Masters Track News and Muse

Oh noooooo! Mundle mucks up Masters Age Records

Pete Mundle is the god of masters track statisticians. Starting in the 1970s, this Southern California distance runner began documenting single-age records for nearly all ages -- grade-schoolers to geezers. After a while, his annual Masters Age Records booklets focused solely on athletes 35 and up. The booklet came out like clockwork -- until 2004. No Masters Age Records that year. Suddenly, a 2005 edition has arrived. Suzy Hess of National Masters News graciously sent me a copy.

The new edition is printed on larger stock -- 8 1/4 inches by 10 3/4 inches -- in contrast to the compact 5 1/4-by-8 of previous editions. Tradition be damned.

But that's not what bothers me about the 2005 edition.

I took a close look at the book's single-age records (ages 35, 36, 37, etc., up to age 104 in some events). They are a crock. Literally dozens of single-age records in Pete's new book are wrong. Or omitted. This is no small thing, since lots of masters crow about their single-age records to friends, family and the local press. And folks like me quote it. Besides, records of any sort should be treated with reverence and respect. This book does neither.

Pete's book (shown below) is shatteringly unreliable -- more so than when I first pointed out problems in 1997.

As a track and field reference, it's an utter disaster.

How do I know? I surfed to World Masters Athletics, which keeps age-group records -- 40-44, 55-59, etc. Its record site cites the athlete's age when these records were set. And if you compare the official WMA records against Pete's, you see a shocking disconnect.

I found -- without looking very hard -- close to 80 cases where a WMA world-age group record should have qualified as a single-age record in Pete's book. This is funny, because Pete has looser standards for world records than World Masters Athletics does. (And Pete served as WAVA's records czar for many years.)

I've hammered WAVA/WMA many times about its own records being faulty (with WMA failing to recognize marks made in Olympic and IAAF world championship competition, etc.). So when a WMA record is BETTER than a Pete Mundle single-age record, it means the world has gone totally wacko.

Some examples?

Take Gerri Davidson. In 2001, the same day Alan Webb broke Jim Ryun's high school mile record, Gerri set a W80 world record for the mile. At age 80, Gerri ran 9:00.52 at a masters meet in Irvine, California. WMA later recognized it as a W80 world record.

And Pete? His 2005 Masters Age Records lists the record for age 80 as 9:49.40 by Ivy Granstrom of Canada (a blind runner who died a year or two ago).

Take Philip Rabinowitz. This South African stud clocked a world record for 100 meters at age 100 in July 2004. The WMA certified it as an M100 world age-group record.

And Pete? He fails to list single-age records for the 100-meter dash beyond age 95.

July 2004, by the way, was not too late to include the M100 record. Pete lists dozens of marks from 2004. And his book boasts: "Masters Age Records as of May 31, 2005"

Event after event, I was stunned to see WMA marks exceed those in Pete's book. Here is a list I compiled where WMA marks should qualify as single-age world records -- and merit inclusion in the 2005 edition of Masters Age Records:

M 40 10.42 Troy Douglas NED 40 6-1-03 100
M 90 18.08 Kozo Haraguchi JPN 90 9-17-00 100
M100 30.86 Philip Rabinowitz RSA 100 7-10-04 100
M 40 20.64 Troy Douglas NED 40 8-27-03 200
M 65 25.46 Guido Muller GER 65 7-31-04 200
M 40 47.82 Enrico Saraceni ITA 40 7-28-04 400
M 80 72.85 Mike Johnston AUS 80 4-1-02 400
M 95 2:38.64 Erwin Jaskulski AUT 98 9-24-00 400
M100 3:40.97 Erwin Jaskulski AUT 100 3-13-03 400
M 50 1:58.65 Nolan Shaheed USA 50 5-13-00 800
M 55 2:03.7 Stan Immelman RSA 55 12-1-01 800
M100 16:46.41 Leslie Amey AUS 100 4-1-00 1500
M 50 4:27.9 Nolan Shaheed USA 50 2-12-00 1500
M 35 13:07.4 Dieter Baumann GER 35 8-16-02 5K
M 50 14:53.2 Martin Rees GBR 50 5-10-03 5K
M 90 31:25.45 Gordon Porteous GBR 90 6-26-04 5K
M 90 69:27.5 Gordon Porteous GBR 90 10-17-04 10K
M 60 14.62 Courtland Gray USA 60 8-06-04 100H
M 65 43.89 Guido Mueller GER 65 7-25-04 300H
M 80 1.34 Emmerich Zensch AUT 80 5-20-00 HJ
M 90 1.10 Kizo Kimura JPN 90 5-19-02 HJ
M 70 3.31 Robert Brown GBR 70 8-22-02 PV
M 75 2.96 Bud Held USA 76 08-06-04 PV
M 90 1.42 Vic Younger AUS 90 4-5-03 PV
M 90 6.59 Kizo Kimura JPN 90 7-29-01 TJ
M 90 7.59 Antonio Fonseca BRA 90 11-6-04 SP
M 95 5.11 Masami Okazaki JPN 95 10-22-00 SP
M100 4.12 Waldo McBurney USA 100 7-4-03 SP
M 95 13.56 Waldo McBurney USA 96 8-3-99 DT
M100 8.91 Everett Hosack USA 100 6-1-02 DT
M100 8.86 Everett Hosack USA 10 06-30-02 hammer
M 40 84.08 Peter Blank GER 41 6-29-03 JT
M 50 69.03 Jorma Markus FIN 51 8-14-04 JT
M 90 4199 Vic Younger AUS 90 2-23-03 deca

And the women are no better off:

W 40 11.09 Merlene Ottey SLO 44 8-3-04 100
W 90 23.18 Nora Wedemo SWE 90 8-9-03 100
W 40 22.89 Merlene Ottey SLO 43 8-10-03 200
W 55 27.39 Vivien Bonner GBR 55 7-31-04 200
W 45 56.15 Marie Lande Mathieu PUR 45 7-12-03 400
W 55 62.40 Avril Douglas CAN 55 8-25-01 400
W 60 67.30 Anne Stobaus AUS 60 7-10-01 400
W 70 78.26 Veronica Welgemoed RSA 70 5-4-02 400
W 70 3:04.44 Jean Horne CAN 70 7-17-03 800
W 45 4:05.44 Yekatarina Podkopayeva URS 46 8-3-98 1500
W 50 4:40.92 Maureen de St.Croix CAN 50 6-4-03 1500
W 80 9:00.52 Gerry Davidson USA 80 5-27-01 mile
W 80 20:41.04 Gerry Davidson USA 83 10-17-04 Long Beach 3K
W 70 22:55.39 Melitta Czarwenka-Nagel GER 71 5-19-01 5K
W 85 86:55.70 Ivy Granstrom CAN 86 7-3-98 10K
W 65 14.27 Rietje Dijkman NED 65 7-30-04 80H
W 65 63.53 Barbara Jordan USA 65 8-11-02 300H
W 70 68.35 Florence Meiler USA 70 7-24-04 300H
W 35 2.01 Inga Babakova UKR 35 6-3-03 HJ
W 40 1.76 Patricia Porter USA 41 6-6-04 HJ
W 50 1.57 Weia Reinboud NED 50 8-6-00 HJ
W 65 1.34 Rietje Dijkman NED 65 7-28-04 HJ
W 40 3.45 Dawn Hartigan AUS 44 3-19-01 PV
W 45 3.50 Dawn Hartigan AUS 45 3-19-02 PV
W 40 6.41 Vera Olenchenko RUS 41 6-26-00 LJ
W 55 5.01 C. Schmallbruch GER 56 8--93 LJ
W 85 2.19 Ruth Frith AUS 86 3-28-95 LJ
W 35 14.42 Inessa Kravetz UKR 35 7-10-03 TJ
W 50 11.45 Akiko Ohinata JPN 52 8-30-02 TJ
W 55 10.20 Margaret Taylor AUS 55 4-30-03 TJ
W 95 4.72 Ruth Frith AUS 95 10-21-04 SP
W 45 64.09 Zdenka Silhava CZE 45 8-11-99 DT
W 60 39.24 Karen Illgen GER 61 6-15-02 DT
W 70 31.62 Rosemary Chrimes GBR 70 6-8-03 DT
W 90 12.10 Ruth Frith AUS 90 4-22-00 DT
W 35 67.40 Alla Davydova RUS 35 7-13-02 HT
W 40 56.39 Oneithea Lewis USA 43 7-26-03 HT
W 50 51.73 M.-Leena Parviainen AUS 53 4-9-98 HT
W 60 46.09 Helen Searle AUS 60 9-29-01 HT
W 70 p5449 Isabel Hofmeyr RSA 71 7-29-99 hep

Keep in mind that the above WMA records are only for five-year age groups. This means that records that AREN'T age-group records may qualify as single-age records. And if a fifth of Pete's records are bad, potentially hundreds of others also are queered.

Pete, recently married, has quit some of his old WMA posts and withdrawn into the masters shadows (although he's competing in San Sebastian this week.) But he still carries on his hobby -- and cements his legacy -- by producing Masters Age Records.

Over time, recordkeeping gets to be a drag, no doubt. Even Pete felt the need to take a break in 2004, producing no new update of Masters Age Records. But one would think that a re-energized Pete Mundle would have taken into account world masters records set the past five years when preparing the 2005 edition of Masters Age Records.

One would think he'd try for the most statistically accurate and up-to-date listing he could manage. But something else happened. Something dreadful.

I'll try to find out why.

Posted by kenstone at August 26, 2005 8:24 PM