Archive for the ‘Uncategorized’ Category

Why no info on 2018 Malaga outdoor world meet on WMA website?

If Perth was near perfection, Malaga is a mystery. The 2018 world masters outdoor meet isn’t even listed yet on the WMA website. “Nothing on the outdoor meet,” writes a friend. “Seems like putting on the world masters outdoor and indoor meets are the primary job of WMA, so why is this information so hard […]

November 25, 2016   Posted in: Uncategorized  13 Comments

Q&A with Vin Lananna, candidate for president of USA Track & Field

Vin Lananna has experience at every major level of track and field, and became a legend at Oregon and TrackTownUSA, bringing Olympic Trials and IAAF worlds to Portland or Eugene. He was head men’s track coach at the Rio Games. Now he wants to be elected president of USATF. Cool. (But first he has to […]

November 24, 2016   Posted in: Uncategorized  11 Comments

Masters-connected brass reach for USATF LDR Division ring

Don Lein, Teddy Mitchell and Michael Scott are running for chairman of the USATF Long Distance Running Division at the Orlando annual meeting. Generally, I ignore roadies, but many of my LDR friends also compete on the track. So for their sake, I hope the right choice is made. Don is probably the best known […]

November 22, 2016   Posted in: Uncategorized  No Comments

Marathon halved at outdoor worlds in Perth General Assembly votes

Race walkers, rejoice. A 5K outdoor walk is being added to WMA world indoor meets after 2017. But road runners may have mixed feelings. They’re losing a marathon and gaining a half-marathon at outdoor worlds. Those were among decisions made in late October when General Assembly delegates met in Perth. Minutes of that meeting haven’t […]

November 21, 2016   Posted in: Uncategorized  6 Comments

Q&As with Rex Harvey, Robert Thomas: masters chair candidates

As promised, I shot questionnaires to the two candidates for chairman of the USATF Masters Track & Field Committee. Both replied this weekend. I didn’t give them a maximum or minimum limit, so take that it account when you read responses from Hall of Famer Rex Harvey and world-class long sprinter Robert Thomas. The biggest […]

November 20, 2016   Posted in: Uncategorized  7 Comments

Should USATF have a hotline to report masters drug cheats?

M75 lawyer Stephen Cohen is chair of the USATF Masters Drug Testing and Substance Abuse Committee, and doping is part of his annual region coordinator report, included here for the annual meeting. Stephen writes: “There was little opposition to Drug Testing at the Masters Region Championships (at Carroll University in Waukesha, Wisconsin) with one donation […]

November 18, 2016   Posted in: Uncategorized  11 Comments

Bill Shissler dies at 66; beloved thrower, coach touring after Perth

Bill Shissler took 14th out of 15 in the M65 shot at Perth, and that’s the least important thing you need to know about him. But it shows he was still in the game to the end. Less than two weeks later, on Nov. 9, Bill died while sightseeing at Ayers Rock. “I was informed […]

November 17, 2016   Posted in: Uncategorized  11 Comments

New York Times story reveals real age of ‘119-year-old sprinter’

India’s Dharam Pal Singh isn’t 119, and he didn’t compete in Perth as planned, but thanks to Jere (say Jerry) Longman and Hari Kumar of The New York Times, we finally know his true age group. And it’s nowhere near M100. Their 4,000-word masterpiece on masters age fraud (with a detour celebrating two real M95 […]

November 16, 2016   Posted in: Uncategorized  20 Comments

‘Mr. Marathon’ Tracy Sundlun fired by firm he co-founded in 1990s

Once upon a time, marathons were for men, and anything over 3 hours was not worth mentioning. That changed when Tim Murphy and Tracy Sundlund started the Rock ‘n’ Roll Marathon series — first in San Diego. Now everyone and his grandmother runs 26.2 miles or a half-marathon. Four months ago — just 36 hours […]

November 15, 2016   Posted in: Uncategorized  2 Comments

Arthur Carbon is dated, but Aussie still churning out sprints at 96

A Perth news outlet covered a local gent who supposedly had not competed in track for 50 years. We learn about Arthur Carbon, the oldest entrant at worlds “in his first competitive hit-out in half a century, [who] finished at the back of the six-person M90-99 race in a time of 35.55 seconds.” He didn’t […]

November 14, 2016   Posted in: Uncategorized  No Comments