Archive for July, 2010

Two-day regional meets — evoking nationals or peeving athletes?

Once upon a time, the USATF West Region Masters Championships was a one-day meet. Folks came from three or four states to compete at places like Los Gatos High School (near San Jose) or Cerritos College in Norwalk (near L.A.). But in recent years, under the direction of USATF West Region Coordinator Mark Cleary, the […]

July 14, 2010   Posted in: Uncategorized  15 Comments

Special treat at Texas masters meet: Olympian as guest starter

Thane Baker is a Midwest sprint legend. At the 1956 Melbourne Olympics, he won gold in the 4×1, silver in the 100 (behind Bobby Joe Morrow) and bronze in the 200. On Saturday, at age 78, he showed up for the Texas Masters Championships at Coppell High School. Meet director Wayne Bennett sent these results. […]

July 14, 2010   Posted in: Uncategorized  2 Comments

France, Germany split team victories in international dual meet

On a hot day in northern France, Saturday saw a cool masters meet: a dual between French and German teams in the 40-49 and 50-59 age groups. The Eurovets site reports that Germany won the M/W40 dual and France won the M/W50. Here are results. According to the Koops’ site, the W40 French team edged […]

July 13, 2010   Posted in: Uncategorized  2 Comments

Details, entry form posted for WMA regional meet in Puerto Rico

Information and entry forms for the XIX Masters Athletics Regional Championship “to be celebrated in the autonomous city of Mayaguez, Puerto Rico, from the 2nd to the 6th of September, 2010,” are now posted. Here is the website. The home page, built on a free Google platform rather than its own domain, says: “This page […]

July 13, 2010   Posted in: Uncategorized  2 Comments

Sacramento train wreck in the offing? Heat is on to fix schedule

Logistics are a bitch. A four-day masters championships with hundreds of heats is always a bear to schedule. But add temps in the high 90s, and you have a potential disaster in Sacramento. After the exact time schedule was posted Monday, many of you noted problems. One athlete wrote me: “My 5K and 1500 start […]

July 13, 2010   Posted in: Uncategorized  73 Comments

Love them Lisas! Valle and Daley lead record assault in California

Lisa Valle of the SoCal Track Club and Lisa Daley of the Central Park Track Club each set records over the weekend, while M70 hammer god Ed Burke and M55 vaulter Charlie Brown rewrote the books as well. California was the site of all four records — at three venues. Lisa Valle crashed through the […]

July 12, 2010   Posted in: Uncategorized  16 Comments

‘Minimum’ heights announced for Sacramento — a masters first?

According to this info sheet about Sacramento masters nationals, the opening height for one of my events, the M55 high jump, will be 1.33 meters (4-4 1/4). That happens to be my 2009 season best — achieved at Lahti worlds (where I heeded rhythmic clapping from my rivals and cleared the bar). So unless the […]

July 11, 2010   Posted in: Uncategorized  39 Comments

About 6 dozen foreign athletes entered in Sacramento nationals

Canada is sending athletes. So are Australia, Brazil, Indonesia, Mexico and Japan. Like all other USATF masters nationals, Sacramento is opening its arms to foreign masters athletes. I’m still looking for Olympians, but don’t recognize any in a list provided by Bob Burns of the local organizing committee. But many Canadian entrants, and several from […]

July 10, 2010   Posted in: Uncategorized  One Comment

Jim Crittenden not being coy: He wants M60 WR in the long jump

Jim Crittenden is an M60 jumper with good credentials. According to this press release, his gym and sponsor, Fitness Together in Washington state, declares: “Former National Gold Medalist Jim Crittenden to go for the world record in the long jump.” An earlier story in his local paper telegraphed the same goal: “This July, he will […]

July 10, 2010   Posted in: Uncategorized  3 Comments

Pete Magill is back writing — for Running Times and its website

M45 rehabber Pete Magill pulled the plug on his milestone blog, but not his masters coverage. While writing me on another subject, he revealed: “I thought I’d let you know that Running Times just posted the first entry in my monthly online column: Magill On Masters. It headlines the front of the RT homepage today […]

July 9, 2010   Posted in: Uncategorized  4 Comments