Landover coverage one for the ages — and proof we’ve matured

My job is done. No, I’m not retiring my blog. I’m acknowledging it isn’t the paper-of-record anymore. While I reserve the right to muck-rake and rant, I’m no longer worried about the future of masters track being showcased and spotlighted by major and social media. This was driven home by the marvelous and all-pervasive coverage of Landover nationals. The weekend’s meet was the most widely covered U.S. masters event in history, taking digital media into account. Photos by Dave Albo, Rob Jerome and Marleen Van Den Neste were beyond sensational. They moved us. Facebook shared hundreds of stories. Sandy Triolo’s USATFMastersTrack Twitter feed was incredible. In other words, my late-1990s cries in the darkness — when I begged USATF Masters national chair Barbara Kousky to tap the power of the Net — have been heard.

You’ve come a long way, baby. Now you’re running full blast.

About Landover: I was thrilled alongside ESPN and others about the centenarians and sub-centenarians setting WRs every time they stepped on the track.

But for my money, the best marks were Bruce McBarnette’s M60 high jump WR of 1.76 (5-9 1/4) and newlywed Leslie Hinz (formerly Chaplin) for her W60 WR 800 of 2:36.57.

Bruce now shoots for the listed outdoor WR of 1.81 (5-11 1/4), and Lesley is close to a lock for the listed outdoor WR of 2:33.09.

Other great moments, including ESPN’s superb up-close-and-personals:

Now it’s your turn. Post your favorite Landover links.

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March 19, 2018

13 Responses

  1. Ken Stone - March 19, 2018

    And just for jollies, check out my coverage of Mt. SAC stadium follies:

    https://mynewsla.com/sports/2018/03/18/judge-orders-mt-sac-to-halt-stadium-work-periling-2020-olympic-trials/

  2. E_Grant - March 20, 2018

    Wow!! Jericka ran in my age group. Had no idea she was an anchor and highly known. That is awesome!

  3. Peter L. Taylor - March 20, 2018

    Ken, for USATF athlete of the week we can make valid arguments for several athletes, but I am going with Lesley Hinz. Let’s not forget that she opened her meet on Friday by winning the W60 400 in a very nice 1:09.47, but she had greater goals in mind.

    Specifically, Lesley’s world indoor record in the 800 of 2:36.57 was beyond superlative. Do you remember who had the American indoor W60 mark for 800? I certainly do, as I called the race. It was Kathy Martin, a 2:39.41 on a banked indoor track in Boston at our 2014 nationals.

    Kathy Martin was recently selected by WMA as the best woman in the world for 2017, and she was also chosen as the best woman in the middle distances. Now we have Lesley Hinz beating not only Kathy’s American standard but also Agnes Hitchmough’s world mark of 2:37.67, a record that had stood up for 6 years.

    To bolster my point, I will emphasize that Lesley ran her 2:36.57 this past weekend on a FLAT 200-meter track. She deserves recognition by the people in Indianapolis.

  4. Ken Stone - March 20, 2018

    Excellent summary of Landover highlights here:
    http://usatfmasters.org/content/2018/indoor2018recap.html

  5. Weia Reinboud - March 20, 2018

    Also good coverage: at the moment the European masters is going on. Good live stream, good live results!

  6. Milan Jamrich - March 20, 2018

    Congratulation to Bruce on the new World record (176cm). Unfortunately, it lasted only two days as FEDORKO Oleg won the European Championships with 178cm.

  7. Jeff Davison - March 20, 2018

    Great seeing Christel and Flo (both masters legends) hugging and congratulating the new W100 record holder at the 60 meter finish line.
    They understand the significance of what they and the new W100 record holder have accomplished since masters track and field started on the 60s. All three pioneers for the sport.

  8. Trenice Mullis Dubow - March 20, 2018

    Both Jeanne Daprano and Tami Graf set new American records for the 80-84 age group in the 1500 meter run. Jeanne’s 8:46.32 was a little faster than Tami’s 10:30.46.

  9. sandyT - March 20, 2018

    Thanks Ken,that flame you tended is burning brightly!The success of the coverage from Landover is the outcome of many years and many people spreading the special story of MTF, including you and Bob Weiner who have been promoting MTF for so long. Congratulations.

  10. Jeff Davison - March 20, 2018

    Update states 15 records
    http://www.usatf.org/News/USATF-Masters-Indoor-Championships-close-with-14-t.aspx

  11. Peter L. Taylor - March 25, 2018

    Well, there have been no comments since Tuesday, and thus I will try to hijack the thread by turning our attention to an important meet at Eastern Washington University in July. Regular entry closes on June 28, and this morning I noticed that we already have 8 entrants.

    I’m talking about our outdoor nationals, and a quick look at the schedule showed me how much things have changed over the years in the track events. The schedule for this year shows no trials in races longer than 200 meters. As recently as 2010 (and perhaps even more recently) we ran trials in the 800 early in the meet.

    The 2010 schedule (Sacramento) also showed trials in the intermediate hurdles, although it appears that none were actually conducted. Moving back 8 years, I seem to remember that we used to have trials in the 1500 as well, or at least we scheduled them.

    Back to the 800, my memory tells me that we used to have a ton of rollover from Thursday (listed trials) to Saturday (finals). A substantial no. of the trials simply became unnecessary, and one wonders whether some people did not enter the 800 because they could easily make a final on Saturday but did not want to fly out on Wednesday for a Thursday trial that had a good chance of rolling over.

    How far we have come in a short time. Personally, I think it’s a good idea to get rid of trials in races longer than the 200, but what do I know? If you have 23 people in the 400 for M45, for example, simply run finals of 7, 8, and 8 based on verifiable submitted times. Do you agree?

  12. Jeff Davison - March 25, 2018

    Peter:
    Timed with verifiable submitted seed times sound good.

  13. Ken Stone - March 29, 2018

    Been there, done that. Now read this:
    https://lane1photos.exposure.co/photographic-challenges

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