4 years after the fact, Christian Cushing-Murray nets his M45 AR

Ray Knerr (left) and Pete Magill (right) visit with Cush after his AR 1500. Diana Hernandez photo.

On the Ides of March 2013, Christian Cushing-Murray was seven months away from turning 46. He stepped to the line of the first 1500 heat at the Oxy Invitational in Los Angeles and proceeded to chase kids half his age. He finished 13th in a fantastic 3:55.09, which I celebrated as an M45 American record. It beat the listed AR of 3:56.39 by John Hinton in 2007. (The listed WR is now 3:48.72 by Britain’s Anthony Whiteman.) But years passed, and crickets. No record listing. But this week, Cush learned that his AR application had been approved, and masters records czar Jeff Brower should be posting it soon. On Facebook, Cush said the mark went “unratified because of paperwork issues. … The performance meant a lot to me when I did it — it was the culmination of setting a goal, a year of preparation, and executing a solid race — but the record didn’t really mean much; it was enough to know I did it. Now, in my elder years, I cannot tell a lie: The official record does mean something to me, because I know how difficult — and fleeting — these things are.” Again, thanks to Jeff for righting a Sandy Pashkin wrong. And belated happy M50 to Cush, whose birthday was a month ago.

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November 11, 2017

2 Responses

  1. rich burns - November 12, 2017

    Great to see it’s finally official…Congrats!

  2. Matt B. - November 12, 2017

    Finally-Congrats!. Converts to 4:13 mile
    M50 AR 4:01.77 about a 4:20 mile.
    Go for it!

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