Masters Track News and Muse

Some folks have noted that the language of the supplemental U.S. entry form to the 2006 WMA world indoor meet in Austria includes a new Team USA Code of Conduct that would make Joseph McCarthy proud. To wit: "I will conduct myself at all times as a goodwill ambassador for USATF and the United States of America, and that I will refrain from any act(s) that may reflect unfavorably upon myself, my teammates, the sport of track and field, USATF or the United States of America (and) I will not intentionally or voluntarily undertake any action that desecrates or disrespects the American flag."

Hall of Famer Bud Held, who's had some success at the spear and the jumps (and also with engineering), has weighed in on the issue of whether M90 Don Pellmann, a fellow Californian, had the benefit of Fort Collins, Colorado, elevation (5,000 feet) when setting seven world age-group records there during the Rocky Mountain Masters Games in September. Bud sez nahh.

Sad word has arrived that M45 middle-distance star Roberto Castillo of Miami died Oct. 23 -- he was killed by a motorist. He was buried Tuesday, and the Florida Sun-Sentinel reported his passing. In 1998, Roberto won the M40 golds at 800 and 1500 at the Maine masters nationals in 2:00.67 and 4:07.02. He took fourth at the 1999 Orlando nationals in the M40 1500 with a 4:18.61.

Another "veterans" association is biting the dust. According to the German masters site run by Annette and Robert Koop, the EVAA (European Veterans Athletic Asociation) is gonna switch handles to European Masters Association, or somesuch. This follows the lead of WMA (formerly the World Association of Veteran Athletes) and the British veterans organization, now calling itself the British Masters Athletic Federation (but retaining BVAF in its URL.)

November's issue of National Masters News carries a plea for help by USATF Masters T&F Chairman George Mathews. As part of the strategic plan process, his executive board assumes that growing masters track will take the skills, savvy and grunt work of a handful of volunteers. George writes: "Among the major tasks I have been assigned is the appointment of several new subcommittee chairs."

Andy Hecker tilts at windmills. A Southern California USATF official, meet organizer and talented M50 hurdler, Andy has been trying in vain for years to persuade local, regional and national masters track organizers to drop their requirement that athletes register early (sometimes months in advance) for meets. He demonstrates this can be done by allowing day-of-meet registration at his own events, which include cross country races.

The Age Graded Tables, a fixture of masters track for two decades, have been revised several times since the 1980s. The currently available version came out in 1994 -- about a thousand world age-group records ago. The new AGT were supposed to be out two months ago. WMA Veep Rex Harvey promised me he'd ship the AGT to National Masters News after he returned from San Sebastian. But he still hasn't found time to make the completed project public.

And the beat goes on. My 9-month-old pursuit of complete results from world masters track championships continues today with the posting of thee PDFs -- the results books of the 1995 Buffalo WAVA meet (link fixed) , the 1999 Gateshead WAVA meet and the 2001 Brisbane WAVA meet. Monster files all (as much as 11 megabytes), they require a broadband connection. But they are well worth the download time.

Funniest thing I've read lately is the scholarly conclusion that track and field has nearly reached its limit on new world running records. Besides the laughable idea that many records are "already nearing their limits," the study is ageist on its face, not recognizing that world records are constantly being set in the age-group realm. And thankfully, precious few can be attributed to drugs.

Rick Reilly's column in the current issue of Sports Illustrated (with a cover depicting long-haired Steelers safety Troy Polamalu) revisits an issue that got an exhaustive exegesis four years ago: Are blacks naturally faster than whites? A book by Jon Entine called "Taboo" provided plenty of scientific evidence for the belief that blacks (actually descendants of West Africans) are just plain faster.

Sigh. A couple months back I got my hopes up for masters events at a Fresno State indoor meet on Monday, Jan. 16, 2006. Now I learn it's mainly for high school and college kids, with a few invitational events. No open events for masters. However, two days before the indoor meet, a Bulldog Weight Pentathlon is scheduled, and the "U/O" (for university/open) designation suggests masters can compete in that event. I'm checking into it.

Last May, I poked fun at the IAAF for referring in its newsletter to the "World Masters Association" -- the boogered botching of WMA (World Masters Athletics). Well, as Ronald Raygun used to say, there they go again. The IAAF's current newsletter stumbles over the name of its affiliated organization anew. In the course of describing progress in the IAAF Athletics’ World Plan, "a broad-ranging nine-year development plan for the sport," IAAF newsletter No. 76 says:

Behind the scenes, but on a semipublic mailing list, local USATF leaders around the country have heatedly debated a possible doubling of membership fees for everyone in USATF -- youth, elites, masters. Annual fees could rise to $40. USATF Grass Roots honcho Andy Martin kicked off the discussion Aug. 11, 2005, and more than a dozen others chimed in for the next two months before USATF Prez Bill Roe took steam out of the debate by saying (on Oct. 17): "I can tell you that the Board will not be making a decision on 2007 membership fees in Jacksonville, but we will all be available ... to take your comments."

Intrigue is the word when it comes to selecting a host city for the USATF National Masters Outdoor Track & Field Championships. Maybe mystery is a better word. That's because the folks who vote on where to put the Big Dance generally have little advance knowledge. Certainly the grass roots don't have much of a say. The prime example of this bass-ackward process was in December 2002, when masters delegates at the USATF national convention chose Honolulu for 2005, and in a shocker tapped Charlotte for 2006 -- even though the 2006 pick wasn't supposed to be made until December 2003.

In response to my queries, two nice folks have identified at least two cities hoping to host the 2008 national masters championships. Spokane, Washington, is bidding for the outdoor nationals and Boston (again) wants the indoor nationals. In fact, a lady involved with the Spokane bid sent a note to one of my sources offering "a small gift." Wow! Shades of Salt Lake City (hahaha).

My old penpal John Stone of Perth, Australia (related by interests and slow speed only) has done a great job with the Masters Athletics WA (for Western Australia) Web site, which features lots of color and Flash. And most of all, great content. The club's November newsletter is out (in PDF form), and it features a foto of a masters runner untangling a 'roo from a fence. Wonderful stuff.

Gill Athletics has been veddy, veddy good to us -- a prime sponsor of this Web site. But I'm a little confused about today's joint announcement with USATF that Gill has become the official supplier of USA Track & Field. Free loaner poles for W70 vaulters at nationals? No other companies' javelins at nationals? What does "official supplier" mean?

I have to give World Masters Athletics credit. Or rather Brian Oxley of WMA. As the outgoing records chairman, Brian broke with WMA policy of staying mum on dirty laundry. But lame-duck status may have given him the cojones to publicly admit that three would-be record holders were denied certification due to incompetence. Two cases are posted on the WMA site -- both shocking in their own way. One involved Fred O'Connor, a track coach in Australia.

Gail Devers turned 39 today, and the two-time Olympic 100-meter champ and American record holder at 100 hurdles is, theoretically, still competing. She hasn't uttered what she once called "the R-word" -- retirement, although she took the 2005 season off after making it to the Athens Games in 2004 in both the 100 and 100 hurdles. Never a masters meet entrant (she's still making money at elite track), Gail is nevertheless the greatest masters-age hurdler of our time.

We here in the blogosphere have a rep for the negative -- always whining about something. So just in time for Thanksgiving Week is a note from Paradise Mid-Pacific, aka Hawaii (as distinguished from Paradise Left Coast -- San Diego). Jack Karbens of the Aloha State shares his praise of the track meet portion of the Hawaii Senior Olympics.

Sandy Pashkin of Eugene, Oregon, is taking her gig seriously. As the new records czar for USATF Masters, she's updating the American masters records page with gusto. The latest incarnation was amended Oct. 21. That should be it for the year (unless some marks emerge from last week's Hawaii Senior Olympics). A nice touch is listing pending records with a light-green background. A nice addition: M35 records.

Len Olson's history of masters track, published nearly five years ago, is now searchable online via a new Google function. Go to Google Books, type in "masters track Len Olson" -- and voila! You have access to the complete contents of the book (some books you can read cover to cover). Google allows you to search a book for specific names, events, meets, etc. It's magical.

Three months ago, Hurricane Katrina changed the lives of millions. One of them was M60 decathlete Robert Baker of Metairie, Louisiana, who told a story of tragic sadness. This week, I asked him for an update on his home and circumstances. Thankfully, he has some good news.

When Sacramento lost to Eugene in the competition to host the 2008 Olympic Trials, it was bad news for the 2000/2004 Trials host but good news, or at least an opening, for masters in Northern California. The USATF Pacific Association eventually asked about hosting the 2008 USATF Masters National Outdoor Track & Field Championships, local and national officials confirm. But oops! The inquiry came way too late. So Spokane remains the only 2008 bidder on the docket. Bummer.

The IAAF and other sources report the death in Shanghai, China, of Torsten Carlius, who was president of World Masters Athletics for eight years until this past summer, when he was elected secretary of WMA at the San Sebastian world meet. Rex Harvey, WMA vice president-stadia, writes: "I understand that he was there trying to organize an Asian Masters Games." (But another source, from Hong Kong, notes that Torsten's son lives in Shanghai.) The IAAF posted this notice today:

Seven years after I first wrote about her, W80 vaulter/sprinter/jumper Johnnye Valien got some deserved national attention today in an Associated Press story on geezer sports. Also mentioned is Bill Collins, in the context of being nominated for a Geezerjock of the Year award.

Round Lake, Illinois -- not far from the Wisconsin border -- is a fast-growing burg of 15,000 souls with a part-time mayor. But this mayor is an avid masters track athlete who isn't ashamed of boasting a top-30 ranking in the 55-meter dash. Meet 46-year-old Bill Gentes, "the blogging mayor," who even links to this ol' blog.

Emil Pawlik, an oilman from Jackson, Mississippi, is this year's Bengay Masters Athlete of the Year -- as decided by the chairs of the Masters Track and Field and LDR committees and USATF President Bill Roe. Emil's the second person to win the award. In last year's inaugural presentation, W50 distance runner Kathryn Martin of New York was the Bengay winner.

Sometimes it seems that way. George is nominally the chairman of USATF Masters Track & Field. As such, he occasionally informs us of his committee's activities via a column in National Masters News. It's called "Track & Field Report" in the current issue, December 2005. This month's column is of special importance, since it summarizes, point by point, the 2005 Strategic Plan. (That's the plan he got USATF to pony up extra money for last year.) The opening paragraph says: "The following is a summary of the USATF Masters Track & Field 2005 Strategic Plan. The complete document can be found on-line at www.usatf.org."

Shaming works. Someone lit a fire under USATF, and both the December NMN column by George Mathews and the complete text of the 2005 Strategic Plan are now posted. USATF webmaster Keith Lively even sent a note of apology early Monday, getting Mathews off the hook by saying: "George sent me his column to post last week." Lively said he's been swamped with preparations for the annual meeting this coming weekend in Jacksonville, Florida.

WMA's Newsboard updates us on services for the late president of World Masters Athletics: "The funeral of Torsten Carlius will be held in Saint Maria church in Helsingborg, Sweden, on Thursday morning December 15th, 10:30 AM. The family requests no flowers and that people contribute to the Carlius Foundation, which was started by Torsten's father, Nils Carlius 1971, and supports young talented athletes in Helsingborg."