Archive for August, 2007

Canadian sprinter rescues, rejiggers Ross Dunton’s site

Jimson Lee, a mid-40s Vancouver sprinter and track blogger, learned of Ross Dunton’s Web site plight and offered to help. Ross accepted Jimson’s generous invitation to host — for free — Ross’ training and technique site. Jimson writes: “I organized the front page to list ALL the articles, added a few more, then added the […]

August 19, 2007   Posted in: Uncategorized  Comments Closed

Thrower’s goal: going from Orono to Olympic Trials

Wanda Johnson of Tampa won the W35 shot and discus at Orono. But what’s really remarkable about this single mother of four is her ambition: competing in the 2008 Olympic Trials. The key paragraph of a great Tampa Tribune story on Wanda’s quest: “She is 43 feet away from qualifying for the trials in the […]

August 18, 2007   Posted in: Uncategorized  4 Comments

Amazing resource debuts: an all-time Olympic database

Olympic historian Bill Mallon of North Carolina has unveiled a fantastic new reference — an Olympic database he calls OlyMAD. He detailed its genesis with this posting on the Track & Field News message board. More than 110,000 known Olympians are in the database, the site says. The only downside: You have to register to […]

August 17, 2007   Posted in: Uncategorized  Comments Closed

Wilbur Ross dead at 80 — every boomer hurdler’s Moses

Wilbur Ross showed me the promised land. His late 1960s text, “The Hurdler’s Bible,” used the greats of his day to show me how to hurdle. Last Friday, he died at age 80, and a little darkness fell over his generation of timber toppers. Coach Ross didn’t do masters (that I know of), but if […]

August 16, 2007   Posted in: Uncategorized  Comments Closed

Jeff Davison’s hurdle relay dream came true at Orono

Jeff Davison had a dream, and with the faith and creativity of a Bible teacher, it came true. As I first described in February, this Southern California M45 hurdler wanted the Orono nationals to offer an exhibition relay event for hurdlers. I cheered his efforts (though I privately doubted it would come off as envisioned). […]

August 15, 2007   Posted in: Uncategorized  2 Comments

Finsrud sets ARs at USA Weight Pentathlon Championships

Results are now posted for the USATF National Masters Weight Pentathlon Championships, which attracted 52 athletes ages 35 to 92 last weekend to Spokane, Washington. W50 Carol Finsrud of Lockhart, Texas, erased one of the oldest WP records on the books, scoring 4,763 points to demolish the listed American age-group record of 4,132 by Vanessa […]

August 14, 2007   Posted in: Uncategorized  5 Comments

Hy-Tek defends meet management software, age tables

M70 sprint champ Wayne Bennett of Texas, an overseer of the July meet where Ken Jansson thought he set a weight pentathlon record, has suggested that Hy-Tek meet software was at fault for the wrong age-grading of WP scores that resulted in an American record wrongly assigned. Rex Harvey of World Masters Athletics, also has […]

August 13, 2007   Posted in: Uncategorized  Comments Closed

Masters urged to guarantee Pete Taylor’s presence in 2008

M45 runner Steve Nearman is a fine writer. But his main gig is financial planning. And what he really wants to see is meet announcer Peter Taylor financially assured for the 40th anniversary of the U.S. masters nationals a year from now in Spokane, Wash. Steve writes: “While it is too early to know what […]

August 12, 2007   Posted in: Uncategorized  14 Comments

Throws czar calls weight pentathlon record a bit short

Jerry Bookin-Weiner, USATF Masters throwing events coordinator, writes: “Further checking on the scoring of the American WP record that Ken Jansson set in Texas towards the end of July shows that it was not, in fact, a record. The meet management must have been using an old scoring table or an older version of Hy-Tek […]

August 11, 2007   Posted in: Uncategorized  5 Comments

Health update, and more Orono, from Peter Taylor

Masters meet announcer Peter Taylor reports: “As of 7 p.m. on Thursday evening (August 9) I am feeling reasonably healthy, but I am still having strange feelings on my left side. Should know a lot more in 24 hours.” And in part 2 of his Orono nationals narrative, he writes: “My grade: In my first […]

August 10, 2007   Posted in: Uncategorized  10 Comments