Masters Track News and Muse

Rex Harvey is used to multi-tasking. After all, he once excelled at the decathlon. (He competed in the 1976 Olympic Trials and in 1991 set a still-standing world M45 age-group record in the 10-event grind.) But his ability to juggle chores was no match for a couple criminals at the Holiday Inn Express in Long Island, New York. Ready to fly home to Cleveland from a business trip on May 6, 2003, Harvey was checking out at the airport motel when he asked someone to keep an eye on his luggage.

A few days ago, I got this intriguing query: "Is the January 1, 2005, age determination date set by the State Games of America legal (for lack of a better term)? What is the age determination date for the National Masters Track Meet that is going to be held in Honolulu, Hawaii, in August 2005?" Second question is easy. The first got me to wondering.

Before another day goes by, I gotta note the sixth anniversary of the masterstf mailing list. The official founding was on Jan. 31, 1999, when long sprinter Gerry Krainik set up the forum on what then was called Egroups. Later, Yahoo Groups bought Egroups, and now runs the show. But with 537 subscribers (as of today), it's a healthy niche group that has spread the word about masters track as effectively (or more so) than much larger sites.

Pete Taylor, our prime meet announcer, recently overcame cancer, but now he's fighting the effects of what his brother and sister describe as a massive pulmonary embolism -- a blood clot in the lung -- on Jan. 21, 2005. He's probably at Inova Fairfax Hospital in Virginia. but is expected to be discharged in a few days.

Today I ran at a winter all-comers meet at Long Beach State University -- almost exactly 10 years after high-jumping 5-5 3/4 for my first masters thrill there in my track comeback at age 40. Didn't jump today, but saw some good jumping. Didn't run great either, but saw a guy run a mile with all four laps faster than my one.

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.

Out in Ohio, a "mild-mannered math teacher at Start High School in Toledo" calls himself Superfan and started a track and field Web log. Yippeee! I'm not alone! The blogger is Jesse Squire, and and I share mile PRs of 4:56. Yippee! Another mediocre track guy! But he did run a 3:09 marathon in 2002. Beats my PR by more than two hours.

Just got this note from Douglas G. Martin, national director of the State Games of America: "In reviewing our policy for age group determination, we were given incorrect dates from our Commissioner but have now changed the dates to correspond with USATF's rules. The correct age determination dates are now listed on our web site on the Track web page:

What if they gave a track meet and didn't give results? Of course, that never happens. But that's the upshot in masters track, where you have to own back issues of National Masters News to have a clue who won the M70 short hurdles in any USA nationals before 1996. In any other major championship -- the IAAF World Championships or the Olympics, for example -- the Web offers numerous sites with deep historical results. Not in masters.

Just becuz it's winter in the USA doesn't mean outdoor track season is in a deep freeze everywhere. I'm reminded of this after stumbling across a New South Wales club in Australia with an odd-sounding Web site: lollylegs.com. Man, these folks have it together.

Pete Taylor calls him "The Great Earl Fee." And great the M75 Canadian is -- at most middle-distance events (where he holds world age-group records). But he's also a standout hurdler, and so that's what we see in a new TV commercial that's been broadcast in major sporting events, such as the PGA tournament at Pebble Beach.

Snow is on the ground in many places, but today I booked a flight for a sweltering place in the middle of the Pacific -- Honolulu and the 2005 USATF national masters outdoor championships in August. I checked six online travel sites, and two or three gave me a fair deal.

Meet director Mark Zeug of the 2005 masters nationals in Hawaii has replied to my query about dorms and such. Having noted the very reasonable cost of $20 a night (double occupancy), I was worried about the lack of air conditioning. Mark says not to worry.

Today brings news of an amazing world masters record for 200 meters. But it's hard to tell whether Italian Enrico Saraceni's M40 indoor 21.94 is really superior to South African Philip Rabinowitz's M100 outdoor 77.59. Enrico's mark smashes the listed WMA indoor WR of 22.19 set by American Bill Collins nearly 10 years ago. Phil's mark was set in December 2004.

Jess Brewer is my oldest masters friend and original inspiration. This Canadian scientist, now 59, posted the original piece that drove me to start the Masters Track & Field Home Page in 1996. But his conquering of prostate cancer may be his biggest victory yet. And this past weekend, he competed for the first time in several years.

Well, it's hard to keep a good announcer down. Despite his medical misfortunes, Pete Taylor reports from Virginia: "I worked a half day today, the first day since Jan. 21 that I made it to the office." Pete sent me a chronology of his hospitalization. It's pretty graphic in parts, but one thing's for sure: This guy can crack a joke.

Last fall, Geezerjock debuted. And a double-page spread of six photos from the USATF national masters championships in Decatur, Illinois, featured a single vaulter. The set by Chase Agnello-Dean was a nice study in technique. Only one problem: The jumper wasn't identified.

You've heard of the legendary service of Nordstrom, where sales reps do anything short of murder to please their customers. In masters track, Andy Hecker is the Nordstrom of meets directors. This morning, against all odds, he brought off a track meet at Huntington Beach High School south of Los Angeles that was doomed from the start.

Is it me or is it them? Hy-Tek software is used everywhere, but when meets employ this record-keeping tool, they often fail to exploit its masters-friendly features. Latest example: The results I stumbled across of an all-comers indoor meet at the University of Missouri. The problem? Masters results are listed, but no age or age-group is specified. Geez, guys. Give us a break!

So Google sends me a link to some masters news. I click the link, and learn from the Bristol Herald Courier: "Bristol’s Glen Johnson broke the American Masters Track and Field shot put records in his age class at the throwers meet at Clemson University on Feb. 13."

Some folks who run masters track in the United States also go over to the "dark side" -- the circuit of meets under the umbrella of the National Senior Games Association. This year is a national championship year for the Senior Olympics folks, who generally thumb their nose at USATF niceties like professional officiating and record-keeping. An example of their slapdash approach to the sport is a current announcement on their Web site.

A few days ago, I appealed to y'all to help me identify the unnamed pole vaulter pictured in a series of Geezerjock magazine photos. Ken Ellis, a champion vaulter himself, came to the rescue. The pictured jumper is Jonathan Bartos of Ohio. I've written to Jon to learn more about his vault career. (He won M40 at Decatur.) Ken, meanwhile, is being fitted for a Geezerjock T-shirt. Thanks to all!

I'm not planning to compete this summer in Edmonton, Alberta, at the World Masters Games. But I subscribe to the event's email service. Today's mail brings this hoot of a holler: "If you register before February 28, 2005, you qualify to win in our giant Registration Draw. Everyone registering up to that date will have a chance to win one of three fabulous prizes."

Four years ago, USATF Masters Chair George Mathews wrote in his monthly National Masters News column: "As you probably already heard, Kathy Jaeger's two-year suspension has been upheld after review by WAVA. In some ways, WAVA feels the US has not done a good enough job in educating our athletes on the rules of the IAAF anti-doping policies. In response to this, I am asking National Masters News and our Webmaster to provide prominent information on these rule in every issue and on our home page. Rose Munday and her committee will continue to work on other ways to educate our athletes and suggest rule changes that are needed by our Masters athletes."

Olympian James Barrineau (Montreal 1976) is 49. And he's shown his fitness for M50 with a big 1.85 (6-0 3/4) high jump Sunday, Feb. 20, at the Potomac Valley Association USATF Masters Indoor Championships at Prince George's Sports and Learning Complex in Landover, Maryland. Another comebacking jumper is Jason Meisler, a 7-2 straddler in the 1970s who turned 50 yesterday. Thanks to M50 jumper Keith Mathis for providing the Barrineau result.

Charles Allie of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, does the impossible and makes it look easy -- he runs the 400 in a time lower than his age. At 57, Allie took the exhibition masters race at the USATF open indoor nationals Saturday in Boston with a time of 54.47 seconds. That's just a second over the M55 world indoor record he set last year on the same track.

Karla Del Grande chaps my hide. She also can whip my butt. She's more than a year older than me (I'm 50), and she runs faster. At the Decatur nationals last year, she won the 100 in 13.13 -- a day after I ran a prelims time of 13.31 and she set a WR for 400 at 60.49. Can't she give a guy a break?