Archive for January, 2009
Tom Gage makes amazing comeback from heart surgery
Your prayers must have worked. Olympian and masters hammer champ Tom Gage had heart surgery last June. But he’s already back throwing heavy things attached to wires! A great article, reprinted below, talks of a December outing in Reno. The story reports: “He was originally planning to get back into competition in March for the […]
January 15, 2009
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‘Cosby Show’ re-run features masters 4×4 at Penn Relays
I never saw this episode, but “The Cosby Show” segment re-running this week includes a story line of the masters 4×4 relay at Penn. It’s supposed to air 3 to 3:30 p.m. Friday on WGN, which is available on many cable systems. (But check your local listings for exact time.) Here’s the episode summary: “Cliff Huxtable […]
January 15, 2009
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Jeff Laynes scorches 50 and 60 meters up in Saskatoon
Over the weekend, Jeff Laynes made his annual pilgrimage from the San Francisco Bay Area to Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. He made the 50-meter final in a premier indoor meet, The Knights of Columbus affair. These results show him clocking 5.84 for 50 and 6.89 for the 60 against high-class open fields (on separate days). Jeff turned 38 […]
January 14, 2009
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Yards, shmards: The First Grandma ran sprints in meters
After posting a doubt-tinged note about Michelle Obama’s mother saying she ran the 50- and 100-yard dashes in the Illinois Senior Olympics, I wrote some folks in Illinois to get details. They came today. Deborah Staley and Selvarine Jones of the Illinois organization inform me that Marian Robinson, who is headed for 1600 Penn. Ave., […]
January 13, 2009
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German masters muckymuck featured in national drive
Dieter Massin (below) is the poster boy for masters track in Germany — literally. A national campaign to get Germans off their tushies is under way, with this video-rich website touting Dieter, who’s known more as an official and Eurovets leader than an athlete. Stefan Waltermann reports on the old country: “This is an interesting […]
January 13, 2009
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Supercoach Ron Lee launches high jump club, sets book
By day, M40 Ron Lee of Santa Margarita, California (in south Orange County) is a mild-mannered accountant. But come late afternoon, he morphs into a . . . mild-mannered high jump coach. But what a coach! I’ve already written about Ron and his supersoph flopper Harrison Steed (last year) at J. Serra High School in San […]
January 12, 2009
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masterstrack.com blog turns 6; site going on 13 years
In February 1996, I started a site on AOL called the Masters Track & Field Home Page. I had no idea of its reach until that summer, when I was waiting in line to use a pay phone (young’ns, you can Google the term) at the Atlanta Olympic stadium. I got into a chat with […]
January 11, 2009
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New York suspends Senior Games for fiscal 2009
The horrid economy is punishing masters as well. Latest example is a decision to suspend the Senior Olympics in New York state. According to this press release, “the annual Senior Games, and all Masters, and Open competitions in the Winter and Summer Games, will be suspended for the 2009-10 fiscal year.” Drat. Not sure how this […]
January 11, 2009
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Obama’s momma-in-law tells senior sprint exploits
Talk about masters moles! In a couple weeks, the First Grandma will take up occupancy at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. And can you dig it — Marian Robinson (Michelle Obama’s momma) was an Illinois Senior Olympics sprint champ. At least that’s what she claims. But did she really run the 50- and 100-yard dashes, as a […]
January 10, 2009
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Our poet laureate: In the cold, brief but clever
M55 multi-eventer Dave Ortman of Seattle is probably buried under 5 feet of snow about now, but a few days ago he sent me a series of cool poems with a masters track theme. Short poems. Dave writes: “Ernest Hemingway once wrote: ‘For Sale: baby shoes, never worn.’ He proved that an entire story can […]
January 9, 2009
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