Archive for November, 2008
The real pole vault summit: Ritte, Bubka and Isinbayeva
Ya know how competing in nationals or worlds makes you feel as if you’re really being treated like a serious athlete? Think how Wolfgang Ritte and Christine MĂĽller must have felt being honored alongside Usain Bolt and the other Olympic legends at the World Athletics Gala a week ago in Monaco. Ritte and Christine MĂĽller […]
November 30, 2008
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Louise Tricard truly remembered her friends in her will
Louise divided her estate among track friends, kin. When track historian and masters athlete Louise Mead Tricard died in late September, she had no immediate family in her adopted home of Florida. No children. Her husband, John, passed away two months earlier. So how would her estate be distributed? Would she leave anything to USATF, […]
November 29, 2008
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Info posted on USATF masters national multi-event meet
It’s officially called the USA National Masters Combined Events Championships, but it’s basically the nationals for decathlon and heptathlon. Pole vault maven Becca Gillespy of Seattle has posted the rudimentary information about the event August 15-16, 2009, at Woolsey Stadium at King’s High School in Shoreline, Washington. Should be well-run, since they did it back […]
November 28, 2008
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Canadians mourn masters friend, runner Dave Reed, 54
Dave Reed: master of friendship, running He ran a 2-minute 800 at age 40 and was a 4:30 miler on the roads. He competed at Buffalo worlds in 1995 and the Hartshorne Masters Mile in 1997. But Dave Reed, who died last week at age 54 of complications from a staph infection, was known to […]
November 28, 2008
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Be thankful we’re not masters tracksters in Thailand
Americans today celebrate Thanksgiving, a day for gratitude and gorging on flightless bird cadavers. (I’ll have my share, thank you!) And what should we as masters athletes be thankful for? Well, that we’re not living in countries beset by airport protests, for one. The situation in Thailand is terrible. How bad? This note was sent […]
November 27, 2008
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Wooden hurdles! Sawdust pits! Life photos galore!
Google is God when it comes to researching stuff. The latest tool is access to old-time photos from Time and Life magazines, including images of track in the early and mid-20th century. Check out this archive of Time/Life magazine covers and iconic photos of tracksters famous and forgotten. I remember running over heavy-duty hurdles like […]
November 26, 2008
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Olympian tells masters club: Primadonnas drop batons
Inger Miller bemoaned pro track as a “narcissistic sort of society.” Olympic and world champion sprinter Inger Miller was a breath of fresh air Saturday night. Speaking at the annual awards banquet of the Southern California Striders (check out my photos here), she told riveting stories about her dramatic track career, its emotional ups and […]
November 25, 2008
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M45 slowster closing in on 1,000 medals, he claims
You’ve heard of speedsters? Meet Ganga Prasad, an Australian slowster. I rarely use such language in describing a fellow sprinter (since I’m not much faster than this gent.) But this guy ticks me off. In a local Aussie newspaper, he boasts about winning eight medals at this month’s Pan Pacific Masters Games on the Gold […]
November 24, 2008
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Would you give up sex to stay legal in masters track?
Last June, news services reported that the World Anti-Doping Agency was thinking about classifying Viagra as a PED (performance-enhancing drug). No joke, despite the inherent humor. Now comes news that athletes at Marywood University in Pennsylvania are being given Viagra to see “whether the diamond-shaped blue pills create an unfair competitive advantage in dilating an […]
November 23, 2008
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In 2004, Hightower rival wrote about her ‘three faces’
Stephanie Hightower, the apparent front-runner for USATF president, likes to highlight her tenure on the Columbus (Ohio) school board. She led the board for five years. But a one-time rival of hers, who later ran for governor of Ohio, has a different take. And in January 2006, her local paper did this profile as she […]
November 22, 2008
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