M65 sprinter Donald Neidig and W50 cohort Liz Palmer are shooting for national age-group records in the 200 and 100, respectively, at tomorrow’s Rocky Mountain Masters Games, says a story in the local paper. The meet is at Colorado State University in Fort Collins — 5,000 feet above sea level. A big boost for sprinters. Altitude-aided. The listed M65 world and American record is 25.20 by Steve Robbins. Don ran 25.37 at this meet a year ago. The article, however, says: “(Neidig) will try to better his national record in the 200 meters.” Not sure what that’s about. Liz, possibly making her W50 debut, will be shooting for the AR of 12.50 by Phil Raschker in 1997.

Don (far right) lost to Steve Robbins and Peter Crombie in the 100 at Sacramento masters nationals. (Photo by Ken Stone)

Here’s the original story for posterity:

Bob Fulton used to run 5- and 10-kilometer road races and even an occasional marathon.

But running, he said, was getting hard on his joints the older he got. So, seven years ago, at the age of 63, Fulton took up the decathlon. He never looked back, and the one-time assistant track and field coach at CSU won the USA Track and Field national championship in the 70- to 74-year-old age group in the multi-event competition earlier this summer in Joplin, Mo. It was his third national championship in the decathlon in the past four years.

Liz Palmer (in yellow top) was in the mix at Sacramento. (Photo by Chris Stone)

Robin Herron and Leonard Sokoloski also found they were getting bored with running as they got older. Both discovered masters track and field competition about 10 years ago and now compete regularly in regional, national and even an occasional international meet.

“I decided I wanted to do something more interesting than running around a track to keep fit, and I discovered I really enjoyed the throws,” said Herron, 73, a retired Colorado State University professor who has won eight national titles and five world championship medals, mostly in the hammer and indoor weight throws.

This weekend, Fulton, Herron, Sokoloski and a dozen or so other local masters athletes get to compete at home, in the 30th annual Rocky Mountain Masters Games at CSU’s Jack Christensen Track. Events begin at 8 a.m. Saturday and 8:30 a.m. Sunday.

Meet director Jim Weed said about 100 athletes, some from as far away as Oregon and Tennessee, have pre-registered for the meet, and he expects another 50 to 60 to sign up at the meet. Although USATF defines masters as athletes ages 35 and older, Weed said the meet also will include a sub-masters division for athletes 30-34 and open competition for competitors of all ages.

Fulton plans to compete in the discus and javelin Saturday and in the high jump, pole vault and hurdles Sunday. Sokoloski, 66, said he’ll throw the javelin and discus Saturday and compete Sunday in the 100 meters and high jump. And Herron, who has won eight national titles and five world championship medals in the hammer throw and indoor weight throw, plans to compete in the hammer and other throws Saturday and possibly the triple jump Sunday.

Masters athletes compete in age groups with five-year increments, and distances are shortened as they grow older. Ralph Maxwell, a 90-year-old hurdler from Richville, Minn., will compete in the 200 hurdles instead of the 400-meter version run in the Olympic Games, and the hurdles he must clear will be 27 inches off the ground instead of the standard 36.

Donald Neidig, 66, of Las Cruces, N.M., will try to better his national record in the 200 meters, and Liz Palmer, 50, of Folsom, Calif., is hoping to set a national record in the 100, Weed said. In all, about 15 of the competitors in the Rocky Mountain Masters Games hold some sort of national record, Weed said.

Most, though, simply enjoy the competition.

“You just keep trying to get better, try to get more personal-bests, and the competition kind of lights your fire,” Sokoloski said. “There are some excellent athletes out there.”