Masters Track News and Muse

WMA "world rankings" getting ranker every day

For the past few weeks, Coach Ross Dunton has been dribbling out what is being billed as official World Masters Athletics performance rankings for the 2004 outdoor season. I've tried pleading and making fun to get Ross to stop issuing these bogus rankings. He may think others don't mind his severely limited lists. But they do. Today I was cc'd a note from Pete Mulholland, editor of Masters Athletics Monthly in the United Kingdom.

Pete wrote to supervet Dave Taylor:

>Dave (Taylor)
>Here are the world M40 5000m 2004 rankings as collated in the States. Looks
>like your 13:53.13 last May hasn't been included. Perhaps they didn't have the
>paperwork!
>Still, Martin Rix is counting it as a UK best on www.gbrathletics.com
>Micky Boyle is in there - which might cheer him up after Chelsea dropped a
>couple of home points.
>Pete
>
>David Taylor 14:26.95 EVAA CHAMPIONSHIPS
>Markus Pingpank 14:42.51 EVAA CHAMPIONSHIPS
>Peder Troldborg 14:47.86 EVAA CHAMPIONSHIPS
>Zdenek Dubravcik 15:18.63 EVAA CHAMPIONSHIPS
>Albert Herzog 15:23.95 EVAA CHAMPIONSHIPS
>Mike Boyle 15:24.23 EVAA CHAMPIONSHIPS
>Aivars Strods 15:26.10 EVAA CHAMPIONSHIPS
>Ismo Pudas 15:26.80 EVAA CHAMPIONSHIPS
>Brian Pope 15:26.90 USATF MASTERS CHAMPIONSHIPS
>Keith Newton 15:27.24 BMAF TRACK AND FIELDCHAMPIONSHIPS
>Alex Hope 15:42.42 BMAF TRACK AND FIELDCHAMPIONSHIPS
>DALLAS MCCALLUM 15:42.86 NEW ZEALAND NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS
>CARLOS BRANDONI 15:44.87 SUDAMERICANO DE PISTA Y CAMPO
>David Olshan 15:47.53 USATF MASTERS CHAMPIONSHIPS
>Paul Risch 15:51.69 USATF MASTERS CHAMPIONSHIPS
>RAUL GONZALEZ 15:52.77 SUDAMERICANO DE PISTA Y CAMPO
>STEPHEN BLAKE 15:53.76 AUSTRALIAN MASTERS CHAMPIONSHIPS
>HILARINO CONRADO 15:58.07 SUDAMERICANO DE PISTA Y CAMPO

Me again.

These rankings are seriously undermined by their limited scope. They also are doing serious damage to masters track's image, since they're so gallingly inaccurate. I've done my best to get Ross to stop. Now it's your turn.

Write to his WMA boss, Brian Oxley, at: brianoxley@sympatico.ca

Tell him what you think about Ross's rank rankings.

Posted by kenstone at February 6, 2005 6:03 PM