Archive for July, 2015

National Senior Games entry numbers blow away Jax competition

Could it be the weather? Ambience? Status? For whatever reason, entry lists at the National Senior Games track meet now under way in St. Paul, Minnesota, are a lot fatter than those for Jacksonville masters nationals in a couple weeks. In Florida, a dozen are entered in the M70 100. At the University of St. […]

July 8, 2015   Posted in: Uncategorized  38 Comments

Christa B Good — at dropping down in groups for relay records

The Greyhounds Track Club under coach Harold Morioka on Tuesday broke the Canadian W60 4-by-400 record with a time of 5:27.92 in the Ocean Athletics twilight meet in Surrey, British Columbia. For the second time this season, the team pulled in a ringer — 78-year-old Christa Bortignon. (The next thing you know, the W60s will […]

July 8, 2015   Posted in: Uncategorized  2 Comments

Irie Hill’s hat trick — third W45 vault world record in past 2 months

Irie “Izzy” Hill did it again. Competing at a German meet on July 3, she raised her own W45 world record in the vault to 3.76 meters (12-4). It’s her third WR this season, after earlier efforts of 3.65 and 3.70. Irie tells me: “I feel like a gambler on a winning spree. … I […]

July 7, 2015   Posted in: Uncategorized  2 Comments

Stoke the fires under USATF to pay for masters travel to Beijing

Momentum is building. More people are joining my call for USATF to pay for Anselm and Renee’s way to Beijing for their masters races at IAAF worlds. (Fifty have signed my petition.) One notable supporter is Donald Schaefer, an Oregon-based USATF national umpire. On the USATF officials Facebook page, he wrote: “After speaking to many […]

July 7, 2015   Posted in: Uncategorized  3 Comments

M50 David Heath, M40 Anthony Whiteman astonish in major 800s

In the 800 final of the British open nationals over the weekend, the field was made up of kids aged 19, 29, 32, 23, 21, 23, 21 and 43. Say what? Yup, masters mile recordholder Anthony Whiteman, at 43, was racing kids young enough to be his sons. He made it to the final with […]

July 7, 2015   Posted in: Uncategorized  One Comment

WMA not endorsing anyone in IAAF prexy race, but very hopeful

After posting the news about Sergey Bubka pitching his masters ideas, I wrote to Stan Perkins, president of World Masters Athletics. Stan responded speedily (perhaps because I had gone out on a limb to predict Sergey was promising more money for WMA or a takeover of its recordkeeping role. Both may be a stretch.) Anyhoo, […]

July 6, 2015   Posted in: Uncategorized  No Comments

Canada’s Lenore Montgomery mauls W85 world record in 800

Lenore Montgomery has been a Canadian middle-distance star for years, and she added to her legend over the weekend with a W85 world record at 800, clocking 4:39.14. She smashed the listed WR of 4:56.10 by Ukraine’s Vladylena Kokina in 2012 as well as a never-ratified 4:44.68 by Australia’s Margaret Prowse in 2009. On the […]

July 6, 2015   Posted in: Uncategorized  No Comments

Bubka vows money for masters, IAAF role in WMA records system

I don’t know whether to treat this news as Christmas in July or pie-in-the-sky. But IAAF presidential candidate Sergey Bubka has announced that he’d throw money at WMA and even give IAAF a role in age-group records vetting. This could be huge. It’s also a sign of how desperate Sergey is in his race against […]

July 6, 2015   Posted in: Uncategorized  3 Comments

Track lovebirds Roger and Diane getting hitched after Lyon worlds

The wedding is set: Saturday, Sept. 12. As noted in March 2014, M70 Roger Pierce and W45 Diane Tedford Pomeroy became engaged amid a shared love of track. I wrote Roger for details, and he graciously replied: “We will be married at the Hotel Hawthorne in historic Salem, Mass., … in a simple but lovely […]

July 5, 2015   Posted in: Uncategorized  24 Comments

Petition: USATF should pay for pair’s travel to IAAF Beijing worlds

When I heard that the IAAF world meet would have masters exhibition races, I assumed that USATF would help with expenses if Americans were chosen. Boy, was I wrong. On Friday, Anselm LeBourne launched a GoFundMe drive to raise $3,000 to cover travel costs to Beijing and his masters exhibition 800. God bless the folks […]

July 4, 2015   Posted in: Uncategorized  5 Comments