Archive for April, 2005

Masters muckymucks clash on advance entries

Mark Cleary and Andy Hecker of Southern California, two longtime masters athletes and USATF officials, are clashing over Mark’s insistence that Andy’s Southern California USATF Association masters championships have a “pre-entry process.” Andy has long advocated banning late fees for athletes who make the effort to show up at a meet. Following are Mark’s report […]

April 15, 2005   Posted in: Uncategorized  2 Comments

Oregon meet will have masters mile invitational

Co-webmaster Dave Clingan has announced an elite masters mile benefit race near Portland, Oregon, in mid-May. Dave writes: “This race will be the premier event at a youth meet called the Oregon Relays. The entire meet is a benefit to raise money to send disadvantaged youth athletes from Oregon to the National Junior Olympics Championships […]

April 14, 2005   Posted in: Uncategorized  Comments Closed

Share your ideas for WMA prez interrogation

So far, I’m aware of two candidates for president of World Masters Athletics — Australia’s Stan Perkins and Italy’s Cesare Beccali. Of course, I’ll be conducting another of my patented snarky Q&A’s. But this time, I’d like to tap your collective wisdom and curiosity. What would y’all like me to ask our distinguished candidates? Y’all […]

April 13, 2005   Posted in: Uncategorized  Comments Closed

Pre’s ghost makes guest appearance at masters nationals

Actually, it’s just a story. But a great human-interest one. The late Steve Prefontaine is a heroic icon to many runners. One is Jay Kimicekic, an exercise professor at Miami University in Ohio. Jay entered the 2003 Eugene masters nationals partly as an homage to Pre. Check out Jay’s moving tale.

April 12, 2005   Posted in: Uncategorized  Comments Closed

The ghost of Pre and me: Jay Kimiecik and Eugene 2003

Posted April 12, 2005 Jay Kimiecik is a world-class exercise guru, university professor and radio show host with lots of publications to his name. But when the starting gun sounded for Heat 1 of the M45 1500 prelims at the 2003 Eugene nationals, Jay was just another middle-aged runner hoping for a place in the […]

April 12, 2005   Posted in: Uncategorized  Comments Closed

Whitlock cracks 3 hours again in marathon

Ed Whitlock is god. A masters long-distance god, at least. Sunday at age 73, Ed broke the 3-hour barrier for the marathon for the third time as an M70 runner. I don’t normally pay attention to the roadies, but Whitlock’s story has a cool twist. He was gonna be challenged — and seriously — by […]

April 11, 2005   Posted in: Uncategorized  Comments Closed

Dick Richards makes impressive comeback at 71

Sprint start maven Dick Richards of Encinitas, California, was nearly unbeatable in the late 1990s — both in the short sprints and the long jump. He dominated the 1999 Gateshead world masters meet and set several world age-group records along the way. Then about 2001 he disappeared from the track. Now he’s back — tanned, […]

April 10, 2005   Posted in: Uncategorized  3 Comments

Britain’s Winston Thomas weighs in on drug issue

Winston Thomas of Britain is that rare masters leader — a world-class athlete as well as international official. Among other things, he’s heavily involved in making sure that the 2005 World Masters Athletics Championships in Spain come off well from a technical standpoint.

April 9, 2005   Posted in: Uncategorized  Comments Closed

GeezerJock is Sports Illustrated in seniors’ clothing

Let’s cut to the chase. The new issue of GeezerJock magazine is far better than anything we’ve seen for our niche. If it folds, it’s our own friggin fault. Not that I have any insider knowledge of its balance sheets. But when you get the Spring 2005 issue (and you WILL get it if you […]

April 8, 2005   Posted in: Uncategorized  Comments Closed

WMA VP Rex Harvey replies to doping questions

Rex Harvey of Ohio, a world age-group record holder in the decathlon, was one of several international masters officials to reply to my doping questionnaire. Rex is vice president-stadia for World Masters Athletics, the world governing body of masters track. Although he speaks for himself in the Q&A, his remarks typify the stands of many […]

April 6, 2005   Posted in: Uncategorized  4 Comments