With the Lyon gold and silver medalists and a 1500-meter indoor WR man joining Hall of Famer Nolan Shaheed, the men’s 800 masters exhibition at IAAF Portland worlds should be a doozy. At least three have set world records. Top seed in the March 19 race is Ireland’s Joe Gough, the M60 800 WR man, and No. 3 seed is Uruguay’s Omar Clok, who took second to Joe at Lyon. The No. 2 seed in Portland is Pierre Faucheur of France, whom I interviewed in 2010 after setting an M55 indoor WR in the 15. Pierre turned 60 in December, just making the age cut. Rounding out the six-man field are Marcel Scholten of Holland, America’s Nolan (multiple records) and Marc Schmitt of France. Alternates are Ukraine’s Oleksandr Lysenko and Britain’s David Wilcock.

Here’s how the men were informed:

Dear Master Athlete,

Congratulations on being selected for the Masters 800 in the IAAF Championships in Portland, Oregon.

Attached is a letter from Stan Perkins, the President of WMA, with some details and the names of those selected.

You will be hearing shortly from Winston Thomas, who is the team manager for you in Portland.

I hope you all enjoy your stay in Portland, Oregon (my home state).

Regards,

Sandy Pashkin,
Chair of the Selection Committee

Here’s the note from the WMA prez:

Dear Selected Master Athlete,

Firstly, I must thank you and the other athletes that have applied to compete in this most prestigious event, and the opportunity to show a new audience the power of Master athletics. The applications have been overwhelming with over 20 men and women applying for selection. We are pleased that so many athletes were interested and took the time to submit their details.

There were 6 men and 6 women selected, with provision made for two athletes as reserves in case of any possible withdrawals. The selection was based on the information submitted in the applications that had been received. These indicated the best performances of both 2015 and 2016, and whilst we realise that some athletes are just starting their season and may improve their performances, we had to abide by a cut off date to meet the requirements of the championship organisers in Portland. The list of the selected athletes are shown below.

For those athletes selected, WMA is offering accommodation for 4 nights and a daily allowance US $40.00. (17-20 March). You should be prepared to meet your own travel and any other additional costs. All Master athletes will be accredited in the same manner as the IAAF athletes. This will entitle them to use the official training sites, admission to the championships competition including seating in the reserved athletes stands during the championships and attend all social functions the IAAF athletes are entitled to.

Accompanying persons will be provided team official accreditations and at this time we understand this includes admission to the championships competition.

It is very important that we know details of the athletes and any accompanying persons as soon as possible, so I would be grateful that you let the WMA Secretary (wmasec07@gmail.com) know of your acceptance of participation, the extent of your intended stay, accompanying person, with full details as on passports of all persons, as well as the passport number.

I look forward to seeing you in Portland and wish you a successful season.

Yours sincerely,
Stanley Perkins
WMA PRESIDENT

1 Joe Gough IRE 2:15.90
2 Pierre Faucheur FRA 2:16.45
3 Omar Clok URU 2:16.79
4 Marcel Scholten NED 2:16.93
5 Nolan Shaheed USA 2:17.5
6 Marc Schmitt FRA 2:18.11
R1 Oleksandr Lysenko UKR 2:18.44
R2 David Wilcock GBR 2:18.67

Here’s the M60 final in Lyon 800:

1 Gough, Joe M62 Ireland 2:15.90
2 Clok, Omar M60 Uruguay 2:16.79
3 Loaiza Londoño, Carlos H M64 Colombia 2:17.10
4 Rentsch, Walter M61 Germany 2:18.56
5 Levasseur, Yves M63 France 2:18.80
6 Kreemke, Wolfgang M60 Germany 2:19.00
7 Ortiz Rivera, Jorge Luis M61 Puerto Rico 2:19.22
8 Dunlop, Alastair M61 Great Britai 2:19.36
9 Lysenko, Oleksandr M60 Ukraine 2:19.58
10 Chantry, Stephen M60 United State 2:20.03
11 Riou, Jean M60 France 2:21.77
12 Sato, Ryuichi M61 Japan 2:24.42