$2,500 in prize money shared by four Sierra Gold record-setters

Missouri’s Myrle Mensey with her prize for upping her 3-year-old W65 hammer AR.

Organizers of last Saturday’s Sierra Gold masters meet northeast of Sacramento dished out $2,500 to four record-setters, as the local paper reported. They included M65 Doug Torbert in the shot (getting credit for a WR even though he has a better mark earlier this year). He took home a grand. American record setters collecting $500 each were W65 Kathy Martin in the mile (just missing the WR), W65 Myrle Mensey in the hammer and W60 Carol Finsrud in the discus. “It was pretty exciting to win the $1,000,” Doug writes. “Their criteria for the award was to celebrate the achievement of any athlete who broke the existing (listed) world or American record. It definitely made it special to be able to share the moment with other athletes and those in attendance.” He says he got the check almost immediately, but “I haven’t really thought about how I’ll spend it — I think I’ll save it so I go can go back to next year’s meet. Evening sky, surrounded by tall pines — it definitely was a beautiful setting for a track meet.”

Kathy clocked 5:55.99 to crush the decade-old listed AR of 6:16.28 by Marie Michelsohn, just missing the listed WR of 5:54.59 by Britain’s Angela Copson.

I wrote Kathy, asking if she was battling injuries or illness.

“No injuries,” she graciously replied. “Just took it out too fast and paid the price.” Her laps were 83.2, 93.1, 93.0 and 86.6. “Never too old to learn :)”

I asked if she’d try for the mile again this summer, and she said: “Don’t know of any other mile events this summer. Are you aware of any? I would love to give it another shot.”

(OK, folks. Chime in!)

Myrle improved her own AR in the hammer from 39.61 (129-11) of 2014 to 39.77 (130-5).

“First outdoor meet of the season at this Sierra Gold Masters championship in Green Valley, California, on May 20th,” she wrote on Facebook. “I’m excited to see what the rest of the season will be like.”

And Carol, a newbie 60, spun the discus 36.08 (118-4) to shatter the listed AR of 32.58 (106-10) by Carol Frost in 2006. (The listed WR is 39.24 or 128-9). Carol now owns the listed AR in six age groups — W35, W40, W45, W50, W55 and W60. (But she knows that Gia Lewis-Smallwood has a better W35 throw — the actual American open record of 69.17 or 226-11.)

Complete Sierra Gold results are here.

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May 25, 2017

2 Responses

  1. Mary Harada - May 26, 2017

    Adrain Martinez Classic Mile in Concord, MA June 1st – eve – certified so records can be set.

  2. Peter L. Taylor - May 27, 2017

    Congratulations to Doug, Kathy, Myrle, and Carol for their performances at Grass Valley. Imagine that, four superstars at a relatively small meet, and they all came up big.

    Grass Valley provided a nice setting for a T&F competition, and I think it was a success. The announcing, however, left a great deal to be desired. Too bad.

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