Archive for September, 2007

Listing my picks for the USATF Masters Hall of Fame

Coach Ross Dunton, who spun off his original Web site, has launched another, called athleticsinfo.org (no relation to Andy Hecker’s trackinfo.org.) Not much posted yet, but he’s done us a favor by listing nominees for the 2007 Class of the USATF Masters Hall of Fame. Good work. The same 25 names (12 women and 13 […]

September 22, 2007   Posted in: Uncategorized  4 Comments

Bob Fine to banned UK masters sprinter: ‘SHUT UP!’

Anthony Treacher, our British friend banned for being a noodnik, made the mistake recently of asking a USATF masters official about Florida track meets in 2008. Anthony wrote Bob Fine. At first, the exchange of email beginning Tuesday was civil, but then Bob kind of lost it. Here’s the back-and-forth, as documented by Anthony:

September 21, 2007   Posted in: Uncategorized  2 Comments

Love among the masters: Eve and Sam at Riccione

Mark Winitz has more good stuff on worlds. From a press release he sent out yesterday, we learn: “Longtime distance runners Eve Pell, 70, and Sam Hirabayashi, 80, both of Greenbrae, Calif., like to do things together, especially running. The fast couple, who are engaged to be married, traveled together to the World Masters Athletics […]

September 20, 2007   Posted in: Uncategorized  Comments Closed

Happy 60th birthday to Tom Fahey — the discusdoc

Tom Fahey at his day job at Chico State University in central California. Tom Fahey is a gentleman and a scholar. And a freakin’ good discus thrower. Today the Californian enters the M60 age group, and none too soon for the M55s he embarrassed at Riccione, where he took silver, or the Americans he defeated […]

September 19, 2007   Posted in: Uncategorized  5 Comments

Gary Hunter becomes first M50 vaulter to clear 16 feet!

Orono champion Gary Hunter, 51, was in woodsy Indiana, not coastal Italy. But he popped a biggie last Saturday at the Vault High Summer Classic in Fort Wayne. Here’s a video of his M50 world record 16-0 jump. (I hope they measured it metrically at 4.88.) He thus beat his own 15-7 from nationals six […]

September 18, 2007   Posted in: Uncategorized  Comments Closed

131K photos posted from Riccione? Have fun searching

This must be a record. The official photographers at Riccione say they have 131,534 images online of worlds. What? No outtakes? I viewed a couple hundred, and they are technically solid but bloodless. All sharpness but no drama. To view these shots, look for the “Seleziono Evento” dragdown menu in the upper right of the […]

September 18, 2007   Posted in: Uncategorized  8 Comments

Allen Johnson wins one for the geezers in Berlin meet

The best masters hurdler in the world wasn’t in Riccione. He was off doing his own thing. Yesterday, Allen Johnson, age 36, won a race against a bunch of Osaka finalists. His time was 13.33 — over 42-inch hurdles, not 39-inch masters barriers. But that’s not even his best time of the season. Allen ran […]

September 17, 2007   Posted in: Uncategorized  Comments Closed

USATF Pacific Association is fast on worlds uptake

Sacramento 2011 should be a first-rate event, especially in terms of marketing and publicity. A news release crafted by Mark Winitz, the host association’s communications manager, is a model for how USATF as a national body should treat masters. (Indy HQ has yet to do a wrapup of the meet. Sigh.) Anyway, Mark featured Joy […]

September 17, 2007   Posted in: Uncategorized  9 Comments

Fourteen short videos online from Riccione worlds

YouTube and Riccione TV have posted the same videos from the meet, which ended Saturday. The one below is pretty representative. You get music from the soundtrack of “Kill Bill” and MTV-style editing, which means you don’t see a fraction of a jump or throw you want to view. Very frustrating. But at least you […]

September 17, 2007   Posted in: Uncategorized  One Comment

Ben James awarded medal that’s better than gold

Worlds is in the books. The Riccione medal table has been posted — with Germany (and its 900-member team) taking first as expected with 315 medals (108 of them gold). But you won’t find Ben James’ award noted in the M50 results for the 400. In fact, his official time in the final was 1:11.97. […]

September 16, 2007   Posted in: Uncategorized  5 Comments