Archive for the ‘Uncategorized’ Category
Tony Echeandia running for Team USA at Perth, shunning P.R.
After many years wearing Puerto Rican colors at world masters meets, M50 Getulio “Tony” Echeandia of Queens, New York, will compete for Team USA at Perth, according to the entrants list. That means he can help America win 4Ă—4 gold down under. He’s a U.S. citizen, of course. Last year, Tony explained: “I run for […]
August 25, 2016
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Pete Magill’s ‘Born Again Runner’ book offers masters motivation
Masters 5K legend Pete Magill has published a new book, “The Born Again Runner,” which gave me reason to interview the South Pasadena author. Among other things, he explains his skepticism of “shiny objects” — digital devices marketed to runners. I also pinned him down on doping. He told me: “Runners should definitely take medicines […]
August 24, 2016
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Club West Masters Meet back after 3 years — at Westmont College
Three years after its last edition, the fabled Club West Masters Track Meet is back. Long held at ocean-overlooking Santa Barbara City College and then UC Santa Barbara and Moorpark College, the event went dormant in 2014 and 2015 “as we sought a good venue at a reasonable cost,” says Robin Paulsen, Club West interim […]
August 23, 2016
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Belated praise for Jo Pavey: W40 WR 10K during Rio Games
Britain’s Jo Pavey was lapped early in the WR 10K at the Rio Games, but her 15th-place time of 31:33.44 was historic as well — a WMA W40 world record. Jo turns 43 in September. How good was her mark? It would have beaten the men’s world record in 1884, also by a Briton (Walter […]
August 22, 2016
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Masters history site adds thousands of original NMN color photos
The late Randy Sturgeon was publisher of National Masters News for eight years, and he honored the monthly’s history by safeguarding its treasured storehouse of photos. These images graced its pages (usually in black-and-white) for decades. Now many can be seen in their original full-color glory. Sunday night, I uploaded to mastershistory.org 108 PDFs representing […]
August 21, 2016
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Kip Lagat (briefly) wins bronze in 5000; Ruth Beitia keeps her gold
Wow, what a crazy night in Rio! The W35 Spanish high jumper wins a low-height contest on misses, and M40 Bernard Lagat takes sixth in the 5000, then is moved to third because of three DQs, then is moved to fifth after appeals. The IAAF noted: “As it was, Lagat finished fifth in 13:06.78 and […]
August 20, 2016
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M40 Belarussian wins silver in Rio hammer, but has doping past
M40 hammer thrower Ivan Tsikhan of Belarus took silver in Rio, hitting 77.79 (255-2 1/2) on Friday. (The listed M40 WR is 82.23 by Igor Astapkovich.) Hope he tests clean this time. He’s had two positives in the past. It’ll be hard for another geezer to beat Ivan’s medal. But fellow fortysomethings Bernard Lagat and […]
August 19, 2016
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Taxpayers group rips World Masters Games $30,000 ‘junket’ to Rio
Auckland is hosting the 2017 World Masters Games, but that doesn’t mean New Zealand government-watchers are letting the LOC do anything it wants. Especially not wasteful spending. On Friday, Radio New Zealand reported how a press release slammed two managers from an Auckland Council agency for being on a weeklong trip to the Olympic Games […]
August 18, 2016
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Is Seb Coe feeding at the Kiwi World Masters Games trough?
In the olden days, WMA had a rule against promoting the rival World Masters Games, whose big meets were held in the same odd-numbered years. Now that WMA worlds are even-numbered years, it’s not as big a deal. But it’s still startling to learn that IAAF Prez Sebastian Coe is one of several Olympian ambassadors […]
August 17, 2016
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Ed Whitlock the Fearless Competitor: 800 was his first in many years
Who runs marathons at world-class levels and then challenges the world-record holder at 800 meters? Insane question, right? Well, it’s just another day at the office for M85 superhuman Ed Whitlock. In response to queries after his double WR weekend, Ed graciously satisfied my shameless curiosity on his half-mile: “It was my first 800m race […]
August 16, 2016
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