Kathy Martin wins USATF Athlete of the Week at event she owns
Retire the award. Or at least name it for Kathy Martin. USATF on Wednesday announced its Athlete of the Week honor — and for at least the fourth time since 2011, it goes to our own Kick-Ass Kathy of New York state. She wins it for claiming the masters 5K cross country title (for the umpteenth time). Turns out she also was named USATF AofW for winning the same title in 2011 and 2013. Can’t blame Indy for going back to the well. Kathy dominates the age-graded race as well. And she had to beat Pete Magill out for the latest honor. (Pete was the top men’s racer at Carmel cross nationals.) Anyway, congrats to Kathy and to Indy for being open to back-to-back-to-back-to-back winners.
Kathy dominated at Winston-Salem nationals last summer as well. Whatta gal.
Here’s the USATF release:
INDIANAPOLIS — Kathy Martin earns USA Track & Field Athlete of the Week after winning the Masters 5 km Cross Country Championships on Saturday, Nov. 8 in Carmel, Indiana.
In her first race back after nursing a foot injury, Martin (Northpoint, New York) made her finish with a time of 21:08, which gave her a 94.50% age-graded performance, plus the women’s 60-64 division title and first place in the women’s field.
“It was great,” Martin said. “It was a nice course, a tough course. I had people saying they really thought it was harder than it was in New Jersey (last year).”
Earlier this year at the USATF Masters Outdoor Championships, Martin took home the top spot in four different events in her age category. She won the 800 meters (2:39.09), 1500m (5:29:28), 5000m (19:37.67), and set an age-group world record en route to winning the 2000m steeplechase (8:37.34).
Martin’s successful 2013 season where she set a new outdoor 1 mile age-group world record (5:42:65) and was named Masters Female Athlete of the Year for her age group.
Martin will return to action on Sunday, Nov. 16 at the US National 12K, where she will defend her 2013 crown.
Other strong performances this week include:
Peter Magill (South Pasadena, California) ran a time of 16:54, scoring an 89.50% age-graded performance to take home the men’s top prize at the Master 5 km Cross Country Championships on Saturday, Nov. 8 in Carmel, Indiana.
4 Responses
How good is Kathy? Well, one way to approach that question is to look at the American road records for 12,000 meters. (Note that the national 12K championships will be held Sunday [Nov 16] in Alexandria, Virginia.)
W55 48:22 Christine Kennedy
W60 48:59 Kathryn Martin
Christine Kennedy has had a great career, and thus it’s interesting that her W55 record is just 37 seconds faster than Kathy’s W60 mark.
Kathy is scheduled to run on Sunday, as are Joan Benoit-Samuelson, Molly Huddle, and many other notables. I would not be at all surprised if Kathy goes on to break her own record.
Benoit-Samuelson, now 57, is an unknown quantity at this point, but unless she is in top form she will not finish in front of Kathy, in my humble opinion. Nor do I see any other W55 runner getting to the finish line before Kathy.
What in the heck is the 12k? Never heard of this distance.
Well, Kathy has done it again. She ran 48:53 this morning in the National 12K (Arlington, Virginia) to set an American record for 60-64. The current record holder? Well, that would be Kathy (see above).
Kathy would have finished second, not first as I predicted, in the 55-59 group had they allowed her to score against those women. The winner, crushing the second-place runner in 55-59 by over 6 minutes, must be in ungodly shape.
Yes, the 55-59 winner was none other than Joan Benoit-Samuelson, who sizzled to a 46:26. Wow, is she good. I had no idea that Joan was in that kind of shape, but I guess her training has been strong. Amazing.
Congratulations to both Kathy and Joan on their new American records.
Make that Alexandria, Virginia, not Arlington. Joan Benoit-Samuelson, by the way, averaged 6:13.6 per mile this morning.
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