Monica Joyce crushes W50 world record in 5K at Mt. SAC

Flying under the radar but at incredible speed, 50-year-old Monica Joyce ran the women’s 5000 at Mt. SAC Friday night in 16:19.51, bettering the listed W50 world record of  17:17.02 by Sweden’s Jutta Pedersén in 1997. The listed American record is even older: 17:25.6 by Shirley Matson in September 1991. Pray that Monica had the presence of mind to get signatures on record forms. Monica ran in the 1984 Olympics for Ireland. She became an American citizen in 2000.


USATF reported last year: 


Joyce sets American best at USA 8 km Champs 
Monica Joyce (Ann Arbor, Mich.) set an American best time of 28 minutes 04 seconds for ages 50+, at the 2008 USA Women’s 8 km Championship in Akron, Ohio. Joyce finished 20th overall in the championship, bettering the record of 28:55 set by Shirley Matson in 1991. 
This year’s championship was held in conjunction with the Road Runner Akron Marathon on September 27, 2008.
Joyce’s career highlights include representing Ireland in the 1984 Olympic Games and a 12th place finish at the 1985 IAAF World Cross Country Championships. 
Joyce gained U.S. citizenship in 2000 and in 2008 made a comeback that included a 1st -place finish at the Boston High Performance Meet (5,000m) with a time of 16:01.


Here is Monica's race:

Event 264  Women 5000 Meter Run Inv U/O
===============================================================
Name                    Year Team                    Finals
===============================================================
Finals
1 Moraa Ongori, Philes         Hokuren               15:23.33
2 Wurth-Thomas, Christin       Nike                  15:34.17
3 Bizzarri, Angela             Illinois              15:37.39
4 McCandless, Maureen          New Balance           15:37.70
5 Armstrong, Meghan            Nike-Gordon           15:41.09
6 Edwards, Nicole              Unattached            15:42.81
7 Campbell, Anita              Univ. of Washington   15:45.85
8 Doetzel, Danette             Providence            15:46.76
9 Burla, Serena                Riadha                15:50.82
10 Tamsett, Lara                Melbourne Track       15:51.43
11 Anderson, Kristin            Riadha                15:53.43
12 Fjortoft, Silje              Smu                   15:55.23
13 Hastings, Amy                adidas                15:56.23
14 Minty, Jessica               Zap Fitness           15:56.80
15 Parker, Barbara              Unattached            15:58.53
16 Hutchinson, Ava              Unattached            15:58.93
17 Blomme, Lisa                 Sweeden               16:00.89
18 Clement, Triniere            Nike                  16:08.28
19 Storage, Kara                Run Ohio              16:18.20
20 Andersen, Kassi              Nike-Gordon           16:18.65
21 Joyce, Monica                Tortoise and Hare     16:19.51
22 Storage, Tara                Run Ohio              16:19.89
23 Gomez, Zoila                 Strands               16:22.32
24 Becker, Alex                 Tulsa                 16:23.67
25 Romero, Marisol              mexican team          16:27.12
26 Kalmer, Christine            Arkansas              16:30.92
27 Badaru, Lillian              Texas Tech            16:36.03

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April 18, 2009

7 Responses

  1. peter taylor - April 18, 2009

    Congratulations to Monica. Under my criteria (major meet, fully automatic time, the winner’s time of 15:23.33 looks reasonable, the claimant [Monica Joyce] is capable of the 16:19.51 reported here), this is already a record as I type (at 11:31 AM on Saturday, April 18).
    With a modern system in place, Monica’s time would already be shown at usatf.org as the pending W50 mark. After a brief review (which would not involve Monica at all), the listing would change to indicate that it was the official mark.
    There would be a proviso that any new marks could be challenged for up to 1 year. But why would Monica’s mark be challenged (or Aaron Thigpen’s 100 at this same venue in 2007, or John Hinton’s mile at Cornell, etc., etc.)? After all, they ran the times claimed.
    I will follow this new mark to see whether it meets the unfortunate fate of so many others over the last 6 to 8 years.

  2. Kevin F Forde - April 18, 2009

    Fair play Monica

  3. Cheryl - April 18, 2009

    That is a great time….

  4. kathy martin - April 18, 2009

    Kevin, We are confused on your reply. By the way, great performances at Masters Indoor. Kathy

  5. Kevin F Forde - April 19, 2009

    Responding to Kathy Martin”Fair Play”back home in Ireland means well done.
    And thank you for the Indoor Masters praise.

  6. Brian Williams aka "Mr Fitness" - April 19, 2009

    Congratulations Monica all your old friends at SDSU are real proud of you !! Keep up the Great running !! Mr. Fitness, Matt and Uncle Frank.

  7. Tim and Christine (Bergeron) Merrill - May 28, 2009

    So proud of your performance, Monica, and happy that you are still running strong at 50! Congratulations!

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