Masters Track News and Muse

Dr. Allan Tissenbaum competed for Canada in the 2003 WMA world meet in Puerto Rico, recording an 11.33 legal time in the 100 semifinals (third-fastest in M40) but was a DNS (did not start) in the finals. In 2004, at age 44, Dr. T won the USATF national masters M40 100 with an 11.16 into a wind at Decatur, Illinois -- again as a Canadian citizen. But at age 45, Allan Tissenbaum is going to San Sebastian -- as an American.

It's the masters equivalent of Seb Coe vs. Steve Ovett -- the British middle-distance stars who took turns setting mile and other records in the 1980s. I'm talking about Anselm LeBourne of New York and Sal Allah of New Jersey. Only six days after Anselm set an M45 world record at 800, nipping Allah in the process, Sal -- the 2003 world M40 champion -- crashed through the 1:55 barrier -- clocking 1:54.18 at the New Jersey Open USATF Championships on July 2, 2005, according to reports (but not a results site yet). The record going into this season was 1:56.16 by Ronaldo Mercelina of Holland.

Madeline Bost is a writer with better insights than most into running and the championship work ethic. She's a running champion herself, now in the W65 age group, who also has been active in USATF Masters leadership for years. She's a sweetie, too, who just sent me the following account of fellow New Jerseyan Sal Allah's recent M45 world record over 800 meters.

The IAAF World Championships in Helsinki, as previously announced, will stage a collection of masters exhibition events on August 13, 2005 -- three for women and five for men. But the (new, improved) deadline for entering the qualifying meet is July 8. So check out the meet site for info. The new deadline (formerly July 1) is noted on the WMA home page.

Our German friends Robert and Annette Koop report that Horst Schrader has taken down another legendary record by American Payton Jordan -- the M70 200. Schrader clocked 26.88 into a 0.7 meters per second headwind at the north German masters meet to beat Jordan's listed WMA world age-group record, a hand-timed (and thereby intrinsically inferior) 26.8. A month ago, Jordan lost his M70 world record for 100.

Emil Pawlik isn't a Hall of Famer who rests on his laurels. Seven months after being voted by USATF Masters into the Masters Track Hall of Fame, Emil, 66, added to his legend July 2-3 by setting a world M65 decathlon record of 7839 points, toppling the old record of 7754 points by Knut Skramstad of Norway set July 2, 2003, at the WMA world championships in Puerto Rico. Emil set the mark at the USATF Masters National Decathlon and Heptathlon Championships at Mayfield High School Stadium in Mayfield, Ohio. Complete, downloadable results are here.

I have added photos, Cesare Beccalli's CV and some links to his and Stan Perkins' interviews on the WMA presidential election.
You can find Cesare's here. And you'll find Stan's here. I also added links to the interviews on our News page.

For decades, National Masters News has proclaimed itself "the official world and U.S. publication for masters track & field, long distance running and racewalking" -- in red print beneath its page one nameplate. Of course, this has not been true for years. But the myth persists, and occasionally it leads mainstream sportswriters awry.

Meet results are posted in all sorts of flavors -- as HTML files, Word documents and everything in between. Here's a new one on me: Excel spreadsheet file. Kettrell Berry, masters track chairman in the San Diego-Imperial USATF Association, has sent me results from Saturday's Chuck McMahon masters meet in San Diego, which also served as the San Diego USATF masters championships. The file is in Excel, which means you look at different events by clicking a tab at the bottom of the page. Some great sprint marks. Men, women, all ages. Check it out.

We're a month early, but this gift couldn't wait. To celebrate the 30th anniversary of the first World Masters Track & Field Championships -- held Aug. 11-17, 1975, in Toronto, Canada -- I've created two PDF files of the original 6 1/4-inch-by-8 1/2-inch results book. The first file is only an image of the book (about 40 pages' worth). The second file funkily evokes the typeface of the original -- but is searchable. You do Ctrl-F (or Apple-F with a Mac) and type in a name or event, and all instances of that keyword are shown.

Phil Raschker, competing with all sorts of injuries, was a star of the National Senior Olympics in Pittsburgh a few weeks back. And a shot of Phil sprinting graces the cover of the new Geezerjock magazine. Some great articles again (many of which are online) -- especially on diet supplements. But also some provocative letters to the editor, fighting over the name of the magazine.

Thirty-year-old track results are for more than mere historical interest. For Diane Palmason, they are personal. Diane, born in Canada but more recently a resident of Blaine, Washington, is a longtime runner -- on the track as well as roads -- who has set her share of world age-group records. Today she sent me a nostalgic lookback at Toronto 1975 and how she came to be a runner.

By weekday, Jim Barrineau is Col. James Barrineau -- chief of Army Force Management for the National Guard Bureau in Washington. By weekend, he's a jumper with Olympic pedigree. Recently, he wrote me that he's back in the high jump wars, having almost cleared 1.89 (6-2 1/4). Jim turned 50 on June 25.

I sent M50 jumper Jim Barrineau the link to yesterday's blog post and received more news in his reply. Jim writes: "I forgot to tell you I am now Colonel (retired) Barrineau. My last day in uniform was May 31st. I will be starting a new job just after Labor Day. I did clear 6'0" before my 1.89 attempts. I plan on competing in the World Indoor in Linz, Austria, next March. That should be fun." And fun for us to watch. Go get 'em, Jim!

Dr. Stephen Peters -- the M45 world champion in the sprints at 2003 worlds in Puerto Rico (even though he turned 50 during the meet) -- looks to be in fine form for San Sebastian in five weeks. He topped the M50 finals in the 100, 200 and 400 at the British Masters Athletic Championships, whose results also are online here (in an Excel database file).

Al Sheahen is a national treasure. Besides being the former publisher of National Masters News and a 1997 candidate for the presidency of World Masters Athletics, he remains an astute observer of masters politics. Recently I asked him to review my interviews with WMA presidential candidates Stan Perkins and Cesare Beccalli. He sent this reply yesterday: "I've been out of WMA politics for eight years, so I'm hardly an expert on what's been going on since 1997. But, since you asked, here are a few quick observations on the upcoming election."

On to Gothenburg, Sweden, site of the second World Masters Athletic Championships and the founding of WAVA -- the World Association of Veteran Athletes. Again, I've posted two PDF files -- the first being an image file of the results booklet of all 1977 world masters results. The second is a searchable PDF, where you can see how Al Oerter beat old Olympic rival Ludvik Danek in the M40 discus with a world record at that time.

Speaking of anniversaries. Ten years ago this week, Buffalo was hosting the XI World Masters Athletic Championships. It was the last meet to have only a paper trail -- no presence on the fledgling World Wide Web. But, again, I've rectified that oversight by posting an image PDF and a searchable PDF (both 99 pages long!) of the Buffalo meet results book. Better have broadband, or tremendous patience. It's big.

Torsten Carlius is crossing the line -- again. He wants to double-dip in WMA (holding two offices at the same time) while serving on the board that oversees the competing World Masters Games. Sweden's Carlius has been president of World Masters Athletics (formerly WAVA) for eight years, and in late August will be succeeded either by former WAVA President Cesare Beccalli of Italy or WMA Oceania delegate Stan Perkins of Australia after a vote of the General Assembly in San Sebastian.

The contest is over. Germany will be the top medal-getter at the San Sebastian world masters meet in six weeks. They have the most bodies entered (about 650), and they have the horses, as indicated by their masters nationals, held earlier this month. The Germans conduct their nationals in two parts. Here are results from the 50-and-over nationals. Here are results from the under-50 nationals.

In quick succession, four major international masters meets are taking place this summer. The first is the World Masters Games in Edmonton, Alberta, where the track meet starts today and runs through July 31. Results are promised here on the official site. In two weeks, it's the USATF masters nationals in Hawaii, and the qualifying meet for the IAAF Helsinki world worlds exhibition events, and then, in late August, the WMA world meet in San Sebastian. Is it any wonder that only 800 are expected to show for Hawaii? Lots going on.

All the world knows Lance -- the mighty Texas cyclist who today won his seventh Tour de France. Few know Sumi Onodera-Leonard, a 77-year-old sprinter and middle-distance runner from Huntington Beach, California, who this weekend showed as much strength of character and courage as Armstrong in her own comeback from near death. A year and a half after being hit head-on in a car crash outside of Quartzite, Arizona, Sumi ran her first race -- a 400 of all things -- at the USATF Western Regional Masters Championships at Carson, California. She finished strong, as usual -- all sub-5 feet of her.

The USATF National Masters Outdoor championships in Hawaii will boast about 600 men and 200 women -- with the oldest being Trent Lane, 95, and Betty Jarvis, 90, according to the latest list of entrants.