Pete is red hot.
specialty is the 5000 meters. His cross country, road and track titles at that distance are many. On Sunday, he added another gem to the crown: M50 American outdoor record. It was the third lowering of the age-group record this season, following efforts by
Ken Ernst and
Mike Blackmore. (Is this a modern version of
Bannister, Santee and Landy or what?) Running against the kiddies at Oxy (Occidental College in Los Angeles), Pete clocked 15:11.13. That beats the Blackmore mark by more than 5 seconds.
(See results here.) BTW, Pete likes Oxy. A year ago, he ran 14:45 there.
(See my interview.) Now the question arises: When will all these guys race each other? What an explosion of 5K talent!
May 7, 2012
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Dick Camp, a world-class M75 sprinter, has Parkinsonās disease, he informs. āI am not taking medications for PD,ā he says.Ā āMy wife is filling me with brain food like kale, cabbage, etc., and good supplements.Ā I also believe that wind sprints and sprinting produce dopamine in the brain, giving me reason toĀ train more vociferously for health reasons.ā But he still runs ā even amid miseries beyond Parkinsonās. He shared a note with friends after racing at Penn. He graciously allowed me to reprint it here. Youāll see why his other name is the Rev. Dr. Richard P. Camp Jr.
Dick is second from the left in this M70 100 final at 2008 Spokane nationals.
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May 7, 2012
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Kettrell at 2005 Hawaii nationals.
Our longtime friend
Kettrell Berry, whose young son is a running prodigy and whose masters friends are many, is sitting in a
San Diego jail today after his arrest yesterday on 25 child-molestation charges.
U-T San Diego reported: Kettrell Berry, who was a supervisor at the
San Diego Center for Children for nine years until being fired a couple weeks ago, was taken into custody by San Diego Police Friday afternoon following a lengthy investigation. He is being held in lieu of $1.12 million in bail and is scheduled to be arraigned in San Diego Superior Court Tuesday.
David McCaslin, chief executive officer of the small school, said the academy āis devastated by the apparent betrayal of trust.ā Kettrell was a relay teammate of mine at nationals and coached
Jai Black to her world 400 title last year. This news hits me like a death in the family. I hope he (and his friends and family) will survive this.
May 5, 2012
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In 2007, Sacramento won the right to host 2011 worlds. All was right in the world (except for a war here and there). Then in 2008, the economy collapsed, and with it a lot of retiree investments. Thatās why 6,000 athletes didnāt show for the WMA championships as hoped. And thatās why the LOC took a bath. Only 4,100 athletes competed. Now weāre finally learning details of the Sacramento losses. Said the Sacramento Biz Journal: āThe World Masters event lost $300,000. ā¦ The Sacramento Region Sports Education Foundation is in default and canāt repay a $400,000 loan to the city for the World Masters event, according to a staff report for Tuesdayās council meeting. The loan was supposed to be repaid last October. The organization also couldnāt repay a $150,000 loan Sacramento County supplied for the same event.ā
John McCasey of the Sacramento Sports Commission got slammed by economy.
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May 5, 2012
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Roald at 2008 Trials.
British native
Roald Bradstock threw the jav in two Olympic Games (1984 and 1988) and caught a bug: the Olympic Trials bug. He became a U.S. citizen and threw in our Trials in 2000, 2004 and 2008. This year, at age 50, heās been invited to compete in the British Olympic Trials. It will be his eighth Trials, fifth in UK. Incredible. He shared the invitation letter (below). So if you ever wondered what itās like to be a world-class athlete summoned by your country, here you go. Of course, Roald competing in the London Games would be completely unprecedented in his event. The āBā qualifying standard is 79.50 meters (260-10). The listed M50 world record is 71.01 (232-11) by Spainās
Luis Nogueira in 2007. Roaldās latest best throw is 72.35 (237-4) at age 49. (He turned 50 on April 24). Now go show the kids what for, RB!
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May 4, 2012
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Buried in the results of last Saturdayās Southern California Striders Meet of Champions was a vault mark for newbie W70 Nadine OāConnor. About six weeks after aging up, she demolished the listed WR in the vault of 2.36 meters (7-8 3/4) by Oregonās Becky Sisley in 2009. Nadine went 2.75 (9-0 1/4) for an age-graded percentage of 122 percent. But that was only her No. 3 mark of the season! Earlier, she went 2.80 and 2.77 (9-2 1/4 and 9-1) in college meets. (In general, 90 percent is world-class and 80 percent is national-class, so this makes Nadine cosmos-class.) By comparison, Nolan Shaheedās American record 3000 of 9:49.76 was 94.41 percent age-graded.
Nadine relaxed at the Striders meet three years ago at Orange Coast College.
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May 4, 2012
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Gary Snyder
USATF Masters Track National Chairman
Gary Snyder reports that nobody tested positive for PEDs (illegal ingestibles) at the March indoor nationals in Bloomington. He didnāt say how many tests were done, but thatās a closely held secret anyway. World Masters Athletics
announced the same all-clear on Finland worlds: āThe chairman of the Anti-Doping and Medical [Committee] reports that the results of anti-doping tests carried out during the championship have all been certified OK ā ānegativeā in accordance with the testing and results procedures. There was also an increase in the
TUE applications (medical waivers) and enquiries up to the start of the championships. This is good progress on behalf of the Masters family and For Clean Sport and Fair Play.ā
May 1, 2012
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Kevin on sponsor page.
of the Payton Jordan Cardinal Invitational at Stanford over the weekend was the M40 American record for 5000 meters by
Kevin Castille. So three weeks after his
AR in the 10K on the same track, Kevin nearly cracked the elite 14-minute barrier. His time of 14:00.09 in an elite race beats the listed record of 14:17.36 by
Brian Pope in 2004. He also broke unratified marks of
14:02.86 by
Steve Plasencia and
14:13.31 by
Danny Martinez. The listed M40 world record is 13:43.15 by
Mohammed Ezzher of France in 2000. Kevin was a recent USATF Athlete of the Week, and heās becoming a poster child for our niche. But heās probably shooting for the
13:50 āBā standard for the Eugene Olympic Trials. So heās not far off! Thanks to
Craig Godwin of Oregon Track Club Masters for bringing this to my attention.
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May 1, 2012
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About 10 years ago, whenever I saw Steve Scott at Cal State San Marcos, where he coaches, I would say, āHey, Coach! I still have two years eligibility left!ā That was a reference to my having run track for two years at Kansas and then kicked off the team. (Actually, my NCAA eligibility expired somehow.) But not for Sean Smith in the San Diego area. Heās 36 and is using his leftover collegiate eligibility to put the shot for the University of LaVerne. Great story, and love his attitude: āWhen you get to be this age, you learn what real pressure is. Real pressure is working a job, trying to make a living, itās not throwing a 16-pound ball of lead.ā Go, Sean! Show the kids you can bring it!
Sean is in college track at 36 ā and well after his original collegiate experience.
April 29, 2012
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Nolan signals AR.
set his latest American record yesterday morning at the
Striders Meet of Champions at Cerritos College in Norwalk, California. He clocked 9:49.76 for 3000 meters to beat the listed M60 AR of 10:11.24 by Douglas Winn in 2010. Amazing as that is, Nolan three weeks ago ran 3K even faster ā but didnāt get credit for the time. He wrote me that he was at a SoCal college meet and āstopped my watch at 9:35 a few seconds after the race was over while we were in the finishing chute. When I went to get the official time, the timer told me the sun was up when the race started but went down during the race and he didnāt think to adjust the camera. So he turned it off when he realized the photo was going to be too dark to see.ā So no record proof that day. Thank goodness all was kosher at Striders!
Pete Magill sent these photos of Nolan in his latest record, taken by Peteās friend
Diana Hernandez. āThe first is an action shot of Nolan in the race, bookended by
Brian Pilcher (recently set the American M55-59 5000 record) and
Michael Buckoff,ā Pete writes. āThe second is of Nolan celebrating as his record application is filled out [by
Andy Hecker].ā
Nolan gets help during his record run, but only his No. 2 time of the season.
April 29, 2012
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