Bob Weiner wins USATF David Pain Distinguished Service Award
The USATF Masters T&F Awards Committee led by Mary Trotto has released its list of age-category winners, topped by IAAF Best Male Master Bob Lida and overall Masters Athlete of the Year Jeanne Daprano. The committee (which I belong to) also chose masters publicity czar Bob Weiner for the David Pain Distinguished Service Award, which makes me a runner-up for the fifth or sixth year in a row. But I’m not complaining. Bob does a great job. All 36 winners of USATF masters awards — announced at the just-ended USATF annual meeting in Daytona Beach — will be recognized at Olathe masters nationals, a meet now listed as being July 11-14, 2013.
Bob was part of a project by photojournalist Angela Jimenez in 2008.
7 Responses
Congratulations, Bob. Your old coach at Blair Academy in New Jersey, Mr. Pender, would have been very proud of you. As you know, my brother Michael also ran for Mr. Pender, but he had nowhere near the success you had at Blair.
Rita, Joy and Phil are all multi-eventers with great throwing skills. Rita’s WR in the W55 hep includes exceptional throws.
Congratulations, Bob! Many people, but not enough, are aware of the tremendous time and effort that Bob goes to ino order to publicize Masters Track & Field. He typically sacrifices his performance energy at the big meets to run himself ragged getting the word out to the public about all of the competitors. Having known him for over 25 years (and getting my butt kicked by him the last 15!), I know that if he had the time for more R&R at the big meets, all his performances would be greatly enhanced. As is, he typically puts himself through the steeplechase and one or two more mid-distance races out of sheer joy and respect for the sport while juggling all those publicity duties. A suggestion: look past that serious, driven, professional face he often wears, and you will see a personable, warm, and generous man and a diehard T&F competitor and fan.
Congrats Bob (neighbor – Accokeek, MD). Keep up the good work.
Congratulations!
Congratulations, Bob. You are an irrepressible runner and a tireless advocate for masters running. My fond memories of running and organizing with you in the eighties are numerous. I particularly recall your setting up the competition and arranging the media coverage for Ferdie Adoboe’s successful assault on the backwards 100m dash world record at UMass in 1983.
Keep up the good work!
Bob’s club is featured in this blog post on SBnation.com:
http://www.sbnation.com/2014/8/19/6030821/running-potomic-valley-track-club-masters
But the writer does appear clueless:
ALEXANDRIA, Va. — Standing in the infield at Edison High School’s track, outside of Washington, D.C., I had a double-take moment. Among the teenagers and little kids swarming over the track, I glimpsed a woman in her 70s running down the backstretch of a 400-meter race.
Then I looked over at the high jump pit, where a man in his 50s was leaping over the bar as younger competitors watched.
“It can’t be,” I thought.
But it turns out I shouldn’t have been surprised. I quickly learned that Masters track started in the 1960s for athletes ages 30-and-up to compete in age-segregated track competitions around the United States.
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