Brian Marlier clears the air on posting to mastersrankings.com

Brian on Facebook.

Brian on Facebook.

Brian Marlier is a bright and accomplished guy. He’s a senior VP in charge of sales at Cisco Systems, a big-time tech company. He also has a great family and supportive friends. But someone who knows his email address and DOB did him no favors when they entered 52.98 as a 400 time for him at an Arizona indoor meet. The time in official results was wrong, he told me by phone Tuesday night. In fact, he says: “I don’t know what I ran there.” Brian may have dug a deeper hole when he changed the mark to 62.98 in the M50 rankings. But now the mark is gone. (He took my advice to delete it.) Marlier (pronounced Marley-er) told me he probably ran about 60 seconds, finishing behind the winner in 47.94.

When Brian, 53, first saw the 52.98 attributed to him, he said he told his friend and trainer Dave Ashford: “Dave, there’s not a chance I ran that. I’m not that fast.”

He says Dave has been working him hard, and does “weightless” workouts like plyometrics and hill runs. (He also uses an electrical device that stimulates muscle contraction.) But his race on an oversized track at Northern Arizona University wasn’t anywhere near the 55 seconds Dave thinks Brian can run, Brian told me.

Brian is new to masters track and didn’t realize the repercussions of 52.98 being posted under his name — a time only a half-second off the M50 world indoor record.

In fact, he still hasn’t competed in a masters meet. He plans to race at Olathe masters outdoor nationals, he says. (And probably other meets earlier.) He lives in Scottsdale, Arizona (near Phoenix) during winter months and Chicago the rest of the year, so look for him in both places.

Brian calls himself a “big track guy” who gravitated to the decathlon in his college years. Now he’s happy to be competing in track again.

He’s also wiser to the ways of our culture, and he told me: “I’m personally dedicated to the integrity of the sport.” So I’d cut him some slack and allow a reboot of his masters relationship.

Best of luck, Brian. See you in Kansas!

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January 30, 2013

3 Responses

  1. Matt McCubbins - January 30, 2013

    Thanks for the full explanation, Ken, and welcome to masters track, Brian!

  2. Michael Sullivan - January 30, 2013

    Some joker has entered times under my name also… on a number of different occasions ……If I ran an 800 it would not be in 2:40 …… and I will never run a 1500…..Some people must have to much time on there hands……I was hoping Brian ran the 52 point ….make for some good races…Hills Calling…

    Sully

  3. leigh - January 30, 2013

    The very first meet I ran in when I came to masters track was at a local community college with FAT timing. I was 44 yrs old. Had NO idea what I could do the 100 in and was pretty happy with the time they gave me. It was a mid 13 something. My friend Rachel Guest was also in that race, I think her time was a low 11. It would have broken the American record in her age group as I recall. We figured out pretty quickly that the timing was off.

    I honestly had no idea how fast or, in my case, slow I was and I would have gone and posted my mid 13 in the rankings and would have been so thrilled to see myself on the upper end of the list. Then I would have wondered why the 15.8 (or whatever it was) the next time I ran!!! I’m sure I would have blamed THAT on the timing system! 🙂

    Have a great track season everyone!

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