Medal-count shocker at Kamloops: Canada and USA leading!
Medal counts at world meets are bogus, since they compare Half Moon Bay pumpkins to Australian Wolffia angustas . But for those who can’t help themselves, tallies are being told here. Please take them with a megagrain of salt. Kamloops is a Canada-USA dual meet with 60 other countries thrown in for spice. (About 60 percent of Kamloops’ 1,400 entrants are North Americans.) But since we’re all addicted to this nonsense from the Vancouver Games, organizers are offering up the counts to prove — what, they can count? (Canada and USA are tied at 71.) Anyway, kudos to American gold medalists on Day 2, including Bill Collins, who at 59 may be the oldest in his age group but won the 60 at worlds again. His 7.47 winning time would have taken second in the M50 race, won by fellow Yank Michael Waller in 7.34.
Brenda Matthews, shown at Oshkosh nationals, pulled off an upset by beating Phil Raschker in the W60 60 -- 9.04 to 9.25. Brenda took gold and Phil silver. (Photo by Ken Stone)
And belated kudos to American Aaron Thigpen, whose semifinal time Monday of 7.02 tied the listed (but recently broken) M45 WR. On Tuesday, he won the final in 7.10.
Special congrats to Canada’s Olga Kotelko, who did something impossible in sprinting: She halved the listed world record! Her 15.14 beat the listed WR of 31.20 by American Grace Foster. (But again, we can’t trust the official records, since Grace ran 26.95 a year ago at a well-documented New Jersey USATF meet.)
To top it off, Tuesday was Olga’s 91st birthday!
Kamloops mediafolk are putting out a nice meet roundup here.
The press blast also notes: “Christopher Bates of the United States set a world record Tuesday in the M45 Indoor Pentathlon. Bates scored 4,110 points to win gold, bettering the old WMA standard of 4,062 held by Jean-Luc Duez of France.” (The WMA site also shows 4,062 for American Gregory Foster, who is Grace Foster’s son. So it was a hard day for the Foster family — losing two world records on the same day.)
Olga Kotelko, shown at the 2009 Sydney World Masters Games, is the oldest woman at Kamloops. (Photo by Dean Lewins, AAP)
8 Responses
Brenda Matthews- You go girl!!! The hard work finally paid off.
Brenda, congratulations!! Great sprinting!!
Congratulations! Great time. You make the Striders very proud.
Wow Brenda! That’s fantastic! We’re all very proud of you.
Congrats Bill, Aaron, and Robert! Way to go!
Tim
Congrats Brenda you earned it !!!!!
I’m not a runner; I’m up here competing in the field events. My observation after three events (M50 (Javelin, Shot Put and Discus) — They are doing an awesome job! — I’ve been treated great, events run efficient, professional and respect to the athlete. Yes the award ceremony is a bit of a mess, with some patience and understanding of the logistics the volunteers are going through. The end result of standing on the podium, hearing your national anthem play is worth it! I posted some comments and pictures to my high school track WEB site. http://www.gotbirdstrack.com
As a masters runner, or an athlete period, why
would you use any type of steroid ????? I am not
judging VAL BARWELL. But it just doesnt make since.
You compete for fun,to meet new people,set records,
and win championships. You train hard and compete
fairly. As a weight/powerlifter, I see roid guys
all the time. And I am proud, because I am all
natural. Nothing pays off like hard work!!!!! Good
luck to all the masters athletes for 2010. See you
at the nationals in Sacramento.
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