Day 3 at Boston nationals: Irene Obera makes it 3-for-3 in records

If it’s Sunday, it must be Obera record day. Of course, Irene Obera — the comebacking W80 from Fremont, California — also set records Friday and Saturday at Boston nationals. So after claiming the age-group 400 American record on Day 1, she followed with WRs in the 60 Saturday and 200 Sunday. Irene ran the 60 in 10.37 seconds, taking almost 1 second off the listed WR of 11.31 by Germany’s Rosemarie Kreiskott in 2011. Then she ran the deuce in the insane time of 36.53, blasting the 40-, 39-, 38- and 37-second barriers in the process and erasing Rosemarie’s listed WR of 41.34. The fastest W80 200 on record, indoors or out, had been 39.78 by American Polly Clarke in 1990. On the Age-Graded Tables, Irene’s 36.53 is worth an open time of 21.65. In Oberaworld, 80 is the new 60. For great images of nationals, see the SmugMug galleries of John Keklak.

Irene Obera in full 60-meter flight was captured by John Keklak at Roxbury College.

Irene Obera in full 60-meter flight was captured by John Keklak at Boston.

Here’s how USATF reported Sunday’s events from the Reggie:

BOSTON, Mass. – Three world records and eight American records highlighted the final day of the 2014 USA Masters Indoor Track & Field Championships, hosted by the Reggie Lewis Center on the campus of Roxbury Community College. In total at the championships, 24 events saw new national record bests and 11 world marks were shattered.

So Cal Track Club won the team competition, scoring 524 points for their 11th team title in 19 years. The nine-point difference between So Cal and runner-up TNT International Racing is the closest team battle in the history of the championships.

Kathy Martin (Northport, N.Y.) continued her dominance in the distance events, breaking the previous world record in the W60 800 meters in 2:39.41. Just yesterday, Martin won the W60 mile in 5:47.25, easily surpassing Marie Michelsohn’s previous world record of 6:02.49, set in 2003.

Irene Obera (Fremont, Calif.) set her fourth record of the meet, this time in the W80 200 meters. Obera crushed the previous world mark of 41.34 with her first-place finish of 36.53. Obera set world records on Friday and Saturday as well.

The Fremont, Calif. native smashed the previous U.S. W80 400m record yesterday by nearly 30 seconds and the world record by more than 20 seconds with her finish of 1:34.25. Saturday, Obera also won the W80 60 meters in 10.37, breaking the previous world (11.31) and American (11.52) records in the process.

The men’s 4×400-meter relay from Houston Elite, comprised of George Haywood, Charles Allie, Richard Riddle and Carroll Blake, broke the world record in the M60 age group, finishing in 3:58.03. The previous record of 3:59.09 was set by Houston Elite in 2013 and both Allie and Riddle were on that relay quartet as well.

Gloria Krug (Philadelphia, Pa.) broke her second and third national records of the meet, surpassing her own ARs for the W80 weight throw and super weight throw. Krug improved her mark in the weight throw by nearly four feet, winning the event with her toss of 8.03m/26-4.25. In the super weight throw, Krug captured the super weight title with her throw of 5.88m/19-3.50.

140 athletes will represent the United States in Budapest at the 2014 World Masters Indoor Championships, beginning Tuesday, March 25. 47 reigning world champions will don the red, white and blue in Hungary and six record-holders from this year’s national championships will compete on the world stage.

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March 16, 2014

7 Responses

  1. Ken Stone - March 16, 2014

    Meanwhile, Canadian masters nationals were held this weekend in Toronto. Results are here:
    http://canadianmasters.ca/cmawp/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/Results-2014.pdf

  2. Marcus battle - March 17, 2014

    What about the jumps and throws

  3. Marcus battle - March 17, 2014

    Best event m50 long jump

  4. Julie Hayden - March 17, 2014

    Fantastic Photo of amazing lady! I’m sharing that with all my youth athletes! Still on a wonderful high from spending the weekend with my masters track family.You are all wonderful and so inspiring!

  5. Roger Pierce - March 17, 2014

    Irene is beyond remarkable….some awesome achievements over the weekend..

  6. Peter Taylor - March 20, 2014

    Irene has been named USATF Athlete of the Week for her amazing performances at Boston. She has a silky stride, she runs unbelievable times (36.53 in the 200, for example), and she is 80. Eighty, I said.

    I have announced 18 of the last 19 indoor masters nationals, and what Irene did last weekend in Boston may well rank as the greatest set of accomplishments by one athlete in those 18 meets. How about that?

  7. Ken Stone - March 23, 2014

    Joe McGurn shares a link to his Boston nationals photos and says “it would be my pleasure to provide the photos for any athlete who wants them. runners should be able to download any they like.” 

    Here’s the link: 
    http://www.bayislandphoto.com/Track/

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