Archive for April, 2015

Canadian Masters Hall of Fame adds Hawkins, ‘Shaggy’ Smith

Belated congrats to our Canadian pals John Hawkins and Doug “Shaggy for Good Reason” Smith, named to the Canadian Masters Athletics Hall of Fame for 2015. We learn: “John Hawkins began competing as a sub-master in 1984, after a career as a high jumper which included a 9th place finish in the 1972 Olympics and the […]

April 30, 2015   Posted in: Uncategorized  10 Comments

Chris Brown at 36 heading to IAAF World Relays to lift Bahamas

Chris ‘Why Won’t They Ratify My M35 400 WR’ Brown ran an amazing 44.76 last weekend at Drake, but that’s still not the best age-group 400 under his belt. The Bahamas veteran clocked 44.59 last year, says IAAF Top Lists. (The listed WR is a pedestrian 45.76 by Ibrahima Wade in 2004.) This weekend, Chris […]

April 29, 2015   Posted in: Uncategorized  One Comment

Nick Berra repeats Drake-Penn double, plans hiatus after season

Middle-distance star Nick Berra deserves a break. And he’s taking one after this season, he reports. His latest exertions include winning the 800 at Drake and running a relay at Penn the next day (Saturday). He did the masters double five years ago, you’ll recall. Videos of Penn races are online, but Flocast charges for […]

April 28, 2015   Posted in: Uncategorized  No Comments

Alisa Harvey had a special fan in stands at Drake Relays 800

Running in front of your kids is no rarity for masters tracksters. But winning the Drake Relays masters 800 with your hurdler daughter in the house? Priceless. That’s what I learned when I wrote Virginia’s Alisa Harvey. At age 49, she’s still kicking butt (in 2:22.61). She forgave me for erringly posting the wrong winner […]

April 27, 2015   Posted in: Uncategorized  2 Comments

William Anthony freezes action, Penn Relays masters excitement

William Anthony has posted hundreds of shots of masters at the Penn Relays. See his SmugMug gallery. A professional photographer in northeastern North Carolina, he writes on Google+, “I mostly specialize in sports photography. … I travel quite a bit up and down the East Coast. I work with National Masters News magazine on occasion […]

April 26, 2015   Posted in: Uncategorized  3 Comments

Big weekend for masters exhibitions — and exhibitionists in red

A comebacking Alisa Harvey, who turns 50 in September, won the Drake Relays masters 800 Saturday, and masters hurdlers debuted at Penn, where tens of thousands cheered our quartets and sprinters. OK, enough of that (for now). The real history was made at the UC San Diego Triton Invitational, where my sprint marks led to […]

April 25, 2015   Posted in: Uncategorized  4 Comments

M45 Nick Berra claims another Drake Relays masters 800 title

Looks like Pennsylvania’s Nick Berra, 46, is going for another wild “trains, planes and automobiles” double this weekend. On Friday, he won the Drake Relays masters men’s 800 in 2:02.85. He also won in 2013 and 2010. Here’s what I wrote in 2010: “Nick Berra says he had ‘a crazy couple of days’ over the […]

April 24, 2015   Posted in: Uncategorized  2 Comments

World Masters Games 2017 offering a free trip to New Zealand

The World Masters Games will be in Auckland, New Zealand, in 2017 — a year after WMA worlds in relatively nearby Perth, Australia. That isn’t news. This is: “Here’s your chance to win a trip to Auckland to compete in the Games, with return flights and your Games entry on us. To celebrate two years […]

April 23, 2015   Posted in: Uncategorized  3 Comments

India insanity! 3 federations vie for masters tracksters at 3 nationals

The soap opera of Indian masters track just got soapier. I wrote an Indian masters athlete the other day to see how things were going in the saga of competing federations (one is WMA-affiliated, the other not). I’ve written about how pay-to-play is in effect. But the note I got Wednesday blew my white-cotton socks […]

April 22, 2015   Posted in: Uncategorized  One Comment

Relay ARs easy pickings at Penn if teams are formed properly

WMA and USATF both list relay records in 5-year increments (with America adding a “Club Relay” wrinkle), but some records are missing from the American record list. Since Penn is this weekend, teams should be aware of the “vacant” records, especially the 4-by-400. For men, no U.S. records are listed in 45-49, 55-59, 65-69 and […]

April 21, 2015   Posted in: Uncategorized  8 Comments