Albert Erickson sets M80 world record — but only on paper

When (and if) Albert Erickson opened page 12 of September’s National Masters News, he must have been shocked. The lead item in Track Highlights said: “World Record Pole Vault at Seattle Classic” and reported how “Albert Erickson, M80, bettered the world and American pole vault marks for his age group with a 2.86 at the Seattle Classic on July 18th in Seattle, Washington. That betters the 2.75 set by Bud Held last year in Santa Barbara.” Only one problem. Albert jumped 2.08 (6-9 3/4) at the Seattle meet, not a WR 2.86 (9-4 1/2). Someone had sent NMN results with a typo, according to Becca Gillespy Peter, who wrote me: “I am the PNTF webmaster and noticed it when I was sent the results from the meet, as I saw Al on a weekly basis last summer and he told me what he jumped in the meet.” 


Al’s mark was later corrected in these official results.  

I didn’t know about the typo until I mentioned the WR Sunday night to Nadine O’Connor, who alerted me to the mistake. 
I contacted Liz Palmer, who compiled Track Highlights, and she bravely fessed up: “We’ll definitely correct it. I can see how it slipped by me, but it should have been caught in subsequent reviews. We still have time to get it in to the November issue.” 
NMN publisher Randy Sturgeon also wrote me: “I will do a report first thing tomorrow (for the online site) and get something into the November issue.”
Now that’s service!
Liz deserves credit for noticing a record in results, since many great marks fall through the cracks without a close inspection. (I’m the biggest offender.) But this incident highlights the necessity of results being closely proofread before shipment — especially if they’re destined for print publication.
In any case, Albert must have gotten a buzz. How come this never happens to me?

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September 22, 2009

One Response

  1. Randy Sturgeon - September 22, 2009

    Just for the record, the error in the publication was not Liz Palmer’s. It was the person who proofed and edited that section, me! Lesson learned for sure.
    Randy Sturgeon, Publisher National Masters News

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