Results of the Hartshorne masters miles at Cornell University’s indoor track have begun trickling in — first with Pete Taylor’s report below. He doesn’t have official times, just recollections from the announcer booth, where he nearly lost his voice calling the events. In M50, Steve Chantry beat Jim Robinson with a winning time of 4:47.27. In the W40 elite mile, Alisa Harvey ran about 4:51. In the M40 elite final event, John Hinton led from the gun to win in “4:21 and change.” The race for second was close between Kevin Forde and Anselm LeBourne, both clocking 4:29s. Actually, the first I heard of Kevin’s 4:29 was on a roommate’s blog. A blog maintained for a club called the Groton Gophers told of a 6:11 mile by Steve Gallow.

Here is Pete’s report, titled: “How I Spent My Winter Vacation (Or: My Trip to Cornell for the Hartshorne)”
“If loving you is wrong, I don’t want to be right”
(from a song released in 1972)
“If announcing right is wrong, I don’t want to be right”
(Peter Taylor, announcer at the 2007 Hartshorne Mile[s]).
When Tom Hartshorne asked me to announce the Hartshorne Mile this year (a series of eight masters miles honoring his father), I said “yes” immediately. But as the event drew closer I wondered whether I would do a good job.
The big question was the acoustics; they’re not particularly good at Barton Hall (Cornell University), as the sound tends to bounce around. Tom came up with a variation in which the sound would not fill all parts of the arena but would be at least adequate. As it turns out, I had to shout (should have actually spoken with a big voice [think James Earl Jones], but that’s another story, and I had to smother the mike, as being even 2 inches away was too far). In short, I had to violate the basic precepts of announcing to be successful – I had to be wrong to be right.
I set out with a rental car from Fairfax, Virginia, at 11:27 a.m. on Friday (January 19). No sense in trusting my car, which has started to “buck” a bit. I’ll throw Enterprise Rent-a-Car a plug right here; they gave me a Chevrolet Cobalt for 3 days (unlimited mileage) for $56.07 total (including tax), not even $19.00 a day. Of course, this is a special rate, but perhaps Enterprise or some other company should be the “rental car agency for masters track.” I wonder how far we have gotten in landing this sort of sponsor; maybe we could get discounted rates every time we rented a car (and masters rent a lot of cars).
I took the direct (shortest) route to Ithaca, which meant going from Virginia into Maryland, past Frederick, Maryland, to Harrisburg (PA), then straight up the middle of Pennsylvania on route 15 and then 14 (to New York). My only problem is that I ran into Williamsport (Pennsylvania). Somehow I lost route 15 completely as I tried to maneuver through that old city, and soon I was bouncing around like a drunken rat in a maze. The wind was howling, the snow had started, things were not good.
Finally I saw a man delivering mail. I knew full well who his employer was, but I hollered at him: “Do you work for the Postal Service?” He said he did, and I begged him to tell me how to get on 15 north. Go to “Hebberin Street and turn right” he said. “ How do you spell that,” I countered, as I was desperate. Imagine the headline: “Masters track announcer becomes delirious in Williamsport, found in back alley muttering something about elite milers.”
He indicated he did not know the spelling; I thanked him profusely and recommended that Williamsport get some signs. Found the street (it was Hepburn Street), then easily found 15 north and kept going.
Got to Ithaca, New York, and for quite awhile I could not find my hotel to save my wretched life. Finally got there, and Tom Hartshorne took me and Duane Green to dinner, where we were joined by dozens of others (it was a wonderful affair). The next day I got up very early, went to the gas station for breakfast, then waited for Tom to take me to the meet. Let me tell you, he is a great host. Before he picked me up I told myself, “Just don’t be horrible.”
Got there, met Professor Rick Hoebeke (who took over the event in the 1980s); he’s another terrific guy.
The races themselves were very good indeed. They ran five non-elite sections (two of women, three of men), then ran the 50-59 male elite (a beautiful race in which Steve Chantry outdueled Jim Robinson, with Tom Ryan always in the hunt).
Don’t have my notes with me, but I believe Steve ran 4:47.27 (should consult final times, if I were you). Next up was the W40+ elite, featuring Alisa “Silk” Harvey. Alisa won like the champ she is (11-time All-American at the University of Tennessee), showing everyone what a superb performer looks like.
The place got pretty close to deafening on her final lap. I believe she ran 4:51 and change (again, you should consult final times). Final event was the men’s 40-49 elite, which turned out to be the John Hinton show, as he went wire to wire (think his time was 4:21 and change). I got a little publicity for John’s M40 1500 record of 3:49.82 (outdoors), one of the greatest performances of the last decade by an American master (and one of the most neglected).
Saturday night we had a wonderful banquet at the country club, and Sunday morning I headed back in a southerly direction. Ran into weather-related problems around Frederick, Maryland, and ended up taking almost 8 hours to get from Ithaca to my office in Silver Spring (have not gone home yet).
I could not get consistently comfortable with the modified announcing, and thus I gave myself a grade of 84 for the meet. Runners who stood out other than those mentioned included Kevin Forde, who ran a game second in the M40 elite race (he’s from London, now Philadelphia, and is a relative newcomer) and Anselm LeBourne; both Kevin and Anselm ran 4:29 and change and had quite a battle to the wire.
Frank Handelman was a convincing winner in a non-elite race. I pretty much lost my voice with all the shouting and could not have announced much more that day.