Sandy Pashkin says Kalembo, Singh can kiss records bye-bye

Sandy Pashkin ignored this 1988 Olympic ID badge as evidence of Kalembo being 50 in 2010.

M50 quarter-miler Douglas Kalembo, who ran a sub-50 in 2010, and M100 marathon man Fauja Singh won’t see their names in the record books, thanks to USATF masters record chair Sandy Pashkin raising doubts about their ages. Sandy also blocked WR recognition for Olympians with marks superior to listed age-group records, calling certain elite meets into suspicion. That’s what I hear from Andy Hecker, attending the USATF annual meeting in St. Louis, Missouri, this weekend. Andy writes: “So far my efforts to revive sanity to these old records are going down in flames.  Sandy is vehement that she doesn’t want to go back to old marks.  She has zero faith and [has] questions about the conduct of any meet except the Olympics.  As evidence she gave the failure of Berea to have a flat hammer landing area.” So does that mean that any record set at Berea is suspect? Talk about throwing the records out with the bathwater.

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December 3, 2011  7 Comments

Arnie Gaynor dies at 83; world record thrower, WMA champ

Arnie in 2009 with one of his many Striders club awards. He last competed in late 2010.

Southern California Striders president Brenda Matthews shares sad news: “With great sadness, I would like to announce the passing one of the greatest masters thrower, Arnie Gaynor. His memorial service will take place on Wednesday, December 7, at 12 noon at Fairhaven Memorial Park—Waverly Chapel, 1702 Fairhaven Ave, Santa Ana. Everyone is invited to join his family in celebrating the life of Arnie Gaynor. Following the service, Diane, his daughter, invited everyone to enjoy a full lunch at Orange Hill Restaurant complete with beer and wine, she reminded me this was a celebration of life. Below is a copy of Arnie’s obituary.”

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December 3, 2011  5 Comments

Another masters track futzes with age groups, loses M30/W30

I have a Google News alert set for “masters track,” which means I also get links to stories about masters cycling. I found it amusing that the wheel-spinners also argue about age groups — and when their sport should start. The news? Velonews reports: “There will be one less stars-and-stripes jersey up for grabs at USA Cycling’s masters road and track national championships in 2012. The governing body dropped the 30-34 age category for both men and women, citing what national events managing director Micah Rice called a ‘chronically low level of participation. 
 For example, this year at masters road nationals, we had 25 men show up for the 30-34 criterium while our 40-44 and 45-49 fields had over 100 riders each,” Rice said. “For the women’s 30-34 race, there were 10 riders. The numbers at masters track nationals were even smaller.”

November 30, 2011  7 Comments

Latest review of masters sprint studies confirms why we get slow

Masters Athlete author Peter Reaburn of Australia asks and answers the age-old question: Why do [adult] sprinters get slower with age? His answer: “[Studies] concluded that aging sprint runners preserve their stride frequency but appear to reduce their stride length as they age. Moreover, this reduced stride length appears due to reduced propulsive ground reaction forces and the rate of development of this force. That is, the ability to push off the ground quickly is reduced. This reduction appears mainly due to three major factors: 1. Lower maximal strength of the lower limb muscles (about 30% from young to old) due to reduced size of the fast twitch muscle fibres; 2. The slower rate of force development and transmission of this force to the ground; and 3. Reductions (about 35% from young to old) in elastic energy storage and energy recovery in tendons due to reduced tendon stiffness in older athletes.” Another reason? It’s hard to train with kids, career and the economy breathing down your neck.

Steve Robbins and Peter Crombie battle at 2010 nationals. (Ken Stone photo)

November 29, 2011  46 Comments

Jim Hershberger dies at 80; masters track pioneer, KU benefactor

Jim Hershberger in 1996 photo.

When I was a student at the University of Kansas in the mid-1970s, I interviewed Jack Greenwood and Jim Hershberger — two masters track legends. I spoke to both by phone, never meeting them in person. Wish I had. Now Jim is gone. His obituary appears in several states. The best might be this one in Sunday’s Wichita Eagle. Hal Higdon, in his book Masters Running: A Guide to Running and Staying Fit After 40, recalls battling Hershberger in an early masters mile.

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November 29, 2011  One Comment

Masters chairman denies records held hostage to drug-testing

Gary Snyder

Gary Snyder, chairman of USATF Masters Track & Field Committee, has denied a contention made by AP national writer Eddie Pells that “USA Track and Field 
 requested a USADA presence at its masters national championships this summer after international organizers told the American track organization it would stop accepting U.S. records if it didn’t ramp up its anti-doping program.” In a response to a set of questions, Gary wrote me (and records chair Sandy Pashkin): “No one is threatening us; furthermore USADA does not act independently. If you find out, let me know!” Later Sunday night, Eddie responded that Gary had in fact suggested the records-testing link. Eddie wrote me: “Had two other people I talked to telling me the same thing – record acceptance could be in jeopardy if no testing at nationals. So, bottom line, I’m very comfortable with what I reported.”

November 27, 2011  3 Comments

Is WMA snubbing its nose at road running? Expand beyond track?

St. Louis logo

A comment was posted by a Canadian the other day on a blog entry from September. But it’s worth highlighting today. The athlete said: “Masters road running age has traditionally started at age 40 for decades and many road running events like the New York, Toronto, Berlin and London Marathons still honour that tradition with their annual 40+ masters awards. Does the WMA even care? The media sure does. What exactly does the WMA do, to claim to govern masters road running? The WMA only recognizes performances from the marathon distance. What about 5K, 8K, 10K, 15k, Half marathon, 30K? The WMA has clearly snubbed its nose at masters road running community yet claim that they are still the governing body for tens of thousands of master road runners.” Meanwhile, the St. Louis annual meeting of USATF will decide a rule change that brings masters LDR in line with masters track — lowering the starting age to 35, instead of 40.

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November 26, 2011  9 Comments

Drug-test extortion? Who threatened USATF over masters records?

Eddie Pells

Why did USATF launch drug-testing for masters track? According to this story by Eddie Pells, a national writer for The Associated Press: “USA Track and Field 
 requested a USADA presence at its masters national championships this summer after international organizers told the American track organization it would stop accepting U.S. records if it didn’t ramp up its anti-doping program.” Masters chair Gary Snyder is quoted as saying his staff “did a fair amount of soul searching before implementing this nationally.” The story also quotes some obscure site called masterstrack.com. Thanks, Eddie! But who in World Masters Athletics — or anywhere — suggested our records wouldn’t be accepted unless we had dope-testing? Sandy Pashkin, the masters records czar for USATF and WMA, has never mentioned this, to my memory. Who did?

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November 24, 2011  9 Comments

Worth the wait: Pasadena Senior Games results with photos

Cynthia Rosedale, in charge of the June 4 Pasadena Senior Games, sends a results PDF for all sports that includes some nice track and field shots, such as the one below. She writes: “Better later than never! 
 See everyone in June 2012! HUBBA HUBBA!” (Hubba hubba goes over some current masters heads. Trust me, it once was trendy.) Check out the sprint marks of W70 Kathy Bergen, M55 Damien Leake and M50 Phil McConkey. But watch out form the photo of Brenda Matthews, who appears to be running for Arizona State University. Actually, the photo was flopped. She’s in her USA singlet. Bon appetit, and have a nice Turkey Day feast to all my American friends!

Four entrants at last summer's Pasadena Senior Games at Caltech include sprint star Kathy Bergen (great form, second from left).

November 23, 2011  One Comment

George Mathews’ masters drug-category proposal seen as DOA

George Mathews

According to minutes of a Nov. 16 conference call, the USATF Masters T&F Executive Committee is not liking George Mathews’ idea for a new competition category for medicated masters. Minutes said: “George Mathews is suggesting some changes and provided a summary of those changes in a document that attendees received prior to the meeting. Bob [Weiner] said this would put USATF Meets out of compliance. Some very MAJOR rule changes would have to made to accommodate George’s ideas, and there did not appear to be much support for the changes. Steve [Cohen] spoke about George’s ideas, as well as other drug testing issues. Steve needs to replace one person on the committee, and is looking for an interested party. Research regarding doping within the Masters community is slim to none. 22 hours after the first intake, the https://tramadolbest.com/tramadol-100mg/ pain gradually started to return. Steve said National Governing Bodies are doing out-of-comp testing for masters.”

November 22, 2011  20 Comments