A couple weeks back, I posted news of a W60 world indoor record at 60 meters by Val Parsons in the UK. At the time, Val wrote a friend: ” ‘I hope that it will be ratified for record purposes. . . . Long story but I will relay it to you when resolved!’ ” It’s apparently been resolved, and a record form has been submitted. But what was the hangup? Well, for one thing the referee at the track meet refused to believe that Val was 60! Yeah, happens to us all the time. Anyway, Pete Mulholland of Running Fitness magazine details the incident in a report below.

Here’s the report from Pete:
PROBLEMS FOR PARSONS
When Val Parsons gets down to doing some speed training this year the results could be awesome judging by events at the Thames Valley Athletic Centre at Eton on January 7.
Still in winter training mode, Parsons is one of a group of athletes coached by Rodger Hughes that ensures stamina will not be a problem for the lengthy track season that many a masters’ athlete endures.
“We did a hill session the day before the meeting and I didn’t expect to be quick as that,” said Parsons, after clocking the world’s fastest ever W60 60m indoor sprint time of 8.83sec.
However, Parsons wasn’t finished yet, for after a lengthy gap, which saw another 34 races over 60m take place, she went out and blasted away to a time of 8.78sec.
Initially there were doubts as whether this time, which again saw off the current world mark of 8.91sec by Kathy Jager, the athlete who made the headlines – for all the wrong reasons – at Gateshead in 1999, would receive accreditation, as competing in the same race was a male, M40 Robert Murkin.
“I don’t see how this could affect the result,” admitted Parsons.” I didn’t see him at all during the race. I just focus on the finish line.”
Then problems arose with the track referee who initially refused to believe that Parsons was a 60-year-old! Added to this, the same referee then refused to sign the relevant forms, aying, “The meeting wasn’t under IAAF rules.”
For the record, the British Masters (BMAF) forms state that the track referee has to sign a statement stating, ‘I hereby certify that the above performance was achieved in a bona fide competition held in accordance with the appropriate IAAF rules.”
The World Masters Athletic (WMA) form doesn’t even refer to a track referee, but the starter has to admit, ‘I hereby certify that the start was in accordance with IAAF Rules as modified by WMA bylaws.’
The meeting, organised by Parsons’ club, Windsor, Slough, Eton and Hounslow, was of course, held under the rules of UK Athletics (UKA), and subsequently under the jurisdiction of IAAF rules.
Record forms have now been completed and forwarded to BMAF statistician Bob Minting to hopefully be forwarded on to the powers to be at WMA.
Parsons, who won the W55 world indoor title at Linz, just weeks before her 60th birthday and went on to take both the 100m and 200m W60 European titles in Poznan, has now set her sights on the European Veterans Indoor Championships at Helsinki in March.
Results of Val’s races on January 7, 2007:
60m FLAT
113 C Mays U15g WSEH 8.39
7 K Muhammad U15g WSEH 8.60
103 S Phelps U15g WSEH 8.74
30 S Stagles W45 Bedford 8.82
110 V Parsons W60 WSEH 8.83
60m FLAT
1 58 L Faupel Newbury U17w 8.63
2 73 R Murkin Sutton M40 8.65
3 110 V Parsons WSEH W60 8.78
4 15 S Mann M&M U15g 8.82
5 14 H Tapsell M&M U13g 8.96