Charlie Kern adds Boston New Balance mile title with sub-4:20
A couple weeks back, Charlie Kern won the M40 mile at Hartshorne in 4:20.50. On Saturday, he added another pelt — the masters mile title at the New Balance Indoor Grand Prix at Boston, where he improved to 4:19.73. See results here. His race was the first on the schedule. Great way to kick off a track meet. In the meet’s final event, Russell Brown won the elite mile in 3:54.81. Not too shabby. Hey, Russ! Come back in 20 years and see what you can do for the mile! Expect a full report soon from Philly’s Kevin Forde, who ran 4:33 in the race.
Charlie led a parade of masters milers under the 4:40 mark in Boston.
9 Responses
Congratulations to all the masters men in this race. I met Charlie for the first time at the Hartshorne Mile and he is obviously a great addition to the masters’ track scene. The ages aren’t shown, but Francis is 45 and Kevin Forde is 47, so recognition goes to them both for being competitive with the younger guys. Sean Livingston obviously comes from a family with great genes. His sister is Terry Ballou! I caught glimpses of Kent, Kevin and Francis jogging in the background during the T.V. coverage, and a flash of their race during pole vault coverage.
Other good news – Peter Taylor continues to recover very well, with decreasing pain and thankfully, it looks like he won’t need the medical services of either Nolan Shaheed or Tom Hartshorne, although I’m sure he will be happy to have Ruthlyn Greenfield-Webster, RN as a guardian angel in ABQ.
Nice racing everybody! Super impressive showing at Reggie Lewis. Wish I could have been there to see it. I like how the newly minted master, Lance Elliot, continues to improve. . .knocking more than 7 seconds off what he ran here at Cornell two weeks prior. Way to go Charlie – your conditioning bodes well for the Worlds this summer.
When Francis Burdett, one of the stars of the recent Club 10K X-country championships, finishes 12th in a masters mile race running 4:37, you know you have a solid field.
Best of luck to all that attend the indoor nationals and the Worlds this summer! Tom
Yes, that was some field—quantity and quality! Congrats to all who ran, including my brother, who I’m trying to convince to come out to Sacramento for Worlds. I, too, saw a few seconds of the masters men warming up as I watched on ESPN2–when will they ever televise the whole race? And why doesn’t this meet have a masters women’s race? Just like the men, the pool of women 40+ in track and field has become deep and full of impressive times. Would love to see masters women be given the same opportunity to compete at such an awesome meet.
Why is there no Masters Women’s Mile?
– the masters (men’s) mile is primarily a local event just as the youth relay is. The purpose is to have a competitive race that will “warm up the crowd”.
– the requested entry standard ensures that the race will be competitive. All men will have run within 15-20 seconds of each other this competition year.
– Records are secondary. A few years ago, an individual wanted to run and thought they could get a US record – also wanted some expenses covered. The response was that the race was not about records and there are no expenses, but the athlete was welcome to run. The individual did not come.
What meet management wants is 4 runners off the final turn and anyone able to win it.
– In comparison, I can’t find 8 masters women from the New England states that have run a competitive mile this season (BU mini meets, Dartmouth, GBTC, Terrier), let alone all being having a time that would put them on the same lap.
Greater Boston TC meet has a separate masters 800 and mile, and they have not had 3 female entrants in any of the past 3 years, so women run with the open women.
If local masters women could put a history together of there being 8-16 runners within 20 seconds of each other in one season, then it might be considered.
It’s about competition.
Note: the process will change next year, and there will be a required percentage of local New England runners participating – because local runners will generally have people coming along who purchase tickets.
How does one enter Boston New Balance mile race? I’d like to run it next year. Is registration through a local running club? I live in California but I would love to come to Boston to run this race.
E-mail Steve Vaitones at USATF New England and tell him you would like to be considered.
In the past, entry for the New Balance Indoor Grand Prix / Boston Indoor Games has been first-come first-entered, but with growing interest, there will be a different qualifying/entry process.
Tentative process for 2012:
– Email interest/intent after December 1 and at least 4 weeks before the meet.
– Achieve a time of 4:39 or better during the 2011-12 through the Sunday 2 weeks before the meet.
(This year, that would have been through Jan 23 for the Feb 5 meet)
– Additional consideration given to athletes who support full masters meets in their area (vs. only running in open sections of open meets)
– On the Monday 12 days out, the top 12-15 from the performance list will be invited to compete. Number set after discussions with meet management as 2012 meet specifics are being firmed up.
Other details:
No pacesetters.
No expenses.
No additional passes (your support crew has to buy a ticket).
No entry fee.
All competitors eligible for a hearty handshake at registration or after the race.
An opportunity to be part of the best open meet in the country.
Steve
Thanks for the information Steve. Do you accept an equivalent 1500m time for the 4:39 mile qualification? This sounds like a really fun race.
I think it would be very very appropriate to put age next to the competitors. I know for a fact Forde and Fitzpatrick are in the 45yr age group. Those two times alone carry great significance here!
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