Kathy has been setting dash records for ages.
Hall of Famer
Kathy Bergen turned 75 in late December and traveled with hubby
Bert from SoCal to Colorado for Sunday’s Mid-America USATF Masters Indoor Championships at the Air Force Academy. Mission accomplished. She set two world indoor records — in the 60 and high jump — and is poised for a WR in the 200 as well. First she jumped 1.22 meters (4-0), padding her title as the oldest female 4-footer. The listed outdoor WR is 1.20 by Holland’s
Rietje Dijkman. The listed indoor WR is 1.17 (3-10) by Germany’s
Christiane Schmalbruch, but Rietje matched that recently. Kathy, trained by
Peter Hlavin, might have gone higher. She had to stop to prepare for the 60-meter dash, where she broke another barrier: 10 seconds. Her time, according to my sources, was 9.55 — better than the listed indoor WR of 10.04 by Canadian great
Christa Bortignon. Kathy also ran 200 in 35.70, short of the Christa’s listed WR of 34.53, but better than
Jeanne Daprano’s AR of 36.29. But the
track is oversized (268 meters) and ineligible for records. At least one other WR was set — in the W80 60-meter hurdles.
Christel Donley apparently became the oldest female indoor hurdler with her time of 15.54 seconds. WMA short hurdle records end at W75.
Here are results. Great job, Kathy and Christel!
27 Responses
Woo hoo! Way to make your one indoor meet count 🙂
Congratulations!!
Yippee! Keep soaring… always!
Great! I knew Kathy turned 75 and was waiting for record news.
Well don Kathy !
As you would expect from a meet put on by Christal and Gerry Donley , it ran like clockwork . The many officials were professional , efficient and cooperative . The field house at the Air Force Academy is a truly spectacular venue . And Kathy’s world records only added to a very pleasurable experience .
Congratulations, Kathy. I am looking forward to compete with you soon.
Fabulous! Congrats Kathy! And Christel! You two are so amazing!
Hello to Kathy and Bert. Congratulations, Kathy.
Christel, congratulations to you as well, hope to
“hurdle” with you in 2 years!
I know I don’t say this enough. Thank you to Peter Hlavin for your high jump expertise. Thank you to Annelies Steeklenberg for your insight and support. Thank you to my coach, Eric Dixon, who had been with me since 2010.
Congratulations to Christel and Kathy. To put Kathy’s marks in perspective, she would put most of us M80s to shame. Well done!
Congratulations to Christel and Kathy and I echo Bert’s sentiments about the quality of this meet.
Just adding my two centimes of congrats and admiration to two wonderful athletes who Irene O looks up to a great deal as well. Also understand that Christel did some great Triple Jumping too (?). Look forward to seeing everyone in a few days in W-S.
Here is a note from your :friendly coordinator ”
The worry about the weather was not “small”
Can people get to the fieldhouse,? will the AFA close the gates, can the officials make it back – and up the hill…Driving was no fun!!
Just about every official, incl. yours faithful – worked days before at other big College meets. I did loose sleep over that issue -but as Jerry said: you can worry for everybody, then we don’t have to do it…
Yes, the meet was great, in lieu of a better word.
Kathy’s HJ and then the 60 m was very much admired by some younger college athletes. Never mind her 200 m, she pulled some other runners to better times.
Sorry, we needed to tell her, that the track is ,
as Ken mentioned, not ” record friendly”. Her time,
FAST!!
The throwers came from all over the USA and had their own “show” .
I was all over the place and only saw people running, jumping and throwing – a blurr, and yes, Alan, I did get a record in the TJ – how I managed to even compete? total adrenalin.
Calling it a WR in the hurdles, if nobody did it before is not something I am proud of, maybe glad, I made it through. The show – down will be in a few weeks, when Irene and Flo are trying to “get me”
BUT, until then, it’s mine… that is – after it’s reviewed.
Oh, all the record forms will be going to Jeff tomorrow, weather permitting! I would ski to the post office, but gave mine away….
Snow, please stop!!
Congratulations to everybody that made it to the meet and made it back home safely!
Just saw Dave Albos pictures, simply fantastic.
THANKS.
I think to clarify, the track is not record-eligible for races run on the curve.
Liz, right you are… I mentioned it to you already,
this is for the “rest of us”:
Need to find the correct wording. Stay tuned.
congratulations to all..!
Just talked with Rex Harvey: His words:
On an oversized track, any race AROUND THE OVAL is not
eligible for a record.
Thanks, Rex!
Here are meet results, courtesy of the lovely and talented Sue Norton:
http://masterstrack.com/wp-content/uploads/2015-COLO-ASSOC-MID-AMER-REGION-INDOOR-RESULTS.pdf
Sue has sent corrected results:
http://masterstrack.com/wp-content/uploads/CORRECTED-2015-COLO-ASSOC-MID-AMER-REGION-MASTERS-INDOOR-RESULTS.pdf
No headlines, but we will soon read the following:
Bergen Obliterates World Indoor W75 Record in the 200 Dash.
Kathy Bergen, of La Canada, California, traveled east to New York City to run in the USATF New York Open and Masters Indoor Championships at the famed Armory this past weekend, and the trip definitely paid off.
The 75-year-old Bergen absolutely crushed the world indoor mark of 34.53 seconds by the famed Christa Bortignon, as she flew around the Armory track in a stunning 33.06 seconds. Amazing but true.
Congratulations Kathy,
You’ve worked hard and deserve the records. It’s truly an honor working with you.
Thank you,
Those are my parents and their five children, spouses and 12 grandchildren are unbelievably proud!
Way to go mom and dad! We all love you guys and we’re so proud of you both.
…but stop embarrassing us with all of your accolades and accomplishments. We get it; we’re all disappointments!
You make us all so proud mom and dad. Keep it up forever and break every record in sight. Very inspiring.
KATHY YOU ARE AMAZING! CONGRATULATIONS. YOU GO GIRL!
Betty and Tom Bailey
(Susan Bailey Ferguson’s parents. )
Older and faster — can’t hold you back, Kathy! Congratulations on birthday and on 60m record.
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