Phil Raschker writes: “Congratulations to Merlene”
If Phil Raschker had a buck for every record she’s set, she could take quite a few people out to lunch. One she’d love as a dining guest is Merlene Ottey, who is chewing her way through the masters records. Merlene’s latest mark — a W45 best for 200 meters of 23.82 — is nearly two seconds ahead of Phil’s W45 best of 25.56, which was the world age-group record for a dozen years. What does Phil think of Merlene? Well, I asked Phil, and she replied: “Congratulations to Merlene on her records. She has had a great career competing for different countries, and her performance demonstrates that women can perform at a high level long past the age many thought possible.”
Phil continued in an email note:
“(Merlene’s) records show that if elite open athletes would continue their training, the masters program would witness some great performances and of course even better records. Maybe this will bring out other elite athletes to join our program and go after the listed world masters records. That would bring some great publicity to our sport.
“Records are there to be broken. I am proud and a little surprised that my record lasted so long, especially since I consider myself a multi-athlete and not a specialist in the sprints/hurdles or jumps.
“I believe I set that 200 record in New York in June 1994 as part of a heptathlon. I don’t remember much about the race, as I was doing so many events. This was shortly after competing in the first exhibition pole vault for women at the Open Nationals in Knoxville, Tennessee. I placed second behind Melissa Price in that competition. Now that was something I remember.
“Next year I enter a new age group (W60), and hope to be healthy enough to go for some of the records. Maybe 15 years from now Merlene will come after those.”
