Austin powers to M75 victory at Penn Relays
At Penn, the geezer 100 is a crowd-pleaser, especially after Everett Hosack ran at age 100 several years ago. It’s contested during prime-time on Saturday — a day after the other age-groupers run. The race formally is called the 75-and-older 100. This year’s winner was Austin Leary, age 75 — an apparent newcomer. Haven’t heard of the gent until today. (I don’t see him in the masters rankings the past four years.)
That’s cool. Always great to see new blood coming out of the woodwork.
A quick Googling of “Austin Leary“ reveals that he’s a converted (and hopefully reformed) road runner who once played for the Worcester Warriors of the old Atlantic Hockey League in the mid-1950s. Austin still lives in Worcester (pronounced Wooster), it appears.
Results from 75 and over 100 at Penn (in Philadelphia):
1.17.36 4 Austin Leary unattached
2 17.67 1 Wilton Gordon Glenarden TC
3 17.78 3 Bert Lancaster Philadelphia Masters
4 19.04 7 William Johnson Jr. New Freedom Striders
5 19.09 5 Oscar Harris Philadelphia Masters
6 20.22 11 Bob Matteson
7 20.94 6 Champ Goldy Sr. Philadelphia Masters
8 24.82 8 James Wiggins unattached
9 27.17 9 Leo McEvoy unattached
Ages of the field were listed earlier:
1 M75+ Glenarden TC Wilton Gordon [77]
2 M75+ Unattached Wilford Scott
3 M75+ Philadelphia Masters Bert Lancaster [77]
4 M75+ Unattached Austin Leary [75]
5 M75+ Philadelphia Masters Oscar Harris [82]
6 M75+ Philadelphia Masters Champ Goldy Sr. [89]
7 M75+ New Freedom Striders William Johnson Jr. [75]
8 M75+ Unattached James Wiggins [87]
9 M75+ Unattached Leo McEvoy [85]
10 M75+ Unattached Robert Matteson [89]
While I always admire the oldest sprinters (and hope to be among them someday), I have to admit this year’s marks were relatively pathetic. Milt Silverstein has retired from masters and the Penn Relays 100, for one. And this year’s race couldn’t hold a candle to 1998’s.
Here’s what I wrote back then:
Murphy vs. Jordan Highlights Penn Relays
Tens of thousands of Franklin Field track fans witnessed a titanic battle of masters speedsters April 25, 1998, as summarized in chart below. Judging from TV coverage of the Penn Relays, the wind was probably above the legal limit. But the times are still stupendous. Tim Murphy’s 14.40 is worth 10.38 on the age-graded tables. But Payton Jordan’s 14.52 is equivalent to an astounding 9.83 — a tick better than the open WR! The Penn Relays has to be the masters-friendliest open track meet in the nation, with nine over-40 events (among its 312). But what it lacked in quantity was made up in quality. Penn traditionally produces some of the fastest masters relay times in the world each year.
Pl. Time Athletes City, State
1 14.40 Tim Murphy (76) Irving, Texas
2 14.52 Payton Jordan (81) Los Altos, Calif.
3 14.68 Milt Silverstein (78) Tucson, Ariz.
4 15.04 Blair McFarland (75) Leesburg, Fla.
5 15.26 Jim Manno (77) Oradell, N.J.
6 15.62 Les Wright Sr. (76) Long Branch, N.J.
7 17.16 John McCarthy (76) Waymart, Pa.
8 18.81 Bob Gamberg (73) Elkins Park, Pa.
