Archive for March, 2010

M55 Rich Burns describes his American record in 1500-meter run

Pete Magill interviews his buddy Rich Burns after Rich ran a 4:17.80 for 1500 over the weekend, beating a Nolan Shaheed M55 American record. Rich says his last quarter was 65 seconds. Incredible. I could barely stay with him for a 300. More details are on Pete’s blog, including a video of the race.

March 14, 2010   Posted in: Uncategorized  No Comments

Gentlemen (and ladies), start your Penn Relays entries

Phil Felton, majordomo of masters events at the Penn Relays, has begun circulating entry information for this year’s event, which is April 23-24 at Franklin Field in Philly. As usual, you can expect 50,000 people in the stands going ape over age-groupers (as we certainly deserve). Click here for the entry form. Phil says deadline […]

March 14, 2010   Posted in: Uncategorized  2 Comments

File this under: M40 indoor records you won’t see on the books

Mike Godbout, one of the surprise newcomers at Lahti worlds, didn’t know any better when he ran the 42-inch hurdles a year ago at Iowa State University. It was just an innocent collegiate indoor meet, an NCAA qualifier for the kids. But Mike, who at 40 was racing cats half his age, clocked 8.18 seconds […]

March 13, 2010   Posted in: Uncategorized  11 Comments

Olympian Trish Porter unveils book: ‘Rekindle Your Dreams’

W45 high jumper Trish Porter competed for Team USA in the 1988 Olympics, and has been a regular on the masters circuit for years, setting world records and winning four world titles. But it wasn’t a straight line from elite to age-group meets. “In 1994, I had a bad neck injury during practice on a […]

March 12, 2010   Posted in: Uncategorized  6 Comments

Val Barnwell blames sabotage, racial bias in his doping case

The United States Anti-Doping Agency has issued the American Arbitration Association’s “final order” in the Val Barnwell doping case from Lahti. And it’s a doozy. I’ve posted it here. Val’s defense speaks for itself — and he may never recover from this.  Among other things, he says he was the victim of an “elaborate sabotage […]

March 12, 2010   Posted in: Uncategorized  58 Comments

Raschker on latest honor: ‘totally surprised and very honored’

Phil Raschker, deep into tax season, graciously took time out from her accounting chores to answer my query about her latest honor: USATF Athlete of the Week. On her fourth win, Phil wrote: “I was totally surprised and very honored, especially considering the great performances and records set by other athletes in Kamloops.” But as […]

March 12, 2010   Posted in: Uncategorized  4 Comments

Raschker named USATF Athlete of the Week for fourth time

By my count, Phil Raschker has won the top USATF weekly honor four times (corrected from three). First was in summer 2002 after Orono nationals. Next came  September 2007 after Riccione outdoor worlds. Then in March 2008 after Clermont-Ferrand indoor worlds. And then yesterday in the wake of Kamloops, where she won 10 medals (seven […]

March 11, 2010   Posted in: Uncategorized  7 Comments

Canadian border guards almost spiked Team USA massages

No good deed goes unpunished. So it went for two volunteer chiropractors who helped American athletes at Kamloops last week. Turns out Dr. Greg  Summers, whose service I touted a few weeks ago, had a limited gig at worlds.  “Dr. Summers didn’t show up until Friday afternoon, so he was only there a day and […]

March 11, 2010   Posted in: Uncategorized  16 Comments

WMA prez denies post about Massin getting personal bodyguards

On Sunday, the day after Kamloops closed the books on the 4th World Masters Indoor Athletics Championships, a strange post appeared on Annette’s Seite, which covers German masters track. Translated, it read: “German competitors at the World Indoors made it known that WMA anti-doping czar Dieter Massin received temporary personal security (bodyguards) after the announcement […]

March 10, 2010   Posted in: Uncategorized  19 Comments

Jim Wetenhall torches M55 American indoor superweight record

Toledo firefighter Jim Wetenhall shattered the listed M55 American indoor record in the superweight throw Saturday at the USATF Michigan Indoor Open/Masters Championships. Complete results are here. He heaved the 56-pound sucker 10.55 meters (34-7 1/2) to beat the listed age-group record of 9.86 (32-4 1/4) by Olympian Tom Gage in 2000. The mark also […]

March 10, 2010   Posted in: Uncategorized  4 Comments