Dash of the centuries due in Puerto Rico
Next week’s 15th World Masters Athletics Championships will have dozens of dramatic dashes — but none as momentous as the slowest. For the first time in WAVA/WMA meet history, two centenarians will line up beside each other in the same race. Waldo McBurney of Kansas and Everett Hosack of Ohio will face each other on Saturday, July 5, in the M100 100. With luck, they’ll tangle again on Tuesday, July 8, in the 200-meter dash final.
McBurney is the kid. He’s just 100 (DOB 10-3-1902). Hosack is the true veteran of these games. He’s 101 (DOB 2-28-1902). McBurney also is entered in the 5K racewalk and shot put. Hosack will put the shot, too, and adds the hammer, discus, javelin and weight pentathlon. Whatta man!
This will be the second WMA world meet in which the M100 age group (100-104) is contested. Before 2001, the oldest age group was 95-and-over, which put the triple-digit kids at a distinct disadvantage.
At the 2001 Brisbane WMA, the first documented 100-year-old competed in the world championships — M100 Leslie “Les” Amey of Australia, who won the 100 in 71.05 seconds and set an inaugural M100 world record in the 1500 (19:59.54). Amey — actually 101 years young — almost caused a computer crash, though. When results came out, Les was placed second in M95 because the Hy-Tek computer software program couldn’t go beyond M99!)
Amey and Hosack aren’t the oldest masters competitors on record, however. In 1998, 103-year-old Ben Levinson of Los Angeles put the shot at the Nike World Masters Games in Eugene.
Sadly, Levinson has gone to that big track meet in the sky. But while Hosack and McBurney are still with us, we need to rejoice at their athleticism at the big track meet in Carolina, Puerto Rico.
(For the record, my money’s on Hosack in the 100 and 200.)
3 Responses
Now they ARE some inspirational athletes!! Good luck to you all at the Worlds!
I won’t be a 100 years old until 2062!!
Bravo! These guys are going to go out with their boots on. What a great sport; where else can you get 85 years of eligibility?
Any discussion of records for Men 100-104 must include the feats of Erwin Jaskulski, holder of the WMA World Records for Men 95-99 for 100, 200 and 400 meters. In September, 2002 he turned 100 years old. On Nov. 16, 2002 he ran 100 meters in 36.49 seconds and the 200 in 2:07.85 at the Hawaii Senior Olympics. He had fallen before these races but refused to go to the hospital for ten stitches until after he competed.
On March 13, 2003 Erwin ran 400 meters in 3:40.79 at an open meet sponsored by the U. of Hawaii Women’s Track team.(See Erwin’s picture on Page 8 of the May, 2003 National Masters News). Please publicize Erwin’s achievements. Erwin is still officially a resident of Austria but has lived in Hawaii since the 1950s. He hopes to improve his times on July 26, 2003 if he is healthy. Erwin does not wish to travel. If he did, he would become the focus of world attention. His times are far ahead of those being given fanfare.
Harold Chapson, holder of many WMA records for 400 and 800, hiked the mountains of Hawaii with Erwin for many years, competing to see who would be the first in the hiking group to reach the peak. They were born two months apart and were raised in the mountains of the Rockies and Alps. Let us all train, compete and strive to outlive our 100 year old heros, including Erwin Jaskulski.
Leave a Reply