Archive for August, 2009
USATF brass made aware of masters athlete advocacy group
Dexter McCloud, an M45 hurdler from Georgia, helped Stephanie Hightower  get elected president of USATF last winter in Reno. Now he’s helping Stephanie get up to speed on issues raised by Anselm LeBourne’s masters athlete advocacy group, launched in Lahti. In a note to the group, Dexter writes: “Part of the new Strategic Plan for the Board of […]
August 31, 2009
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Jerry Bookin-Weiner posts pics from Portland throws meet
USATF throws maven Jerry Bookin-Weiner sends word of two online photo albums from the masters national throws championships in Portland, Oregon. He writes: “There are a couple of guys in the UWP album whose names I didn’t know. Someone please let me know who they are so I can label their pix.” Check out this […]
August 31, 2009
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Italian sprinter is latest to launch rebel masters movement
Vincenzo Felicetti, an M60 sprinter from Italy, won three gold medals at Lahti worlds. Now he wants to win something else: more support for Italian masters from his national federation. In Anselm LeBourne’s latest note about the U.S. masters advocacy group, he writes: “I want to thank Robert (Thomas) for bringing to our attention a […]
August 31, 2009
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Anatomy of a debacle: NSG indifference to sked concerns
In August 2008 — a year ahead of the National Senior Games — Dr. David Janson of Ohio, an M55 sprinter, began writing to NSG officials about the 2009 meet schedule, seeking info for travel planning. Later, he became concerned about the crowding of sprint events. After several exchanges, he got this reply from someone writing under the address […]
August 31, 2009
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Dragutin Topic’s 7-7 jump is highest M35 mark on record
While poking around the IAAF Top Lists for notable masters marks, I came across a previously unreported high jump of 2.31 (7-7) for Serbia’s Dragutin Topic, now 38. This beats the listed world age-group record of 2.27 (by Dragutin on 7/7/07) and also the unratified M35 best of 2.30 by American Charles Austin. Dragutin didn’t make […]
August 31, 2009
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USATF’s Snyder seeks ‘middle ground’ on records set at NSG
Gary Snyder, national masters chairman of USATF, sent this note today: “I thought it would be helpful to provide an update on the NSG situation. I was informed that the meet was not sanctioned last week by Sandy Pashkin, who began processing record forms and was told by the USATF National Office that a sanction […]
August 30, 2009
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Ken Weinbel honored at National Throws Championships
Ken Weinbel was the USATF Masters Track and Field Committee chairman in the late 1990s, and he took a lot of guff (from me) in a day when I wasn’t up to speed on his powers and organizational limits. But Ken was upfront with me at all times. In recent years, he’s been battling various […]
August 30, 2009
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More vault world records vanish in USATF-sanction swamp
Flo Meiler and Don Pellmann came away from this month’s National Senior Games pleased and proud — both having broken world records in the pole vault for their age groups. In Palo Alto, Flo went 6-7 at age 75 and Don went 5-1 3/4 at 93. But like Kay Glynn’s never-to-be-WR in 2007, set at a USATF association […]
August 29, 2009
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Latest gallery features 4x4s at Lahti: our best and brightest
Richard Rubenis of the Telford AC may have been the shortest M35 sprinter at Lahti. But he must have felt 9 feet tall after anchoring Britain to the 4Ă—4 gold medal at the world masters championships this month. The love he got from his mates, shown in my latest photo gallery, says it all about […]
August 28, 2009
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Masters manifesto circulated to U.S. group launched in Lahti
Anselm LeBourne, who organized a meeting of Americans at Lahti worlds, has updated attendees on the group’s progress. He writes: “Robert Thomas will be our representative in Indianapolis (USATF headquarters) since he’s living in Indianapolis.” And Anselm asks for a vote on a name for the outfit, writing: “You can still submit a name for the […]
August 28, 2009
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