Archive for May, 2010

Mile record-holder John Hinton featured in short documentary

M45 miler John Hinton, a North Carolina masters legend, is a focus of a 9-minute documentary posted three months ago on YouTube. The video, uploaded by “jksuttle,” is described thusly: “This piece follows John Hinton (Carrboro native and world-record holder) as he prepares for the 2009 USA Masters Track & Field (nationals); it also compares […]

May 15, 2010   Posted in: Uncategorized  5 Comments

National Senior Games to pay USATF to run its track meets

According to minutes posted from the latest USATF Masters T&F Executive Committee meeting, USATF will be in charge of the track meet of the biennial National Senior Games. The next one is in Houston in 2011. Jeff Brower’s notes from Thursday’s teleconference say: “USATF & NSG lawyers are ironing out the details for USATF to […]

May 14, 2010   Posted in: Uncategorized  10 Comments

Mary Trotto named chair of USATF Masters T&F Awards Committee

Hawaii’s Mary Trotto, a regular at nationals and worlds, has officially replaced Dave Clingan as chair of the USATF Masters T&F Awards Committee. Mary informed the two-dozen members: “As of today, Gary Snyder has appointed me officially as the awards chairperson. This happened at the executive committee meeting which was held Thursday.” This is no […]

May 14, 2010   Posted in: Uncategorized  4 Comments

Albuquerque re-awarded 2011 USATF masters indoor nationals

USATF has announced in a strange press release that Albuquerque, New Mexico, will host the 2011 masters national indoor championships. Why strange? Because the city was publicly chosen as host of the 2011 meet last December. Five months ago, the annual convention voted for New Mexico 26-25 over Bloomington, Indiana. So why the re-announcement? As […]

May 14, 2010   Posted in: Uncategorized  8 Comments

Canadian track coach Charlie Francis also mourned by masters

Charlie Francis, known to the world as coach of dope-cheat Ben Johnson, died Wednesday after a five-year battle with cancer. He was 61. But obituaries fail to note his friendship with masters sprinters and how his website included a masters community (message board). He posted “tips from CF” such as this in December 2006: “For […]

May 14, 2010   Posted in: Uncategorized  4 Comments

Sean Callahan re-emerges with story on masters interval training

Chicago’s Sean Callahan, founder and editor of the hibernating Masters Athlete magazine (aka GeezerJock), has written a wise and wonderful story for the Chicago Tribune. It’s about interval training for masters tracksters. See it here. The article quotes national indoor M65 champion J.A. Abels, who won the 400 in Landover. “There’s no doubt in my […]

May 13, 2010   Posted in: Uncategorized  10 Comments

Deadline is Saturday for USATF Challenge Grant applications

Saturday is the deadline for applying for a chunk of change from USATF. It’s the Challenge Grant process, mentioned back in late March. Here’s what USATF says: “The deadline of May 15, 2010 is fast approaching but applications are still being accepted and considered for USATF’s Excellence Challenge Grants. USA Track & Field will fund […]

May 12, 2010   Posted in: Uncategorized  No Comments

Phil Raschker, our Usain Bolt, again poster child for masters sports

A new website called SecondAct features Masters Hall of Famer Phil Raschker in a story on masters sports. See it here. I like SecondAct’s mantra: “Your first 40 years may have been successful. Your next 40 can be even better.” The article quotes Phil as saying: “At times I have stepped away from being competitive […]

May 12, 2010   Posted in: Uncategorized  No Comments

USATF SoCal Masters Championships dodge head-to-head bullet

Mark Cleary writes that the 2010 USATF Southern California Association Masters Championships will be held June 12 at Orange Coast College in Costa Mesa. “You can download this entry form and send it or enter online at www.scausatf.org, Mark says. “Please tell your teammates and everyone you know in Masters Track & Field about this […]

May 12, 2010   Posted in: Uncategorized  2 Comments

Son of masters jumper Ron Lee sets back-to-back national records

Coach and author Ron Lee, a national-class M45 high jumper, is one proud poppa. His 10-year-old son Sean has set two national Bantam (age 9-10) records in the high jump in recent weeks. “He actually broke it last weekend at the Long Beach Sprinters youth meet by jumping 1.56 meters,” Ron writes. “The old record […]

May 11, 2010   Posted in: Uncategorized  8 Comments