Archive for February, 2005

Del Grande is grand at Ontario masters meet

Karla Del Grande chaps my hide. She also can whip my butt. She’s more than a year older than me (I’m 50), and she runs faster. At the Decatur nationals last year, she won the 100 in 13.13 — a day after I ran a prelims time of 13.31 and she set a WR for […]

February 28, 2005   Posted in: Uncategorized  Comments Closed

Allie beats his age again with 400 victory

Charles Allie of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, does the impossible and makes it look easy — he runs the 400 in a time lower than his age. At 57, Allie took the exhibition masters race at the USATF open indoor nationals Saturday in Boston with a time of 54.47 seconds. That’s just a second over the M55 […]

February 27, 2005   Posted in: Uncategorized  2 Comments

Barrineau back in the high jump wars

Olympian James Barrineau (Montreal 1976) is 49. And he’s shown his fitness for M50 with a big 1.85 (6-0 3/4) high jump Sunday, Feb. 20, at the Potomac Valley Association USATF Masters Indoor Championships at Prince George’s Sports and Learning Complex in Landover, Maryland. Another comebacking jumper is Jason Meisler, a 7-2 straddler in the […]

February 26, 2005   Posted in: Uncategorized  Comments Closed

USATF chairman’s promise unkept on doping education

Four years ago, USATF Masters Chair George Mathews wrote in his monthly National Masters News column: “As you probably already heard, Kathy Jaeger’s two-year suspension has been upheld after review by WAVA. In some ways, WAVA feels the US has not done a good enough job in educating our athletes on the rules of the […]

February 25, 2005   Posted in: Uncategorized  Comments Closed

World Masters Games folks getting antsy?

I’m not planning to compete this summer in Edmonton, Alberta, at the World Masters Games. But I subscribe to the event’s email service. Today’s mail brings this hoot of a holler: “If you register before February 28, 2005, you qualify to win in our giant Registration Draw. Everyone registering up to that date will have […]

February 24, 2005   Posted in: Uncategorized  Comments Closed

Geezerjock mystery vaulter unmasked at last

A few days ago, I appealed to y’all to help me identify the unnamed pole vaulter pictured in a series of Geezerjock magazine photos. Ken Ellis, a champion vaulter himself, came to the rescue. The pictured jumper is Jonathan Bartos of Ohio. I’ve written to Jon to learn more about his vault career. (He won […]

February 23, 2005   Posted in: Uncategorized  Comments Closed

A senior moment at National Senior Games site

Some folks who run masters track in the United States also go over to the “dark side” — the circuit of meets under the umbrella of the National Senior Games Association. This year is a national championship year for the Senior Olympics folks, who generally thumb their nose at USATF niceties like professional officiating and […]

February 22, 2005   Posted in: Uncategorized  One Comment

Clueless sports section leaves out record shot details

So Google sends me a link to some masters news. I click the link, and learn from the Bristol Herald Courier: “Bristol’s Glen Johnson broke the American Masters Track and Field shot put records in his age class at the throwers meet at Clemson University on Feb. 13.”

February 21, 2005   Posted in: Uncategorized  Comments Closed

Hy-Tek software used by Low-Tech meet directors

Is it me or is it them? Hy-Tek software is used everywhere, but when meets employ this record-keeping tool, they often fail to exploit its masters-friendly features. Latest example: The results I stumbled across of an all-comers indoor meet at the University of Missouri. The problem? Masters results are listed, but no age or age-group […]

February 20, 2005   Posted in: Uncategorized  Comments Closed

Andy Hecker, the Nordstrom of meet directors

You’ve heard of the legendary service of Nordstrom, where sales reps do anything short of murder to please their customers. In masters track, Andy Hecker is the Nordstrom of meets directors. This morning, against all odds, he brought off a track meet at

February 19, 2005   Posted in: Uncategorized  Comments Closed