Karen Steen, Cheryl Bellaire burn superfast miles a country apart
Three days and nearly 3,000 miles apart, W45 Karen Steen and W50 Cheryl Bellaire ran some beautifical miles. On May 23, Dr. Bellaire, 51, delivered a 5:34.83 at the 23rd annual Millersville Mile about 75 miles west of Philadelphia. On May 26, Karen clocked a 5:11.2 mile at an all-comers meet in Shoreline, Washington. Karen’s mile — amid cool and wet conditions — was named the outstanding female performance of the meet. It was seconds off the listed American record of 5:07.76 by Jeanne Lasee-Johnson in 2002. (Results for the Shoreline meet are here. Cheryl’s race results are here.)
Karen (left) at 2009 Oshkosh nationals, and Cheryl Bellaire (with her college coach, Tom Ecker, at Millersville. (Photos by Ken Stone and Marilu Sieber)
If Cheryl can improve by 5 seconds a lap — on the track — she’ll challenge the listed W50 American record of 5:15.55 by Kathryn Martin.
Partial results from Washington meet:
Women’s Mile Run
1. Karen Steen (CNW/F45) 5:11.2h; 2. Letiwe Patton (un/F31) 5:30.8h; 3. Annelie Fjortoft (un/F20) 5:43.7h; 4. Sherri Prather (CNW/F56) 7:28.2h.
Men’s Mile Run
1. David McCary (un/M21) 4:16.3h; 2. Charlie Williams (un/M21) 4:24.5h; 3. Andrew Walker (un/M20) 4:25.4h; 4. Dan Hardebeck (un/M43) 4:49.9h; 5. Kyle Rasor (un/M18) 4:50.3h; 6. Tyler Davis (un/M25) 4:55.0h; 7. Bob Prather (CNW/M54) 4:57.1h; 8. Jose Guzman (un/M15) 5:00.8h; 9. Jeremy Rasor (un/M21) 5:02.1h; 10. Chris Magana (CNW/M27) 5:13.4h; 11. Jack Prestrud (un/M52) 5:14.6h; 12. John Greengo (un/M42) 5:16.3h; 13. Gurpreet-Singh (un/M17) 5:22.6h; 14. Tom Lucas (un/M42) 5:24.3h; dnf. Ryan Styrk (un/M21).
Men’s 400-meter Dash
1. Ryan Madsen (un/M17) 56.0h; 2. Markham Lee (CNW/M34) 57.2h; 3. Clinton Allen Sr (un/M33) 58.3h; 4. Nathan Jewett (un/M17) 58.7h; 5. Mark Rozema (un/M48) 1:03.5h; 6. Perry Rodgers (un/M47) 1:06.1h.
Men’s 800-meter Dash
1. Brett Withers (un/M22) 2:00.3h; 2. Chris Boyle (un/M19) 2:02.0h; 3. Zach Little (un/M28) 2:08.2h; 4. John Ruud (un/M41) 2:08.7h; 5. Mike Martinez (un/M41) 2:27.4h; 6. Arny Stonkus (CNW/M55) 2:27.6h; dnf. Anthony Galvan (un/M18).
11 Responses
Speaking of miles (and mile records), justice has finally been done John Hinton and Jeanne Daprano.
Hinton’s 2008 indoor M45 mile record of 4:20.18 is finally posted on the WMA website:
http://www.world-masters-athletics.org/records/indoor-men
And Daprano’s correct W70 outdoor mile WR of 6:47.91 is posted on the women’s record page (after being listed as 7:47.91 for three years):
http://www.world-masters-athletics.org/records/outdoor-women
I nagged WMA on April 20, and the correction was made in the past few days (despite the May 20 update claim).
Our lesson?
All ya gotta do is ask.
Ken:
The new world marks went up very recently, as you indicate, not on May 20. Congratulations to John Hinton — after running 4:20.18 on January 19, 20008, he got his record posted 2 years, 4 months, and about 11 days later. What a struggle that was for Tom Hartshorne, for me, and for unnamed others (yes, Tom and I as well as others personally participated in the Hinton struggle).
Congratulations to Jeanne Daprano for dropping her mile time by a minute (to the correct time) without getting on the track.
As for Karen Steen and Cheryl Bellaire, these two women have added so much to our program. As a side note, let me say, Ken, that many of us prefer cool conditions when we run 800 meters or longer. We need cooling, not heat, when we are running middle or long distances (this posting could be read to mean that cool conditions are a negative).
Among Cheryl Bellaire’s many accomplishments, in March of this year she ran on that W50-59 team at Boston that uncorked an apparent world record of 10:43.50 in the 4 x 800. I was sorry to see that the time was not accepted (you can go to usatf.org to confirm that).
I was also sorry to see that the W40-49 mark of 9:25.49 in the 4 x 800 set by Valle, Ballou, Olen, and Arlin-Genet at Boston was not accepted, even though it was 30 seconds better than the existing mark. Both races were extensively covered in this month’s National Masters News. Oh, well. Looks like more work ahead.
I have to respectfully disgree with Pete that cooler is always better for the mile. May was very cool and rainy in the Pacific Northwest, and the temperature was less than 50 F when Karen Steen ran her race. Add to this some light rain, wind and the 8 p.m. start, and you get chilly race conditions. I find it gets harder and harder to get these old muscles warmed up for anything shorter than a 5k if the temperature is less than 60 F
Congratulations to Karen and Cheryl and I am very happy for John and Jeanne
Well, Scott, if I had been out there I would have liked perhaps 55 degrees. Let’s see, my PRs for 5000, 5 miles, and 10 miles were all set when it was 38 to 42 degrees or so. For a mile, when I was in shape, I would have liked about 50; today, as noted, I might want it 55 (I’m old enough, but not good-looking enough, to be Karen Steen’s father). I also liked a bit of light rain to keep me cool.
Main point was that 85 and sunny, often heralded as ideal for track and field, will roast some people who are trying to run 4 laps or more.
55 is the ideal temp for distance running for most people and I’ll always take cooler rather than warmer (50 better than 60, 40 better than 70, etc.)
Great races, ladies! The way you say it, “if Cheryl can improve 5 seconds per lap on a track”, makes it sound so EASY! But I think that is a tall order for anyone, track or not! 😉 She might very well do it, but let’s be sure to acknowledge what a great feat that would be!
I tend to agree 4-5 seconds a lap is a lot. As far as climate, I like to run in hot weather.
I have lived, trained, and competed in areas with cold (Buffalo & St. Louis) and hot/humid (Texas & Georgia) climates and my experience has been that the weather’s effect on my performance in 800 and mile is based on a combination of temperature and sunlight intensity. I tend to run faster outdoors on sunny days when the temperature is 60 – 70 degrees. I also run faster at night or on overcast days when the temperature is 75 – 85 degrees.
Also, the men’s 1500 & mile and women’s 1500 WR’s were set in Rome in July and Beijing in September. Both of those cities are hot during those times of the year.
You can throw out the women’s 1500 WR. Widely accepted that one is a total sham.
Mello Johnny,
The majority of people agree that all of the WR’s put up by the Chinese “Mutant Army” are shams, but it still shows that doped or not, the 1500 WR was set under hot conditions.
The 800’s listed below are also evidence that fast times can be run in hot & humid conditions, as long as it is at night. Verbin Roodal’s 1:42.58 in Atlanta in 1996 captured the OG gold and makes him the #10 performer of all-time. Johnny Gray’s 1:42.80 in New Orleans in 1992 has only been surpassed by 16 other humans.
Leave a Reply