Archive for May, 2005

IAAF doesn’t know masters from a hole in the ground

I guess the Monaco Mother Ship can have its senior moments, too. The International Association of Athletics Federations, or IAAF, refers to WMA as the “World Masters Asssociation” in its latest PDF newsletter, dated May 31. Common mistake, I guess, but not one you’d expect from the grand poohbahs of world track and field.

May 31, 2005   Posted in: Uncategorized  Comments Closed

We’re ready for our closeup — in San Diego at least

The annual Chuck McMahon Memorial Masters Meet in San Diego is one of countless masters events affiliated with Senior Olympic organizations around the country. But this year, it will stand out in the crowd: On television.

May 30, 2005   Posted in: Uncategorized  Comments Closed

Chip off the old starting block: Lofton headed to state

Hundreds of masters athletes have kids (or grandkids) running track, so there’s no way to keep track of them all. But today I noticed that M45 200/400 stud James Lofton, the NFL Hall of Famer, is cheering for his son Daniel, a junior at Westview High School north of San Diego. Daniel ran a third-place […]

May 29, 2005   Posted in: Uncategorized  One Comment

Relatively interesting: His and hers 13.33s at San Clemente

Rita Hanscom of San Diego is a sprint phenom at age 51. I’m a sprint wannabe who turns 51 in three weeks. What do we have in common besides age group and event? Well, today we delighted in running the identical time in the 100 meters at the inaugural San Clemente Masters Meet at San […]

May 28, 2005   Posted in: Uncategorized  One Comment

Age-Graded Tables should get June rollout

Talked to Rex Harvey today after exchanging email with Norm Green, two masters officials involved in the “2002” redo of the hallowed Age-Graded Tables. The bottom line: The finished tables will go to National Masters News by mid-June, and NMN publisher Suzy Hess promises she’ll get the booklets distributed with great dispatch. The delay I […]

May 27, 2005   Posted in: Uncategorized  Comments Closed

My questions for the WMA president candidates

This should be interesting. Tonight I sent a questionnaire to Stan Perkins of Australia and Cesare Beccalli of Italy, the known candidates for president of World Masters Athletics. I also cc’d the note to Monty Hacker, WMA secretary, who is responsible for knowing who the candidates are at this summer’s General Assembly in San Sebastian, […]

May 26, 2005   Posted in: Uncategorized  Comments Closed

Every athlete has a story: Here is Hardison’s

When I talk to mainstream mediafolk about masters, I make a point to stress that we’re a whole lot more interesting than just being geezers on the track and field. We have issues. We overcome life challenges. We are survivors. One current example comes to mind: M50 vaulter/sprinter Steve Hardison. At the Visalia Masters Classic […]

May 25, 2005   Posted in: Uncategorized  Comments Closed

Willie Banks vows to reclaim M45 record

Well, Willie is stoked. Today he wrote me: “Thank you for letting me know. This is a good day for me. I have been looking for competition and challenging my old competitors for the last 4 years (to) no avail. Finally, I have a challenger! I can not wait to go to the world champs […]

May 24, 2005   Posted in: Uncategorized  Comments Closed

Age-Graded Tables delayed by LDR dispute

Nearly four months ago, I posted my findings on why the new Age-Graded Tables had been delayed. At the time, the tables (aka Magic Decoder Ring of masters track) were supposedly weeks away from being sent to National Masters News for publication. But they still haven’t been disseminated. Why? Let AGT honcho Rex Harvey explain.

May 23, 2005   Posted in: Uncategorized  Comments Closed

German robs Willie Banks of M45 record in the TJ

Would someone please let Willie Banks know that it’s time to strap on the old spikes again? From the masterstf mailing list on Yahoo Groups comes this Annette Koop news flash: “Today Wolfgang Knabe (*1959, OSC Damme, Germany) jumped 15,13m (W.: +0,2) at Garbsen near Hanover (GER). That’s a new M45 triple jump world record […]

May 22, 2005   Posted in: Uncategorized  One Comment