Archive for April, 2010

Kip Janvrin struggles with competing loves: work, family, decathlon

In mid-March, under everyone’s radar, Olympic decathlete Kip Janvrin resumed competition in the 10-event grind at age 44. He’d made a deal with the combined event athletes he coaches that he’d enter the dec at a meet in Texas if enough of them did well at indoor nationals. They did, so Kip went back to […]

April 12, 2010   Posted in: Uncategorized  11 Comments

Christian Cushing-Murray repeats as Carlsbad 5000 masters champ

While waiting for my wife to pass by, I shot the men’s and women’s masters races at today’s Carlsbad 5000. Christian Cushing-Murray, 42, won the men’s race for a second straight year (picking up another check for $1,000). His time was about 14:40. Amazing. He told me afterward that he took Coach Peter Magill’s advice […]

April 11, 2010   Posted in: Uncategorized  7 Comments

Kip Janvrin returns to decathlon at 44, rocks kids at Emporia St.

Sydney Olympian Kip Janvrin, who set the M40 world decathlon record at 2005 San Sebastian worlds, turns 45 in July and appears to want that age-group record as well. Friday at Emporia, Kansas, he wrapped up his latest decathlon — an open deca — with a winning mark of 6,807 points. That’s before age-grading. (Can […]

April 11, 2010   Posted in: Uncategorized  7 Comments

‘Autumn Gold’ masters track documentary to debut in Toronto

Toronto folks are lucky ducks! They get to see the North American premiere of “Herbstgold” (“Autumn Gold”), the German-made masters track documentary that includes a lot of footage from Lahti worlds. It’s not the first masters track movie (that honor belongs to the American film “Racing Against the Clock,” which I reviewed five years ago.) […]

April 10, 2010   Posted in: Uncategorized  7 Comments

Hookit.com helps athletes find sponsors! Worth checking out

Apparently, you have to wear your ballcap sideways to lure a sponsor. But I’ve written the folks at hookit.com to see if there’s a market for underwriting masters tracksters. Here’s a detailed history of this San Diego-based outfit, which used to be called SponsorHouse or Loop’d. With youngsters sharing a major share of the market, […]

April 9, 2010   Posted in: Uncategorized  4 Comments

Masters sprinter suffering clinical depression seeks our advice

We often celebrate comebacks by athletes who endured major injury or disease. But that’s not all we have to deal with. A masters sprinter has written me seeking advice on how to deal with clinical depression, especially the medications prescribed to deal with it. I have no wisdom on this subject. But y’all may have […]

April 8, 2010   Posted in: Uncategorized  14 Comments

Frank Levine stakes claim to M95 mile indoor world record

Since neither WMA nor USATF list an indoor record for the M95 mile, Frank Levine apparently is the de facto record-holder. Competing at the Mid-Atlantic USATF Indoor Championships March 7 in Glen Mills, Pennsylvania, forever-young Frank ran the mile in 15:18.99. (Complete results are here.) Actually, he has a faster time from a December 2009 […]

April 8, 2010   Posted in: Uncategorized  2 Comments

We have work to do: Folks still don’t know about masters track

I’ve had this experience. So have you, probably. You’re training at a local track in your colorful meet T-shirt. Another older adult asks you: Are you a marathon runner? Nope, sprints and jumps. Which leads you to describe masters track as your new friend’s jaw drops. I’m reminded of this scenario by a story in […]

April 8, 2010   Posted in: Uncategorized  7 Comments

Aeron Arlin Genet targets W40 mile American record (and prize $$$)

In Northern California, the Santa Rosa Press-Democrat informs us of a May 7 pair of miles with prize money. The Heart & Sole shoestore is sponsoring the races and the paper says: “Aeron Arlin Genet will attempt to break the women’s Masters (over 40) mile record of 4:46.29. Genet was part of a team that […]

April 7, 2010   Posted in: Uncategorized  8 Comments

Tony McManus claims M60 mile world record, threatens 1500 WR

New Zealand’s Tony McManus, a masters champion since at least the 1990s, ran an outdoor mile in 4:53.29 on February 20 to break the listed M60 world age-group record of 4:54.07 by Holland’s Joop Ruter in 1993. The mile WR came in Christchurch “in front of a small but vocal crowd,” reported Tony’s club site. […]

April 7, 2010   Posted in: Uncategorized  3 Comments