Bill Collins, Charles Allie team sets M60 4×1 club AR at Penn
Charles Allie won the M65 100 at Penn on Friday, and M60 Bill Collins saved himself. Both were fresh for the 4×100 in Philly and added Ron Johnson and Rick Riddle as their Houston Elite team beat their own listed M60 American club record with a 48.33. Last year, Houston Elite ran 48.44 at Penn. The listed M60 WR was set at 2011 Sacramento worlds: 47.93 by Ralph Peterson, Thad Wilson, Allie and Leo Sanders. (So the Penn Relays site errs in calling 48.33 a masters world record.) Here are masters results from Penn. Also notable were victories by Val Barnwell in the M55 100 in his continued comeback from the Lahti doping suspension and Cornell Stephenson’s legs on winning 4×1 and 4×4 teams after years of injury rehab. An amazing legal 100 was run by M40 Christopher Williams of Jamaica Masters: 10.58. The listed WR is 10.29. Have I missed any other records? (Of course, no marks will hold a candle to mine at Saturday’s UCSD Triton Invitational, when I run the 200 against collegians. Pray for me.)
Charles Allie (No. 1) is shown on way to victory in M65 100 at Penn Relays.
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Masters sprint, hammer take back seat to WR in jump-rope 100
Congrats to Johnny Speed and M65 Larry Hart for exhibition victories in the 100-meter dash and hammer, respectively, at the Mt. SAC Relays on Saturday. Johnny beat fellow M49 Jeff Williams (the Atlanta Olympian) 11.76 to 11.97 — easily the top two M45 times in the nation. A masters hurdle race is listed, but no results are shown. I missed the Relays for only the second time in about 17 years due to a work project for Patch. Too bad I couldn’t also witness a WR for the jump-rope 100. But the race included Olympic silver medalist Lashinda Demus (in the London 400H), who turned 30 in March. W30 record!
M75 runner Bill Iffrig becomes poster child for courage at Boston
Our M60 multi-eventer friend Dave Ortman writes from Seattle: “Bill Iffrig, a M78 masters runner, is one of the Club Northwest runners (from Lake Stevens, WA) shown right at the finish line when the bomb goes off. He’s at about 00:36 of the second video clip. Also a writeup on him at Boston.” Bill won three medals at 2011 Sacramento worlds, including bronze in the 5K and 10K. I saw him interviewed on CNN Monday night, and a Google search shows close to 5,000 stories mentioning him and the Boston Marathon. We hope all our roadie friends and family are safe and find a way to get up and finish the way Bill did. Let us know what you heard or saw.
Bob Lawson dies at 78; coach was a prolific masters thrower
Our friend Roger Vergin shares sad news, originally sent by Lane Dowell, about the death of Bob Lawson: Lane wrote over the weekend: “I am sure that many of you are as shocked by the passing of this fine man/athlete as I. His class, support and the grace with which he competed will be greatly missed. He is truly fitting of the title, a role model for each and every one of us. Bob Lawson, one of the top track athletes in Aberdeen High School history, died unexpectedly recently at his home in Ocean Shores. A nationally ranked decathlete who narrowly missed making the United States Olympic team in 1956, the 1954 Aberdeen High grad remained active in sports well into his mid-70s. He was a perennial gold medalist in several events at the Washington State Senior Games.” Another remembrance was posted on the U.S. Sports Academy site.
Bob is at far left in 2008 photo from 45th Paavo Nurmi Marathon in Wisconsin.
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Landover entrants look sharp in Marleen Van den Neste gallery
Marleen Van den Neste, a superb photojournalist, shot Landover nationals and posted nearly 1,000 images. She wrote: “I had the great honor to photograph the Championships. … Is there a way to make the participating athletes aware of my photos?” Well, let me think. According to Sharp Shooter magazine, Marleen is based in the Washington area and specializes in cross country, track and field, and road races. “Marleen is available for assignments in Washington, Maryland, Virginia and beyond. Marleen just won the Grand Prize in The PDN The Shot sports photography contest.”
Christel Donley of Colorado gets Rocky Mountain high in the W75 age group.
Leland McPhie at 99 gets star treatment in San Diego County
Our M95 multi-event friend Leland McPhie (pronounced Mc-FEE) was the subject of four or five stories last month when he turned 99 just before indoor nationals. The County News Center focused on his being the oldest retired sheriff’s deputy. So did local TV. His local paper had photo of him on a front page. And a local columnist mentioned his interest in “senior track,” whatever that is. Leland holds many records, of course, and is a longtime member of the SoCal Track Club. He doesn’t compete that often, but he’s still in the game. Keep going, Leland! Belated happy birthday!
On to Olathe—and a new twist on scheduling events at nationals
The USATF masters outdoor nationals are earlier than usual this year — July 11-14. That’s to accommodate those who want to compete a few weeks later in Cleveland area for the National Senior Games. But with Kansas heat as it is (and I vividly recall from KU days), organizers apparently are tweaking the usual schedule. All distance races will not be on the same day, for example. See the rough schedule here. Several people have written me about the sked, curious about the changes. I’ll write the organizers to confirm the reasons. Here’s what one mole wrote: “The 10,000 finals will be on Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday — all four days of the meet. The 5,000 racewalk will be on Thursday and Friday. The 5,000 run will be contested on Thursday, Saturday and Sunday. The 1500 finals will be on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.”
Eurovets insanity: M90/M95 sprint champs were denied medals!
When my UK friend Tom Phillips pointed out that the viral video stars from Eurovets didn’t get medals, I had to check it out. In fact, M90 Emiel Pauwels and M95 Ilmari Koppinen fell short of the medal standards by a second and half — even as they brought more public attention to our niche sport than anything EVAA has done in years. Someone in Eurovets should deliver golds to both gents with an apology. For goodness sake, they didn’t use canes or walkers at San Sebastian! They ran their asses off. (Here’s the Athlete’s Manual where standards are specified.)
So even if you’re older than 90, you have to meet a standard to rate a medal.
M90s bring the speed—and comeback drama—in 60-meter duel
Here’s the Finn at 2009 worlds.
This is a treat. Eurosport video has gone viral, especially on Facebook, showing Finland’s Ilmari Koppinen and Belgium’s Emiel Pauwels in the 60-meter finals March 21 at the Eurovets indoor championships in San Sebastian. Since one is 94 and the other 95 (but separated by only 11 months, both born in 1918), they both won gold, of course. Results for M95 are here. And results for M90 are here. Of course, the younger gent won. But by a whisker. Nice to see the Finn still flying. And here’s my Lahti salute to the elder statesmen of track and field.
Athletes panel unveils plan to overhaul masters records process
Chair Steve Robbins
This may be the most important issue identified in the records process.
