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.”Â
Al’s mark was later corrected in these official results. Â
One Response
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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