Archive for August, 2014

Steve Robbins summarizes 50-plus years of sprinting lessons

Last year, just before Olathe nationals, I visited my alma mater KU and stopped by Watson Library. I went up to a random librarian and said: “I have to apologize for tearing out a piece of Life magazine in the mid-70s.” I ripped out a quote: “Hurdling is good training for a writer.” The counter […]

August 21, 2014   Posted in: Uncategorized  22 Comments

Bill Melville dies at 87; world-class sprinter was big force for years

Bill Melville had a gut — and guts. He ran faster than anyone with a beer belly had a right to do. So I was saddened to learn from Peter Taylor that Bill died Monday of kidney and lung cancer. Peter says he got the news from Bill’s wife, Goldie Melville. “Bill was 87 and […]

August 20, 2014   Posted in: Uncategorized  7 Comments

‘I might have been another Carl Lewis,’ Champion Goldy says at 97

I don’t write enough about the best name in masters track: M95 Champion Goldy Sr. But his local paper did me a favor with this great profile. We learn some interesting things about Champ, 97, a member of the M90 relay teams that set WRs at North Carolina nationals. For example: “I’d like to run […]

August 19, 2014   Posted in: Uncategorized  One Comment

Wayne’s Wisdom: M75 Bennett shares bounty on faster sprinting

A couple weeks ago, M75 sprinter Wayne Bennett sent me a paper he wrote, saying that coaches who say “run yourself silly and then run some more” is bad advice, especially for masters. “This just tears up the body and tires it out,” Wayne writes from Texas. So he attached a short paper he once […]

August 18, 2014   Posted in: Uncategorized  11 Comments

Oscar Peyton says in his 20s he could have beaten Usain Bolt

M60 Oscar Peyton wasn’t boasting. He was just matter-of-fact talking about his never-realized potential as an open sprinter. Our frequent national sprint champ — who beats Bill Collins on rare occasions — was being featured in a local TV segment. He notes that he didn’t run track till his 50s. So his guess on his […]

August 17, 2014   Posted in: Uncategorized  8 Comments

Irene Obera won’t be IAAF World’s Best Master Athlete in 2014

World Masters Athletics, like USATF, has a dumb policy on end-of-year awards: Play in our games, or no global honors to your name. That’s the upshot of an email sent by WMA Regional President Sandy Pashkin to USATF Masters Awards Committee chair Mary Trotto and Canadian counterpart Brian Keaveney. Sandy wrote Friday: “Brian and Mary, […]

August 16, 2014   Posted in: Uncategorized  22 Comments

Noo Yawk accents galore in Newsday video on Bohemia TC women

Newsday is a big-time news outlet for NYC suburbanites, and this week it profiled several women of the Bohemia TC, including stars Caryl Senn-Griffiths and Mary Trotto, who does everything under the sun. The video is priceless. The story is worth checking out as well. A highlight: “Come and try something. Try anything. You’ll love […]

August 15, 2014   Posted in: Uncategorized  One Comment

Missing the 1972 Games, she isn’t missing out now as W55 star

Yes, you can. That’s the message of masters track to many of us. Yes, you can go back to your track star youth. And Wendy Alexis got the message big time in her late 50s. As Martin Cleary writes in a wonderful Ottawa Citizen profile: “After double leg surgery, a doctor said she would never […]

August 14, 2014   Posted in: Uncategorized  8 Comments

Steve Peters sweeps M60 sprints at British masters nationals

Athletics Weekly (aka the British T&FN but actually covering all of track) reports on old-reliable Steve Peters taking the 1, 2 and 4 at British masters nationals over the weeken. Steve is tbe UK version of Bill Collins — class act, fast act. AW says: “He had won world titles last year but his commitments […]

August 13, 2014   Posted in: Uncategorized  No Comments

Curt Morgan on Stephanie Timmer, Marilyn Coleman: Too Good

In his last missive from masters nationals, Curt Morgan writes: Talk about scary good! Over in the women’s heavyweight throw at the 2014 nationals, you’d find W45 Stephanie Timmer, surely the fastest lady marathoner (best: a phenomenal 3:17) ever to cop double masters weight golds (both shot and discus in Winston-Salem). The “scary” part? Since […]

August 12, 2014   Posted in: Uncategorized  One Comment