Looks like rain ruined Drake masters mile

Raw results are nearly meaningless, but the masters mile marks at today’s Drake Relays indicate something slowed down the likes of M40 greats John Hinton (winner in 4:23.85) and Tony Young (nearly seven seconds back). I checked out the hourly weather conditions for Des Moines, Iowa (site of Drake), and learned that it’s been raining and howling. Wind gusts were up to 20 mph, and the temperature was in the mid-50s. Yuck. Despite the conditions, M55 Nolan Shaheed of sunny SoCal managed to run 4:47.53 — only two seconds off Vic Heckler’s American age-group record.


Given these conditions — and the apparent lack of a wind-breaking rabbit — it appears that the Drake masters mile devolved into a tactical race. No shame there. That Tony Young was beaten is newsworthy, but Hinton has run very fast very often and has been a handful for Tony in recent years.
Mark Cleary, organizer of this race under the USATF Masters Invitational Program, must have been greatly dismayed by the results. He had been talking up the race in advance.
Anyhoo, here are the results:
Finals
1 John Hinton Fleet Feet Carrboro 4:23.85
2 Tony Young Club Northwest 4:30.69
3 Conor O’Driscoll Westchester TC 4:37.80
4 Tom Smith Team Nodak 4:38.30
5 Joe Dudman Team Red Lizard 4:40.43
6 Steve Gallagos Golden CO 4:44.95
7 Nolan Shaheed So Cal TC 4:47.53
— Chris Yorges Unattached DNS
— Pete Magil Team Runner’s High DNS
— Peter Hagelbach Fleet Feet Boulder DNS
— Samuel Kibiri Des Moines DNS
Earlier, in the masters 800, M40 recordman Kip Janvrin was an easy winner at a meet he owned as a decathlete for a couple decades.
1 Kip Janvrin K&K TC 2:03.33
2 Jon Hoogensen Unattached 2:04.63
3 Tom Smith Team Nodak 2:05.84
4 Dan Mostrom Ridge Runner Sports 2:06.23
5 Eric Parker Gtr Milwaukee TC 2:07.22
6 Samuel Kibiri Des Moines 2:08.51
7 Douglas Thompson Arizona Flames 2:09.84
8 Scott Smith Unattached 2:10.00
9 Tom Novak Unattached 2:10.83
10 Rick Peterson MN Charities 2:12.21
11 Ron King Unattached 2:14.89
12 Greg Hancock Unattached 2:15.07
13 Tony VanDeWalle Team GE 2:17.27
14 Bradley Gardner Luke’s Locker 2:20.93
15 Wayne Shafer Unattached 2:22.25
16 David Miller Unattached 2:22.26
17 Mike Furrow Unattached 2:24.31
18 Brad Joens Unattached 2:27.05
19 Mack Moore Unattached 3:00.73
— Dan Dall FIBO TC DNS
— Bernie Wilder Unattached DNS
— Mark Cleary So Cal TC DNS

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April 29, 2006