at the Run for the Dream indoor meet at Fresno State’s Save Mart Center. The track is tight — 11 laps to the mile. (See results here.) That’s the fastest M40 indoor time this season, according to mastersrankings.com. A longtime cross country and road race veteran, Cush rarely runs in track meets. So when I saw his Fresno time, I had to learn more. I wrote his friend (and former Fluffy Bunny TC teammate) Pete Magill, and Cush replied. The short answer: Track doesn’t fit his schedule. Read the rest of this post »
USATF press release spotlights masters stars entered at Kamloops
Tom Surber’s name is on the USATF press release, but I wrote the bulk of it (as a member of Bob Weiner’s Masters T&F Media Committee). If you spot any errors, my apologies. (And let me know the flubs.) Bob and I came up with 14 “U.S. stars to watch” — but we easily could have listed thrice that number. Team USA will be awesome in British Columbia next month. Read the rest of this post »
YouTube video by NSGA features some masters track stars
NSGA head kahuna Phil Godfrey opens a 3-minute, 40-second video promoting the National Senior Games — an easy way to spread the message. USATF has a similar project in the works (called “Forever Fast”). John Oleski of Boston is in charge of getting that video made and distributed nationwide, for use by masters at Rotary Club meetings and the like. The NSGA video, produced by Meagan Reidinger, includes clips of Phil Raschker and Kay Glynn vaulting (with Kay’s long hair flying!) Olympian Dick Fosbury (holding a torch) and some putters and runners also are shown, plus a cameo by multi-eventer Kathy Jager at a soccer game. (Traitor!) A relative handful have viewed the NSGA video (under 130). But the idea is to alert friends. Make it go viral!
Shabunin faster still at 3K! Lowers own indoor WR to 8:01.44
Despite finishing eighth, Russia’s Vyacheslav Shabunin today improved his M40 world indoor record for 3000 meters, clocking 8:01.44. This is about 200 meters short of two miles, so he’s averaging each mile in about 4:15. Incredible. The mark came at the Russian Winter Meet in Moscow, which is IAAF-sanctioned. (Results are here.) He beat his old M40 best of 8:04.34, which we detailed here. His all-time best is 7:42.54, set in 1998. So in 12 years, he’s lost about 1.5 seconds a year. Not bad. Read the rest of this post »
Sorensen says Vyacheslav Shabunin on target to go sub-4
If anyone can appreciate the world-record spree of Vyacheslav Shabunin, it’s Jim Sorensen, the Northern California miler who had one of his own in 2007. After the Russian set his 1500 indoor WR, I wrote to Jim for his reaction. He admits: “It would be sad to see my (outdoor) record go.” But Jim knows the game, and he’s becoming a fan of Shabunin. Certainly he admires his ability to hang with the elites.
Jim Sorensen (in gray) still mixes it up with the kidlets.
Teague takes Reebok masters mile; Lagat sets 5K record
Somewhat off the beaten track of exhibitions, the masters mile at today’s Reebok Boston Indoor Games was still a doozy. Results are here. Chris Teague held off Ray Puglsey, 4:29.05 to 4:29.43 as a dozen men dipped under 4:40 at the site of the indoor masters nationals next month. USATF reports that Chris “waited until the last lap to take the lead of the men’s masters mile run and held on for the victory.” Larry Eder also blogged the race, posted here. In other masters news, M35 Bernard Lagat set an American open record two hours later in the 5000 with a sterling run described here. His time of 13:11.50 would probably be an M35 world record, but WMA and USATF don’t list the indoor 5K. The listed outdoor M35 American record is 13:26.03 by Steve Plasencia in 1993. The outdoor M35 WR is 13:07.40 by Germany’s Dieter Baumann in 2002.
Bernard eyes finish of a honkin 5K in Boston. (Photo by Adam Hunge)
M50 heptathlon champ figures out his body — and our sport
Nice piece in a Northern California paper today about Tony Giovannoni of Napa, who won the M50 indoor heptathlon title last week in Wisconsin. Not familiar with the gent, but I applaud his instant grasp of masters mortality. Tony tells Executive Sports Editor Marty James: “Once you’ve reached middle age, you’re always going to have some physical limitations. I’ve got a hamstring that’s been hampering me for over a year, and elbow and shoulder issues that bother me when I throw and vault. A huge part of my success has been learning to read my body, figuring out what I can and can’t do, and manipulating my training so that I get the most gain with the least amount of pain.” Nailed it, Tony! Kudos on Kenosha.
Tony's a tiger: “I’ve been working out six to seven days per week for the past 2 1⁄2 years," he says.
National Senior Games posts minimum standards for 2011
Folks at the National Senior Games have posted “minimum performance standards” for the 2011 National Senior Olympics in Houston. It’s part of a long PDF on rules. See it here. The track and field qualifying standards are reasonable, but aren’t for the Bermuda-shorts-and-sun-hat crowd. As far as my wild-ass speculation about the NSGA “absorbing” USATF, well, it’s still in the realm of possibility down the line. At the least, an affiliation with NSGA would afford us full-time professional marketing help (as opposed to part-time amateur promotion now). And our dues would be better spent — as opposed to mostly absorbed by the elite budget of USA Track & Field. So forgive my jumping the gun. You haven’t heard the last on NSGA and USATF masters.
Here are the marks you need for the 2011 National Senior Olympics.
Team USA roster for Kamloops posted: nearly 300 entered
Jeff Brower over at usatfmasters.org, our new portal, has posted the complete roster of U.S. entrants for Kamloops worlds. See it here. I’ve been helping Bob Weiner (attending his first world meet) prepare a press release on the event, and I’m awed by the strength of our squad, which numbers 298 and includes Bill Collins, Mike Waller, Phil Raschker, Rita Hanscom, Kathy Martin, Becky Sisley, Jeanne Daprano, Christel Donley, Bill Murray and Nolan Shaheed. Nick Berra will be a beast in the middle distances, and Kathy is entered in about five indoor and outdoor events, including the half-marathon — a total of 21.5 miles on tap (if she doesn’t scratch.) I won’t be going, so please post your observations here in early March.
