Tony, in Northwest orange, is a front-runner. He turned 50 in mid-April.

Here’s the official last-minute invite:

The 8th annual Oregon Masters Mile is just a few weeks away, Saturday, June 9 at Lewis & Clark College in Portland, OR. The start list is shaping up pretty well, but we still have room for several more runners! If you haven’t signed up already and are interested in entering, please let me know ASAP. Any sub-5 minute milers are welcome to compete.

The Oregon Masters mile is part of the Portland Track Festival which features outstanding youth and open races during its two days of competition. The prize money offered to the top three runners is $200 for first, $150 for second, and $100 for third.

regards,
Dave Clingan
Masters Mile Event Coordinator
xroads@xro.com
503-740-4043

Chris and Ken at Qualcomm Stadium for Junior Seau tribute. (Killed himself May 2.)

Here are some of my favorite Chris Stone shots from Friday night:

Details of a fan tribute:

Junior Seau’s mother and eldest son:

Former teammates of Junior Seau:

Hugs for two of Junior’s children:

Fans too young to remember seeing Junior play:

Uniform No. 55 was retired by the Chargers:

More shooters than subjects at the Q:

Pete hangs with the kiddies during his Oxy race; photo by Diana Hernandez.

Pete’s record 5000 also got good ink in Runner’s World:

By Peter Gambaccini

Californian Pete Magill was dominant in the 45-49 age group; for example, he ran 14:45 for 5000 meters in March 2011, three months before turning 50, to become the oldest American to break 15:00 for the distance. He’s kept to his record-breaking ways since turning 50, including running 15:11.13 for 5000 meters at this weekend’s Oxy Invite in California, under the recognized 50-and-over American record. But, as you’ll see in a bit, don’t look for Magill’s name in the record books for this mark.

Pete with one lap to go in American record 5K; another great photo by Diana Hernandez.

There’s been an abundance of activity in the 50-plus 5000 in 2012. The American record of 15:41.67 by Mike Heffernan had stood for 20 years until it was lowered by Ken Ernst to 15:34.62 in March and then to a formidable 15:16.77 by Mike Blackmore just a week ago.
Blackmore and Magill will apparently be doing battle in the coming weeks to further lower their times, and ownership of it may pass back and forth between them, with Tony Young, who has just turned 50, possibly joining the fray.

But Magill, who is also a terrific Running Times columnist, is making no small plans. Lamenting that he “just got started too late this year” and is “definitely not quite race-fit yet,” he declares,

“I’m going to try to find another 5000 in June, because I think I’m 3 to 4 weeks away from 14:45-14:50.” His concern, he says, is that “I honestly think I might not find a decent race.”

In any case, from what Magill tells us, his 15:11 may never be considered an “official” record because he finds the ratification procedure to be “a really demeaning process.”

He explains, “It ultimately requires multiple follow-up phone calls, lots of begging, last-minute reminders at the [USATF] annual meeting where records are ratified, and that’s after running around a meet for a couple hours, trying to get people to sign off on all the things that need signing off on (the person who installed the track is supposed to sign off on the track being 400 meters, the starter for the race has to sign, the timer(s), somebody signs to guarantee that the track has proper rails, the meet director, etc.) … and even then the applications aren’t always accepted (and are often misplaced … often).”

Magill concludes, “Anyway, all that counts is that it gets on the ARRS top times list (they keep selected track times too) and the American Records Wikipedia entry, and I don’t need paperwork for that.”

Magill is exceptionally fast at 50 but, he says, “The worst part about being a 50-year-old runner is this: The day before the race, for no apparent reason, my legs and feet suddenly got inflamed. It actually hurt to jog. They had improved by race time, but I still had to loosen the laces on my shoes to warm up (you know, just so my feet could fit into them!). It didn’t affect my race (exhaustion was much more of a factor). But it was one of those annoying age things that really puts a damper on training and racing enthusiasm.”

Nice shout-out to Andy Hecker’s Wikipedia records for masters track.

But wouldn’t it be nice for a meet director to do his freaking job and provide all paperwork for a record on behalf of an athlete?

Mike (right) watched action at Olympic Trials in 50K racewalk in January with USATF board member Willie Banks, another masters athlete.

Here’s the news blast from Indy:

INDIANAPOLIS – USA Track & Field Chief Operating Officer Mike McNees is leaving the organization as USATF transitions into a new phase, USATF announced Monday.

McNees joined the USATF staff on March 1, 2009, as Chief Operating Officer. He was named Interim CEO on September 13, 2010 and served in that capacity until April 30, 2012.

“Having the opportunity to come back to my home state and lead this sport has been an honor and privilege,” McNees said. “The organization is charting a new course, and I’m proud to have done my small part in support of the team as I now re-chart my own. USA Track & Field, and I personally, both have a lot to look forward to. I want to thank all who helped make my time here rewarding, including the staff, the dedicated USATF members, and especially the amazing athletes who make us all look good every day. Go USA!”

“Mike has selflessly served USATF for more than three years,” CEO Max Siegel said. “He is a former athlete and coach who gave equal attention to every constituency of our organization. As we move into the next chapter of our organizational history, we sincerely thank him for everything he has done for USATF and wish him and his family the very best.”

McNees, 56, previously was County Administrator of Blaine County, Idaho, and had been City Manager of Sarasota, Fla. A native of Indiana, he was a three-time varsity letterman for the Indiana University track team, specializing in the 400m hurdles. He was a Big Ten team champion as well as a member of IU’s school and Big Ten meet record-setting 4x400m relay. While at USATF, he competed in masters track & field on the regional and national level, while also expanding his horizons into the half-marathon on the roads.

About USA Track & Field

USA Track & Field (USATF) is the National Governing Body for track & field, long-distance running and race walking in the United States. USATF encompasses the world’s oldest organized sports, the World’s #1 Track & Field Team, the most-watched events at the Olympics, the #1 high school and junior high school participatory sport, and more than 30 million adult runners in the United States: www.usatf.org.

Dick is second from the left in this M70 100 final at 2008 Spokane nationals.

Dick writes:
 

Friends,
 
Most of you know I sign my emails with “run to win,” a portion of a Bible verse from I Corinthians 9:24-27. This whole passage is a motivating factor for me, especially as written in The Message translation.
 
Last Saturday I had the honor of being invited to compete in the Penn Relays in Philadelphia. Nine sprinters, age 75 and above, ran the 100 meter dash in an afternoon featuring The Championship of America. All the other Masters sprints came on Friday, but they featured the old guys on Saturday. So our warm-up/s were with the famous sprinters I knew from among the best in the USA. The stands were filled with more than 30,000 fans.
 
A week prior to the race, I was at our local high school stadium for a ‘run-through’ at the same time the race would be in Philadelphia a week later. I had done some warm-ups and was stretching my hamstrings on a hurdle. I lost my balance and the hurdle knocked me down and I hit my head on the track.

Unknown to me at the moment was the fact that my right leg had landed in a nest of fire ants. My head became a bit cloudy and I grabbed my spikes and headed back to the car. I drove about a mile and realized that I was disoriented and lost, and learned later that I was suffering from anaphylactic shock. I pulled into a McDonald’s and called my daughter Kris, who lived close to where I was at the time.

Within minutes both Tom and Kris were there and Tom quickly drove to a local Clinic where I was given an injection of Benedryl, put into an ambulance and transported to the Charlotte Trauma Center downtown. They hooked me up to IVs, took a brain scan, blood and urine tests,EKG and a chest X-ray.

Several hours later I was in Virjean’s care and heading home for the night. The attending physician prescribed Prednisone to help remove the toxins from more than 100 Ant stings. Obviously my training was considerably abbreviated all last week. I knew that preparation for this kind of competition began months ago and that I would not get any faster or stronger just prior to the competition.
 
One of the side effects of Prednisone is unusually high blood pressure, also nervousness, sleeplessness, and a few other irritants that don’t contribute to well-being. My blood pressure was unusually high on the morning of the race and I knew the warm-ups would take it down a bit..
 
I remember the commands “Take your mark, get set” and the gun. The rest was automatic pilot. I did not have the mental control of the race that is important to a sprinter. I finished fourth behind a winning time of 13.7.
 
Should I have run? Probably not. Could I pass up this unique opportunity in Track and Field? Obviously not. The lasting lesson for me is the importance of preparation. We form the habits and skills in our day to day work, our practice and preparation.

God is always there building something special in each of us, ready to use what we offer to Him at the right time and place. That’s why I am so fond of St Paul’s guidance in I Corinthians 9:24-27. That’s why I want to ‘run to win’!

John McCasey of the Sacramento Sports Commission got slammed by economy.

Here’s Kelly Johnson’s story, should the link go south:

The 2011 World Masters Athletics Championships — partially supported by the city of Sacramento — was supposed to help boost the economy and make money.

The event did pump money into the local economy, but it didn’t make money, and the organization that put on the event now can’t afford to repay a city loan.

The Sacramento city staff will ask the City Council on Tuesday to audit and limit city financial support to the organization known for attracting and orchestrating such large-scale sporting events as the 2000 and 2004 U.S. Olympic Trials for track and field.

The Sacramento Region Sports Education Foundation, which is the nonprofit support organization for the Sacramento Sports Commission, is in default and can’t repay a $400,000 loan to the city for the World Masters event, according to a staff report for Tuesday’s council meeting. The loan was supposed to be repaid last October. The organization also couldn’t repay a $150,000 loan Sacramento County supplied for the same event.

The city staff is asking the city’s elected leaders to temporarily postpone the loan due date until the city can craft a payback plan and conduct an audit. The council also will be asked to limit the city’s support of SRSEF “to only specific event-related costs and exclude general operating costs,” the report says.

The World Masters event lost $300,000. The 12-day event attracted 10,000 visitors and generated $7.9 million for the local economy, including producing $2.9 million in hotel revenue and $70,000 in sales tax revenue to the city, according to the staff report.

Formed in 1988, the Sacramento Sports Commission is a joint city-county commission. SRSEF formed a decade later. It is funded by private contributions, event revenue and allocations from the commission.