Masters Track News and Muse

This may be a first. A New Zealand newspaper is hyping a masters meet by focusing on a possible M85 world record. The report in the Wanganui Chronicle talks about Eric deLatour of Tauranga, who missed setting a 1500 record by .02 second in January at the Oceania Masters Athletics meet. This could be the first sub-7 metric mile in history for his age group. Go Eric!

In the past 24 hours, folks have publicly and privately chimed in with suggestions for host cities for the 2007 indoor nationals. Fresno, Albuquerque, Reno and back-to-Boise have been mentioned. Even Jersey City. But the reality is that Boston is likely to reprise its 2006 gig. For a bunch of logistical reasons, Boston may be the only choice to replace New York City. At least that's the impression left by USATF Masters T&F Chairman George Mathews, who wrote me today.

Just heard yesterday that two potential American records were set at the Armory on Feb. 23 -- in the same 1500-meter race. I say potential not because the athletes didn't really do them. It's cuz the meet mucky-mucks apparently don't care much for accuracy. Trust me, the recordkeepers do. Marisa Hanson and Madelyn Noe-Schlentz deserve better.

Pierre Faucheur of France has joined the parade of record-busting metric milers this winter. On Feb. 23, he ran 4:09.98 at an indoor meet in Eaubonne (near (Paris). The French athletics federation already lists his new national records in the 1500 -- and the 1000. Pierre beat the listed M50 world indoor record of 4:12.67 by Britain's David Wilcock in 2004. The listed outdoor M50 world record is 4:05.2 by Australia's Tom Roberts in 1984.

Frank Morton informs us that the New York Road Runners has reposted results of the "Thursday Night at the Races" event Feb. 23 where Marisa Hanson and Madelyn Noe-Schlentz beat masters age-group records in the 1500. Their final marks, apparently hand-timed, were 4:36.8 for W40 Marisa and 4:52.6 for W45 Madelyn. Both marks are being submitted as American indoor age-group records. (USATF insists on automatic times only for races 440 yards and shorter.) Mega kudos to both M's!

Sad duty to report that Marion Bigelow Higgins -- the oldest resident of California -- has died at age 112. Last year, when she was 111, I took her picture twice in the stands at the USATF Western Regional Masters Championships at Carson, not far from her home in Seal Beach Leisure World (where my mother lives, BTW). Here she is with meet director Mark Cleary. And here she is with her son Horace.

Nadine O'Connor of Del Mar, California, has been setting sprint and vault records for several years. Now, at age 63, she's looking for other challenges. Last Sunday at the USATF Mid-America Regional Indoor Championships, she tried hurdling. Not a bad debut -- an American record 10.84 in the the 60-meter event. Oh and BTW, Nadine raised her own W60 world indoor record in the pole vault from 3.0 to 3.01 meters (9-10 1/2)!

Distance brings perspective. In this case, distance involves time as well as miles. Months after the masters award season, Pete Mulholland of the British magazine Running Fitness writes in April's masters section: "Thoughts of the 'panel' turned towards what was the most impressive masters' performance on a worldwide basis (in 2005), and it was difficult to find an athlete with credentials superior to Kip Janvrin of the United States, whose performance in winning the the M40 decathlon (at San Sebastian worlds) was truly outstanding."

Pete Mulholland, my Hero Du Jour, sends along results from the British masters indoor championships, completed this weekend in Cardiff, Wales. Nearly 20 British records were set, and four world records, meaning the Germans won't have the Linz world meet all to themselves. And watch out for the Yanks (whose masters nationals won't come until after the WMA world meet.) Two of the world records broken had been in American hands.

Supergeezers enchant me. By that I mean sprinters, jumpers and throwers who blow by 90 and set their sights on competing at 100. The latest to make his presence known is New Zealand's Lewis Taylor, who was written up in the Wanganui Chronicle as part of its coverage of the New Zealand masters nationals. One juicy tidbit in the article was this: "The oldest contestant New Zealand Veterans’ boss Jim Blair can remember at an international event was 106. Yes, 106." That beats the oldest I know about -- a couple of 104-year-old American throwers.

Today the Man turns 75 -- sub-3-hour marathoner Ed Whitlock of Canada. Breaking 3 at 75 would be ungodly, but I wouldn't put it past the man from Milton. (He ran 2:58:40 at age 74.) That's 26 consecutive 6:48 miles. Incredible. But I hope he returns to the track eventually. These M75 records are ripe for the taking: 5,000 in 20:00.13 and 10,000 in 41:47.31. (Ed already holds the M70 world records at 18:33.38 and 38:04.13.) Fersure, the M75 world marathon record is toast: 3:18:10 by American Warren Utes in 1995. See ya in the record books, Ed! Have a great day!

A few months back, I worried aloud about whether USATF Masters would have a rankings program this season -- an online list of top marks in all age groups, indoors and out. As you've probably surmised, it's back in business. Today I also discovered the value placed on these updated seasonal performance lists: $750 (Correction on 3/7: It's actually $3,750. I missed a column in the budget.) That's an absolute steal, considering the hundreds of hours rankers Dave Clingan and Larry Patz put into them. (Last year, Dave and Larry processed over 25,000 results from more than 700 meets.) The pricetag put on rankings is revealed in the 2006 USATF Masters T&F budget, now online.

Mike Powell is feeling the hunger again. Not content to out-Beamon Beamon in the legendary 1991 duel with Carl Lewis, he now wants a taste of masters glory. He wants the M40 record in the long jump -- the 2002 jump of 7.685 (25-2 1/2) by Aaron Sampson. So reports Dwight Stones, the jumper-turned-broadcaster.

Decathletes and heptathletes don't do hibernation. In the winter, they just compete indoors. The USATF national masters indoor heptathlon championships -- for men and women -- were held last weekend at Carthage College in Kenosha, Wisconsin, and more than two dozen men (including two 81-year-olds) competed as well as seven women (with the oldest being Christel Donley at age 71.)

This is getting old. Latest stats from Linz, Austria, site of the second World Masters Athletics Indoor Championships, indicate that the meet's name is a blatant misnomer. The Eurovets news page sez: "36 European countries will take part in Linz 2nd WMA Indoor. All in all 3109 athletes will come to Austria, from Germany (leading with 890 participants up to Luxemburg with 2 athletes); in comparison to all entries the Europeans are represanted by 93,2% of all competitors." So much for calling it a world meet.

Asian masters usually fly under my radar, but not today. The Hindu newspaper in India tells the story of W70 multi-eventer Daisy Victor (whatta perfect name!) and posts an action shot for the ages. The article appeared on International Women's Day, which is observed lots of places -- outside the United States. Daisy's credo: "Running gives me a lot of happiness. God has given me the strength and talent to run, so I run. Let people say what they want." No problems here, champ!

Cathy Baar, a W50 thrower and jumper in San Diego, is like most masters -- in it for the joy of competiition and the social interaction. She's not world-class and is content with that. But unlike most athletes, she's overcome a world of pain, even as she goes from WMA world meet to another. She's a cancer survivor -- who underwent chemotherapy and radiation for Hodgkin's Lymphoma. Yet she's looking forward with pride to even more pain: her first triathlon. It's not Ironman-class (no marathon), but it's a challenge in itself. On her behalf, I'm sharing her story and request for donations.

First we have the worlds, then the worlds. Let me explain. The IAAF Indoor worlds has started in Moscow. A few days later, the masters worlds start in Linz, Austria. But lots of folks over 35 are competing in the big-boy event, including 38-year-old vaulter Jeff Hartwig. The WMA lists the world M35 indoor record as 5.70 (18-8 1/4) by Russia's Rodion Gataulain in 2001, but Jeff has already jumped 5.85 this year. That's 19-2 1/4. And I think the real M35 indoor best may even be better.

The NYC Armory isn't the only one to blame for the 2007 indoor nationals debacle -- winning the meet in 2004 and dumping it in 2006. Masters officials screwed up as well. Today I received a long note from a source within the Metropolitan Association (formerly the MAC), which "signed off" on the Armory's bid back in 2004. But according to my source, members of the Met board didn't even know about the bid until the December 2004 Portland meeting where the meet was awarded!

The German masters track site of Robert and Annette Koop offers some advice to folks driving to Linz, Austria, for the masters worlds. I've also gotten a note from British sprinter Lesley Richardson, asking me to pass the word that her photography services will again be available.

Marathon man Ed Whitlock of Milton, Ontario, has been nursing a head cold in recent weeks. No big deal. On March 6, he turned 75. Yesterday he celebrated his new age group by demolishing that group's world indoor record for 3,000 meters by 44 seconds, clocking 11:28.28 at the Ontario Masters Indoor Championships, whose results are now posted. The old record was 12:12.72 by Great Britain's James Todd in 1997. Canadian photographer Doug Smith writes: "As well, (Ed) spent some time before his race helping us set up the hurdles on the straight! That’s like Gretzky driving the Zamboni before the 7th game of the Stanley Cup Finals."

The Hayward Masters Classic is in jeopardy. The two-day meet at the University of Oregon's legendary Hayward Field is traditionally one of the biggest and best masters events in the country. But this year, its late June dates are suddenly voided because of improvements planned for the field (site of the 2008 Olympic Trials.) And masters meet organizer Ruth BreMiller of the Oregon Track Club Masters has informed some folks that the meet might be scratched this year.

Former TJ world record holder Willie Banks turned 50 on Saturday, and I sent him a congratulatory note. I also asked him what his meet plans are. Willie replied: "I am still training as hard as my old body will let me. I have not jumped anywhere yet, but I am aiming for '50 at 50.' I know the world record for this age bracket is within reach, but I don’t want to get it until the summer, if possible, in Japan at a celebration for the 20th anniversary of my company HSJ, Inc." The listed M50 outdoor world record for the triple jump is 14.07 (46-2) by Finland's Stig Backlund in 1990. Willie's best mark in 2005? He did 14.64 -- just a scooch over 48 feet. Will he get the M50 record? Bank on it.

The Web site for the Linz meet -- the second WMA World Masters Indoor Championships -- already is posting meet highlights as "breaking news." The English version was blank early this morning, the Ides of March. But the German version carried news of a W80 world high jump record by Germany's Margarete Strúven. (Probably a bit over 3 feet.) Also a WR in W75 for high jumper Christa Happ (also of Germany). Here we go.

It's not the user-friendliest means of displaying marks, but the Linz world site has a page of links to complete results (conducted so far). The results link didn't appear until the first day's events were complete (it seems). The results themselves are displayed as PDFs -- an Adobe format that requires you have the Adobe Acrobat reader to access the stuff. Most computers come equipped with Adobe, but if you're missing it, you can download it for free from this page here.

British mastersmeister Pete Mulholland, a longtime observer of old folks running around the track and roads, has graciously and courageously consented to share his observations from Linz and the WMA world indoor meet. He'll be emailing me his reports from the meet when time avails -- an effort that should be appreciated as a milestone in masters track coverage. The meet has started with eight world records, and Pete is in championship form as well! My apologies for not converting metric marks to imperial feet and inches.

"Not such a long day at the office," begins Pete Mulholland of Running Fitness magazine on Day 2 of the world masters meet in Linz, "only 12 hours of watching, interviewing, scavenging for results plus the occasional pit-stop for refreshments. I managed to catch up with some of yesterday’s 3000m competitors and discovered that there had been some fun and games with the lap recorders." (Oh no here we go again with lap-counting follies -- a la Hawaii masters nationals last summer).

Arrivederci, Albuquerque. Buh-bye, Boise. Never mind, New Jersey. Boston's Reggie Lewis Center will host the 2007 USATF National Masters Indoor Championships. Also the 2006 host, Boston has been the site of indoor nationals for all but one of the past eight or so years. More than a half-dozen other host cities had been mentioned as fill-ins for the 2007 meet in the wake of the NYC Armory's decision to drop 2007. An official announcement from USA Track & Field has yet to be made, but the local organizers of the Boston nationals -- the New England Association of USATF -- have confirmed that USATF Masters and Boston have reached an agreement to host the meet.

By most public accounts, Dr. Norbert Sander is one hell of a guy. He's the founder, president and CEO of the Armory Foundation, which operates a world-class indoor track, mainly for kids, in north Manhattan (but not far from New Jersey). Alan Webb became the first high school miler to go sub-4 indoors there in 2001, and Marla Runyan the same year set an American record for the indoor 5,000 meters.

Americans broke up the British-German axis of middle-distance strength today at the Linz world masters meet, led by Lesley Chaplin-Swann who won W45 gold in 2:20.99 to set an American 800 age-group record (lowering her own indoor AR of 2:22.37). M65 Sid Howard (2:28.37) added another gold to his world medal collection. Steve Gallegos won M50 in 2:06.90 and Kevin Paulk won M45 in 2:04.03. W70 Mary Harada got a bronze in her 800. Greg Foster went 14.12 (46-4) for gold in the M40 triple jump. (Not the hurdler Foster, BTW). Here, then, is Pete Mulholland's report on Day 3:

Houston's Bill Collins, presumably wearing his own spikes this time, won the M55 60 world title today in 7.34 seconds after lowering his own world indoor record of 7.47 to 7.46 in the semifinal earlier in the day at Linz, Austria. So two days after twice setting an M55 WR in the 200 he does the same in the 60. In the 200, however, he ran with borrowed spikes and shorts, having left them behind at a New Jersey airport. Germany's Robert Koop, beating the official results Web site, sent this news of the latest Collins accomplishment. Danke, Robert!

Pete Mulholland writes: "One of the most unusual sights seen at the Championships is the calm figure of Bill Collins standing – almost to attention – as his crouching opponents await starter’s orders. To the uneducated observer, Collins looks out of place: until the gun fires that is. Without the benefit of being propelled from the blocks he is away before he rest of the field get into an upright position and the opposition are left scrapping for the minor positions."

Annette Koop, a world champion masters middle-distance runner, has started a blog from Linz -- and I assume will eventually do for the Germans what Pete Mulholland does for his fellow Brits (shine a spotlight on their world meet performances). Pete's reports (sent as Word document files for me to post on this blog) have been wonderful slices of life. His commentary does a great job flushing out the stories behind the cold results. Those results, BTW, have boogers. The Linz webmaster sometimes links to the wrong event. Several events aren't represented yet on the results page. So fire up you favorite translation program and copy-paste Annette's accounts from Austria.

In the third of three heats of the M40 short hurdles today at Linz worlds, French Olympian Vincent Clarico clocked 7.95 seconds, nipping American Karl Smith's world record for the 60-meter event of 7.96, set in 2000 and tied by Clarico a month ago. But America got a record back when Dexter McCloud (also in the third of three heats) ran the 39-inch hurdles in 8.35 -- and lowered the listed M45 world record of 8.36 set by Colin Williams of the USA in 2002. Thank goodness we don't have worry about wind readings indoors -- unless the collective gasp of amazement is counted. Tomorrow is the last day of the WMA world championships, with who-knows-what delights in store.

"There was something of a minor sensation today," writes Pete Mulholland, our man in Linz. "Bill Collins ran a race and didn’t break a world record! This Sunday was almost a day of rest as far as Collins was concerned as he just cruised two laps of the track in his heat with a steady 57.35 to set himself up nicely for tomorrow’s M55 400m final."

Bruce McBarnette, a Virginia lawyer, and 1976 Olympian Jim Barrineau collected gold medals in the M45 and M50 high jump, respectively, Sunday in Linz. Bruce set an M45 PR with his 1.96 (6-5) clearance, which turned back the challenge of Belgian Geert De Roose, who jumped 1.93 (6-4). Barrineau, who jumped 6-11 at age 40 at the 1995 WAVA world championships in Buffalo, cleared 1.78 (5-10) to beat Poland's Dariusz Bednarski, second at 1.75 (5-8 3/4).

Pete Mulholland messaged at 4 a.m. Pacific time: "Enrico Saraceni has just left the track after winning the M40 400m in a WR of 48.99! He is of course now the owner of both in (and ) out WRs." The official Web site put his winning time at 48.96 -- 1 1/2 seconds ahead of second-placer Erwin Thibau of Belgium (50.57). Enrico holds the outdoor WR of 47.82, set in 2004. Pete, reporting from Linz worlds on the final day of the WMA meet, also gained some fame himself. The German-language "Breaking News" told of his blogging efforts here, and included a picture of him with his laptop.

Haven't had a chance to share my extreme admiration for the Linz 2006 Web site. Although the display of results could have been friendlier, I have to admit that its photo coverage and day-by-day summaries were world-class. There's almost too much to take in. After a few days when only the German-language page was populated with "Breaking News" highlights, the English page caught up. Some amazing stuff was posted.

Before turning our attention to the Boston masters indoor nationals this weekend, I have a beef to unload (again). It's the bogus and misleading medal chart posted on the Linz site. Besides contradicting the original ethos of masters track, it leads visitors to believe that Germans and Britons overwhelmingly supply the best masters tracksters in the world.

Monday's tragic crash of a small plane in Branson, Missouri, claimed one of our own sprint stars: Paul Johnson, a dentist in Lubbock, Texas. He was entered in the 200/400 at this week's masters nationals. Abilene Christian University detailed his storied track career, including his M65 world records in the 200 and 400 at the Boston indoor nationals in 2001. (Larry Colbert now holds the American records in these events.) His wife also perished in the crash. I hope Boston will honor his memory in some suitable fashion. Our prayers are with his family and friends.

M55 great Bill Collins is returning home from Linz to some stateside kudos. Today he became the second masters star this year to gain USATF Athlete of the Week recognition from the Mother Ship in Indianapolis. (The other masters runner so honored was W45 middle-distancer Marisa Hanson on Jan. 24.)

Masters track is wacky. First you compete in the world championships and then, a week later, go for a national title? That's the way it be, but nobody's complaining. This weekend's Boston indoor nationals will play host to hundreds of American and some foreign guests. Close to a dozen world champions from Linz will be in Beantown, including W45 gold medalist (and American record holder) Lesley Chaplin-Swann, the 800-meter champ and former British citizen. She shares some thoughts on her Austrian experience.

From Idaho to Hawaii to Austria, lap-counting has become the Achilles' heel of masters track. On a sweltering day at last summer's Hawaii masters nationals, the men's 10K runners and women's 5K racers were afflicted and aggrieved. At the just-completed WMA world indoor meet, older women were the victims. But they are not silent. W70 Amerian Mary Harada testified to the snafus in a comment post here, but it's worth its own blog entry. So lissen up, all organizing committees.

Texas sprinter Paul Johnson, who died with his wife and two others in the crash of his small plane Monday, will be remembered in his hometown of Lubbock on Saturday, according to this news about his memorial service. I also came across a story in the Kansas City Star saying his piloting helped avoid greater tragedy. For those who knew Paul, that would be no surprise.

Just discovered a cool video, supposedly 6 minutes long, showing the snowed-under cross country race and a half-marathon at the Linz worlds. Even though I have a cable-modem connection, the video was very jumpy. But it was professionally shot and edited, and has a jazzy sound track. Some is narrated (in German?). But it's the first WMA meet site that features video! Danke! Now if only the official WMA Web site would move on from promoting the upcoming Linz world meet. Can't we just hand the WMA site to the Linzfolk? (Now, please, may we have some video of indoor events?)

Thanks to Jill Geer, a Boston-area resident, the USATF Masters Indoor Nationals are getting a fine splash from the get-go. Geer is the head media honcho for USA Track & Field, and a new mom. She'll be commuting to the Reggie Lewis Center to file reports on the three-day meet, apparently. Results of the meet are being posted on USATF's Web site, thank goodness. (This averts the disaster of 2005, when Boise experienced a computer crash and failed to post results for days.)

Poor Dexter McCloud. He ties or breaks the M45 world indoor record in the 60 hurdles twice in a day at Linz, and a week later Karl Smith lowers the mark even further. So it went on Day 2 of the Boston masters nationals. Dexter's 8.22 at the WMA world meet broke Colin Williams' 4-year-old record of 8.36. Then Karl goes 8.18 Saturday. Dex hardly had time to savor the WR.

The Boston indoor nationals wrapped up today with a raft of records -- some duly noted and at least three overlooked. Also, the Day 3 results sheet posted Sunday included an addendum: "Some Day 3 results were not received from the meet and are, therefore, notincluded on this page. USATF is trying to get the missing results and will post them as soon as they are received."

Masters meet announcer Pete Taylor, who only a year ago was recovering from serious illness, has sent along his observations on the just-completed USATF National Masters Indoor Championships in Boston. He's one of the few people in the sport who witness just about every event at nationals. His race calls add excitement to the meet, giving it a special atmosphere. Athletes appreciate the star treatment.

What do mafioso and masters have in common? They get nicknames. Well, at least the athlete superstars do. I refer to Phil "The Legend" Raschker. Pete Taylor coined Earl "The Great" Fee. And now in his latest thoughts on this past weekend's Boston masters nationals, where he was meet announcer, Pete dubs M45 hurdler Karl Smith "The Quick." Sounds good to me.

I've known Johnnye Valien for close to 10 years, and she never ceases to amaze. Yesterday, she finally got recognition from the Mother Ship, being named USATF Athlete of the Week. A week earlier, it was Bill Collins' turn for that tip-top track honor. Now if only USATF would recognize meet announcers, all would be right with the world. Here's Pete Taylor's latest thoughts on the recently completed Boston indoor nationals:

Canada's Ian Hume -- who along with countryman Don Farquharson and Americans Dave Pain and Bob Fine helped found the World Association of Veteran Athletes in the mid-1970s -- died Tuesday at age 91, reports RunnersWeb.com. Ian's 70-year competitive career ended in 1999 after he set dozens of masters records and won 29 world medals (13 gold). His funeral is Friday in St Lambert "not too far from the scene of his exploits on the track there when it was one of the main running venues in the Montreal area," the site reports.

Bob Fine of Florida wrote the original WAVA Constitution and was part of that small Toronto group in 1975 that launched masters track's world governing body. Cesare Beccalli of Italy also was at Toronto and later became the president of WAVA (now WMA) twice. Both have responded to my invitations to reflect on the passing of Canada's Ian Hume, who helped found WAVA.

In early February, I excitedly mentioned the entry of an "Alfrederick Joyner" in the M45 triple jump at the Boston masters nationals. He's otherwise known as Al Joyner, brother of JJK and an Olympic champ himself (in 1984). (He also was the husband of the late Florence Griffith Joyner, aka FloJo.) But Boston came and went -- with no Joyner in the results. I wrote to several people, and all agreed he simply didn't show up (or call to say why). But I've also learned a possible reason for his mysterious absence: family duties.

Becky Sisley of Oregon knows a thing or three about track. First, she's a world-class masters jumper and thrower herself. Second, she's a world-class meet organizer, with experience that includes the Hayward Masters Classic. So she was the ideal person to write a meet manual for USATF Masters Track & Field. The timing couldn't be better, given the debacle of the Armory spiking its 2007 indoor nationals and such.

The April edition of National Masters News is out, and USATF Masters T&F Chair George Mathews has a column discussing the lost NYC indoor nationals (detailed several places on this blog). Happily, George's column also is online. Sadly, NMN has ceased its tradition of printing an April Fools' article. This is the second April issue in a row without one. Sometimes they just recycled old articles, but a tradition is a tradition. So it goes.