Who’s Who of masters milers set for Jim Ryun Festival of Miles

Jim in high school.

Organizers of the Jim Ryun Festival of Miles have shared a list of masters men expected to compete. It’s stunning — among the best fields ever assembled. Entered are record-holders and world-class runners Christian Cushing-Murray, Brad Barton, Tim Gore, Ahrlin Bauman, Peter Magill, Hector Hernandez, John Gardiner, Ron Kochanowicz, Ray Knerr, Jim Sorensen, David Allison, Ciro Melendez, Jayson Fultz and Greg Houlgate. Meanwhile, Paul Greer of the San Diego TC has unveiled the event page for the Festival on June 5. See it here on Facebook. The flyer for the meet also indicates 16 races are planned (4×4, naturally). The masters men’s race is for anyone under 5 minutes, and the masters women’s race is for top 12 entrants. One is Chris Gentile, who’s been doing speed work lately with 400s and 800s in competition. If you’re late to the party, here’s my recent interview with Jim. I’ll be covering it.

MileSked

Print Friendly

May 9, 2014

14 Responses

  1. Peter Taylor - May 10, 2014

    There’s a lot to like about this event, including the schedule: 7:50 PM for the masters women and 8:00 PM for the masters men. Nice. In many other events the masters have been relegated to rather undesirable time slots, most often very early in the meet.

    I do hope that some American masters records will be broken. Let me check for a minute …. OK, I don’t see any men’s marks that look vulnerable, but for the women I think that 5:07.76 for W45 and 5:42.51 for W55 might be approached.

  2. christian - May 10, 2014

    i’ll have to kindly disagree with peter–why would you think tony young’s 45-49 record of 4:16 is NOT vulnerable? brad barton ran 4:16 indoors, and my 3:55 1500m last year easily converts to a 4:13. of course, you may have some inside information (like what i’ll reveal now): i am NOT in 4:16 shape, and don’t expect to be by june. can’t speak for brad though (didn’t he run a fast 3k indoors this year?). not sure how you could speak for either of us, though 🙂

  3. Ken Stone - May 10, 2014

    Here is the list of confirmed women’s entrants. There may be some more further additions to the field, I’m told

    Christine Gentile
    Aeron Arlin Genet
    Theresa Lowry
    Maureen Friend
    Kirsten Leech
    Kelle Taylor
    Claudette Groenendaal
    Tania Fischer

  4. Peter Taylor - May 10, 2014

    Now that’s what I like, Ken, a strong women’s field. I’m starting to get enthused for masters T&F again, wish I could announce this one.

    If she’s in top shape and has someone to pull her, I think that Aeron Arlin Genet can run 5:07.75 or so, which would beat the American mark for W45 by 0.01 sec. That mark has held up for 12 years; it’s about time someone knocked it down.

    Or maybe, just maybe, someone else among these runners who’s in W45 can run in the 5:07 range. I guess we will see soon enough.

  5. Brad Barton - May 10, 2014

    Really Peter? No vulnerable men’s records? The fastest two posted times are both sub WR times.

  6. KP - May 11, 2014

    Watch out for Ray and M50

  7. ToNy yOuNg - May 12, 2014

    All right boy’s …..someone knock me off.

  8. Aeron Arlin Genet - May 12, 2014

    Hey Peter – thanks for the info re: W45 record! It’s in my reach, ran 4:48 earlier this year at the poly invite in the 1500 and would love to go for the 12 year standing time. Here’s to a great field and fast racing by the divas!!!

  9. Peter Taylor - May 12, 2014

    Thanks, Aeron. As someone who has competed in a variety of races over the years in the masters program, including the 100, 200, 400, 800, 1500, 1 mile, 3000, 2 mile, and 5000, and given my experience in running the sprint medley and the mile relay as a collegian in the Penn Relays, I think I know a thing or two about racing.

    My only advice for the mile run is to try to feel “full of yourself” with 660 yards to go, then start to let it out. The errors I made in the mile (I probably ran that distance about 18-20 times over the years) generally involved going out too hard in the first 2.5 laps. Regardless, Aeron, I wish you well in the big meet.

  10. Matt B. - May 15, 2014

    Shockingly fast W45 mile WR of 4:48- Yekaterina Podkpayeva. More impressive is the 4:05.44 1500 she ran a year later at age 46 which must be an equivalent of a 4:25 mile. This would be like a M45 running a 3:40 1500!
    The American Women’s AR is soft in comparison especially since the world rankings have close to 40 women running 4:48 or faster in the 1500. Time for the W45 AR mile to fall.

  11. Kelly - May 17, 2014

    What’s the women’s 50 record? Kelle Taylor ran well at Carlsbad and was formerly a sprinter, I believe.

  12. Peter Taylor - May 18, 2014

    Kelly, the W50 outdoor American record in the mile is 5:15.55 by the great Kathy Martin. That record has held up for 12 years, and thus bettering it during the Jim Ryun event would be quite an achievement.

  13. Ken Stone - June 5, 2014

    Deena Kastor, 41, is a late entry to women’s masters mile at Ryun meet. She tweets:
    .@JoshCox What was a mile 2 honor @jimryun is now a record attempt? I’ll go 4 it & treat viewers 2 record or a comical last 200meters!

  14. Ken Stone - May 15, 2015

    Great read:
    http://www.wsj.com/articles/the-four-minute-high-school-mile-50-years-later-1431643061

Leave a Reply