Archive for October, 2017

USATF Masters T&F urges grass-roots bids for national meets

USATFmasters.org, our funky but fact-filled resource site, announces: “Bid for a National Masters Track and Field Meet!” The memo says: “Interested in bringing a Masters T&F meet to your area? Want to build Masters T&F in your area? Want to help your local economy? Want to gain experience working with USATF to put on a […]

October 31, 2017   Posted in: Uncategorized  3 Comments

Mastershistory.org adds treasure trove on the Age-Graded Tables

On Feb. 20, 1999, Rex Harvey faxed Al Sheahen a copy of a letter he wrote to Len Olson, who was then writing (with my help) a history of masters track. I didn’t read the letter until Sunday — the fourth anniversary of Al’s death. Rex’s letter described the history of age-grading and the Age-Graded […]

October 29, 2017   Posted in: Uncategorized  10 Comments

Mastersrankings.com adding news, info to grow, fund global sport

John Seto of mastersrankings.com and Amanda Scotti of National Masters News are soliciting “news people want to see” on John’s WMA-sanctioned site. The first report on the newly redesigned site is Ken Castro’s post on the Huntsman World Senior Games. Cool. In this introductory post, they say their goal is “to fill a need within […]

October 28, 2017   Posted in: Uncategorized  No Comments

British javelinist in doping case is coached by masters thrower

Athletics Weekly reports a doping case against 31-year-old javelin thrower Joanna Blair of the UK. But since she’s not 35 yet, I care not. What’s interesting is the adverbial phrase in the story’s last sentence: “Coached by masters thrower David Burrell, she was hoping to qualify for the Commonwealth Games in Australia next year.” Uh […]

October 27, 2017   Posted in: Uncategorized  2 Comments

Europe destined to host 2022 WMA world outdoor championships?

An Italian Facebook page suggests that three cities are bidding to host the 2022 World Master Athletics Championships — aka outdoor worlds. The cities mentioned are Tampere (Finland), Gothenburg (Sweden) and L’Aquila (Italy). Of course, Toronto will host 2020 worlds, so forget about North America getting the meet two years later. I wrote to WMA […]

October 26, 2017   Posted in: Uncategorized  10 Comments

Masterstrack.com wins 3rd-place blog award at S.D. Press Club

Tuesday night was big for Team Stone. Wife Chris and I collected a total of 20 honors at the San Diego Press Club’s Excellence in Journalism Awards. (See the story in Times of San Diego.) Counting my 14-ribbon haul this year, I’ve won 52 awards over the past seven years. (Don’t ask what I’ve shelled […]

October 25, 2017   Posted in: Uncategorized  13 Comments

Australian W90 Heather Lee sets 3K race walk WR in Tasmania

Two days after South Africa’s Cecily Rootenberg became the first W90 20K race walker, Australia’s Heather Lee set a debut W90 world record Monday in the 3K track walk, clocking 24:56.97 at the 16th Australian Masters Games in Tasmania. (See results here.) She already was the W85 WR holder — and won gold and silver […]

October 24, 2017   Posted in: Uncategorized  4 Comments

Touching tribute to distance legend Ed Whitlock at Toronto Marathon

Ed Whitlock owned the Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon, setting many records there. His death in March at age 86 brought the streak to an end. But he still was present for Sunday’s race — via a tribute video shown on Canadian TV. Here’s what Canadian Running Magazine, which posted the video, said of our old […]

October 23, 2017   Posted in: Uncategorized  One Comment

South African becomes oldest lady 20K racewalker at age 92

A South African newspaper reports that Cecily Rootenberg at 92 has become the oldest female 20K race walker in history, “completing a historic feat after spending nearly four hours on the road” at a 20K road walk. (That’s 12.4 miles.) “Though her torso leaned gradually further to one side as the race progressed, she shuffled […]

October 22, 2017   Posted in: Uncategorized  No Comments

Eurovets Prez Kaschke invites brass to Frankfurt for pricey meeting

Kurt Kaschke, recently re-elected president of European Masters Athletics, has invited 20 of his Eurovets friends, mostly on the council, to a three-day meeting soon at the swanky Lindner Congress Hotel Frankfurt in Germany. EMA apparently is picking up the tab (at an estimated cost of $18,000). EMA General Secretary Helena Pires de Carvalho sent […]

October 21, 2017   Posted in: Uncategorized  One Comment