Nadine O’Connor claims 80-meter hurdles world record on 2nd try
The Club West Masters Meet, one of the best club-run events in the nation, gives folks a last chance for a good mark at the end of a long season. On Sunday, it gave a second chance as well. Nadine O’Connor used this low-key meet at Moorpark College northwest of Los Angeles to run her first 80-meter hurdles race in three years. World-class starter Beverly Lewis fired the gun, and Nadine barreled out of the blocks. But she bailed out before the fifth barrier. End of season? Not quite. Nadine, 71, immediately asked for a chance to run again, and organizers graciously assented. Andy Hecker, a longtime hurdler and meet official, made sure Nadine was eligible for the record by offering competition. (Mixed-sex races are OK for masters records, and even Payton Jordan has set records on re-runs.) Nadine clocked 15.91 over the eight 27-inch hurdles, beating the listed W70 world record of 16.10 by Sweden’s Asta Larsson in 2004. In Porto Alegre, the W70 short hurdles went to Austria’s Marianne Maier, who ran 15.74 with an illegal wind of 3 meters per second. Nadine also holds world records in the 100, 200 and pole vault. Here’s a video of Nadine’s races:
19 Responses
Nadine, you are the bomb. Hope I’m hurdling when I’m 70!
God willing, I’ll start my hurdling career then!
So awesome and it was fun to watch the video and sing with James Taylor. Congratulations!!!
Even though there is now visual evidence that what I do is not real hurdling, I love the video Ken. Plus, now I have a new favorite song.
Nadine, who can now identify every muscle used in “hurdling” as each one aches. I am determined to learn how to do it right, but so thankful that I could try.
You can do re-runs?
TB, I recall an instance where Payton Jordan set an M80 WR for 100 meters in a redo. As witness Andy Hecker could attest, Payton ran a full 100 into a wind but asked to run again — this time with the wind. Meet organizers cooperated, and his record was ratified. It’s rare that meet organizers so readily agree to a second try, but I’m not aware of a USATF rule against this.
Nadine, you are a great role model for ladies in track and field!
If only I were 10-20 years younger—–
AWESOME !! Looking forward to seeing you & Bud at some meets soon.
Way to go Nadine!
With all due respect to the two great athletes mentioned I don’t see how a do over does anything to advance the legitimacy of Masters T&F in general and Masters T&F records in particular .
For the record at this same meet , Linda Cohn set a new American record in the javelin and Annelies Steeklenburg set a new Dutch record in the high jump .
Thanks for the reminder on Linda’s javelin mark. She told me it was 38.30, her best of the season in a masters meet. But she threw 39.16 for what should be the W60 AR this year. Hoping that one, at a collegiate meet, is ratified.
Annelies tried to jump a Dutch record but didn’t succeed. Not yet. Go Annelies!
While I am all for Nadine’s ability to run faster than the listed record, I do have a problem with a meet that allows a mulligan after stopping on the 5th hurdle during the scheduled event. I honestly never heard of such a thing in a track meet. It seems to make our sport seem more like a club time trial than a regulated sport that just held a world championships in Brazil. I think WR’s should demand a better adherence to protocal’s more generally accepted. Do the official meet results show DNF or WR? Where does the DNF appear? No offense, Nadine, but this is very irregular. Could the high jumpers ask for a fourth attempt at a height in order to prove they could jump higher than the listed record?
Imagine my surprise on July 20, 2013, at the Seattle Masters Track and Field Classic at West Seattle Stadium, to line up for the M60 100m dash and look over in lane two or so and see 24 year old Gerald Phiri, who ran in the 2012 London Olympics for Zambia. He needed a non-wind aided qualifying time for the then upcoming Moscow World T&F championships. Apparently, any FAT-timed mark would work and he decided to jump into the Seattle masters meet. Unfortunately for Gerald, he was unaware that the West Seattle stadium track is soft and slow and the 100m is ALWAYS run into a headwind. As a result, in our heat, although he did clean my clock with a 10.70, he did not achieve his qualifying time.
I then suggested that since there were empty lanes in several of the subsequent heats that he should do a do-over. So he jumped into a later 100m heat (allowing some other masters to run against a recent Olympian). Unfortunately the headwind became stronger and he did not meet the qualifying mark on his second try, either.
I see no reason why a second 100m try should not be allowed (assuming there are empty lanes in subsequent heats) and does not disrupt or extend a meet.
2013 Seattle Masters Classic T&F Meet (July 20, 2013)
M19-29 100 Meter Dash MASTERS
====================================================Name Age Team Seed Finals Wind H#
====================================================
1 Phiri, Gerald M24 Unattached 10.06 10.70 -1.3 4
2 Bailey, Tamasz M23 Unattached 11.74 -1.3 4
Quite a different situation since there were scheduled heats to follow in your example. It appears Nadine’s meet added an extra heat for her record attempt. After a rest and negotiations, I am sure the meet was extended, but I think extending the meet was a minor issue.
I ran in a couple of Houston meets with athletes trying to get qualifying times, but that is all they needed…… a specific time checked off so they could compete later. Masters competition goes a little deeper than that, I thought.
you rock Nadine – holy cow
I was wrong in message #12, Annelies already has the Dutch record since september!
Posted results show Nadine ran 15.92:
http://www.phototiming.com/meets/13clubwest/Results.htm#29 with a legal wind reading of 1.2 mps.
There seems to be an error in the results for event 24 (80 hurdles). Nadine O’Connor should have been listed as DNF (did not finish), but that result is nowhere to be found. The fact that she did a “do-over” does not negate the need to show her as DNF. And this is coming from someone who loves Nadine and greatly admires her performances.
In the throws, there were some impressive marks in the javelin, most notably the 38.30 by Linda Cohn in W60. However, I am assuming that no one took more than 6 throws. If some people were given 7 to 12 throws I would be less impressed.
I have no reason to think that anyone got more than 6 throws, but if “do-overs” are allowed in the hurdles one would surely have to give extra throws in the javelin to those who were dissatisfied with their performance. This would only be fair and equitable.
In a meet like this a disappointing mark in the javelin could come from (a) being rusty because of a lack of recent competition, (b) having trouble handling the wind, or (c) experiencing problems with the approach.
In the high jump there were some nice performances, including especially the one of Annelies Steekelenburg in W65 (1.33 meters). However, I am assuming that no one was allowed to come back later to jump again if they were unhappy with their original performance.
Perhaps in a “do-over” the jumper could begin again 5 centimeters below the height at which she went out (had 3 misses). She could then jump until she had 3 misses at a height. I have no reason to think that this happened at the meet in question, but in the interest of fairness it should have been permitted if do-overs were allowed on the track. Track athletes should not be treated “more kindly” than throwers and jumpers.
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