Kathy Jager edges Kathy Bergen in masters 100 at 2002 Mt. SAC Relays east of Los Angeles.
Sunday on Facebook,
Stephen Gould asked: “Why don’t the Penn Relays have individual 100m races for masters women? Men’s sprints take up only half an hour — can they really not find the time?” He later posts that Penn masters coordinator
Phil Felton replied “that they did have a women’s heat and the first two years they had good numbers, but the third year they only had 5 entries and only 3 showed. I suggested that nowadays with women’s track being more popular that may not be the case.” Given the number of women taking part in the 4×4 relays at Penn, now is a good time to start lobbying for women’s 100s in 2016. It also might take a women’s recruiter to guarantee lanes are filled. At Mt. SAC Relays (coming up this weekend), masters women’s 100 exhibitions are contested. But even at Mt. SAC, no-shows are a recurring problem.
Joy Upshaw often travels from Northern California to show the masters colors. But she’s not enough. Solutions? Suggestions? Plans of attack?
12 Responses
I would like to see a return of the age-graded 100m. It used to a crowd favorite because it was different.
Kathy Bergen
Did they have a staggered start? Because that would be fun to watch.
The start was handicapped according to age. Ideally everyone should cross the finish line at the same time.
I was invited to run in one of these years ago at the Modesto Relays. It was staggered by age. I believe that it was based on the WMA age factors. A 40 year old male would run 95.45M, a 50 year old would run 89.17M, and a 60 year old would run 83.67M. Can anyone verify if this is how it is done. Yes, the race was close to a blanket finish and the crowd loved it……especially with the younger athletes moving up fast on the older ones.
Hi, Roger.
Al Sheahen did this for many years at Mt. SAC, using some conversion factors. The Aussies have done this for decades as well, especially in money races. I’ll write my Aussie contacts for details.
Here’s a meet manual that shows how Aussies contest handicap 100-meter races:
http://www.australianmastersathletics.org.au/system/wp-content/uploads/ama-championships-manual-2012.pdf
Age Dist. To run H’cap Mark Age Dist. To run H’cap Mark
30 100.0 0.0 30 100.0 0.0
31 100.0 0.0 31 100.0 0.0
32 100.0 0.0 32 100.0 0.0
33 100.0 0.0 33 99.7 0.3
34 99.3 0.7 34 99.0 1.0
35 98.6 1.4 35 98.2 1.8
36 98.0 2.0 36 97.5 2.5
37 97.4 2.6 37 96.8 3.2
38 96.7 3.3 38 96.0 4.0
39 96.1 3.9 39 95.3 4.7
40 95.4 4.6 40 94.6 5.4
41 94.8 5.2 41 93.9 6.1
42 94.2 5.8 42 93.2 6.8
43 93.6 6.4 43 92.5 7.5
44 92.9 7.1 44 91.8 8.2
45 92.3 7.7 45 91.1 8.9
46 91.7 8.3 46 90.4 9.6
47 91.1 8.9 47 89.7 10.3
48 90.5 9.5 48 89.0 11.0
49 89.9 10.1 49 88.3 11.7
50 89.3 10.7 50 87.6 12.4
51 88.7 11.3 51 87.0 13.0
52 88.1 11.9 52 86.3 13.7
53 87.6 12.4 53 85.6 14.4
54 87.0 13.0 54 85.0 15.0
55 86.4 13.6 55 84.3 15.7
56 85.8 14.2 56 83.7 16.3
57 85.2 14.8 57 83.0 17.0
58 84.7 15.3 58 82.4 17.6
59 84.1 15.9 59 81.7 18.3
60 83.5 16.5 60 81.0 19.0
61 82.9 17.1 61 80.3 19.7
62 82.3 17.7 62 79.6 20.4
63 81.6 18.4 63 78.9 21.1
64 81.0 19.0 64 78.2 21.8
65 80.4 19.6 65 77.5 22.5
66 79.7 20.3 66 76.7 23.3
67 79.0 21.0 67 75.9 24.1
68 78.3 21.7 68 75.1 24.9
69 77.6 22.4 69 74.3 25.7
70 76.9 23.1 70 73.6 26.4
71 76.1 23.9 71 72.7 27.3
72 75.3 24.7 72 71.8 28.2
73 74.5 25.5 73 71.0 29.0
74 73.7 26.3 74 70.1 29.9
75 73.0 27.0 75 69.2 30.8
76 72.1 27.9 76 68.3 31.7
77 71.2 28.8 77 67.3 32.7
78 70.4 29.6 78 66.4 33.6
79 69.5 30.5 79 65.4 34.6
80 68.6 31.4 80 64.5 35.5
81 67.7 32.3 81 63.5 36.5
82 66.7 33.3 82 62.4 37.6
83 65.8 34.2 83 61.4 38.6
84 64.8 35.2 84 60.4 39.6
85 63.9 36.1 85 59.3 40.7
86 62.8 37.2 86 58.2 41.8
87 61.8 38.2 87 57.1 42.9
88 60.8 39.2 88 56.0 44.0
89 59.7 40.3 89 54.9 45.1
90 58.7 41.3 90 53.8 46.2
91 57.6 42.4 91 52.6 47.4
92 56.4 43.6 92 51.3 48.7
93 55.3 44.7 93 50.1 49.9
94 54.2 45.8 94 48.9 51.1
95 53.1 46.9 95 47.7 52.3
96 51.8 48.2 96 46.4 53.6
97 50.6 49.4 97 45.1 54.9
98 49.4 50.6 98 43.8 56.2
99 48.2 51.8 99 42.5 57.5
100 47.0 53.0 100
We have run a number of age-graded 200s in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, mostly at UTA’s meets. The crowd absolutely loves it. We used Al Sheahan’s 1994 table for years then switched to the age graded factors. Will probably do at least one at a high school or middle school meet this year. It is a chance to show the kids and their parents what a healthy life style means.
Thanks for the information Ken. I was surprised to see that there was an additional calculation beyond using the age factor. I wonder what accounts for that? My college alma mater has started an “invite” for their track team reunions. I will take note of these distances for the 100 and pass them on.
I am all for a Women’s Master 100 meter race at Penn Relays.
At the USATF National Masters Meet there used to be a handicapped 100m on the last day (usually a Sunday) of the meet. In 1991 in Naperville, Payton Jordan got a sizeable handicap (don’t remember exactly how much) on Bill Collins. I remember it being very close at the end and I think Payton held on for a narrow win, but my recollection may not be accurate. Maybe someone else has a different memory of this race.
Right you are, Herb. Payton was 74 at the time, and Bill Collins was only 40. That differential gave Payton a substantial head start, and he needed almost every bit of it, as things turned out.
The legendary Jordan prevailed narrowly, 10.23 to 10.27, over the mercurial Collins. Earlier in the meet, Collins had run 10.88 (yes, 10.88) to win the 100, while the brilliant Jordan had required just 13.71 seconds to win his 100.
Bill Collins seems to have taken a leave of absence from sprinting, and no one else from his final in Naperville has competed in our meets in years.
We’re is Bill Collins
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