Louise Tricard was friends with hundreds of track legends — and many others in the USATF family.

Louise Mead Tricard, a masters sprinter and marathoner who literally wrote the books on the history of women’s track in America, died last night after a long bout with cancer, according to the sports information director of Hunter College in New York. She was about 71 and lived in Cape Canaveral, Florida. The SID, Joseph DeBenedictis, wrote me this morning: “Just happened to find your site when I was looking for some information on a former athlete of ours. I have the unfortunate news to report that Louise Mead Tricard passed away last night. I do not have any details on the funeral just yet, but thought I would pass that information along as I saw a post about her being hospitalized back in April.” Words can’t describe our loss. She was a courageous soul and early adopter of the Internet, who I befriended more than a decade ago during her fight to rescind the No-False-Start rule. She succeeded. In our email exchanges, she signed off as “ecc” and me as “wcc” — East Coast commie and West Coast commie. She sprinted in masters nationals and completed the New York Marathon. She attended USATF conventions and worked hard to promote and improve our sport. Already, some of the biggest names in track have posted their thoughts, including IAAF rep Bob Hersh. I’ll miss her terribly. Funeral details will be posted when I learn them.

Three weeks after the fact, women’s results are now posted for the USATF National Masters Ultraweight Pentathlon Championships in Seattle. Click here to see how the seven women did. USATF doesn’t list records for the ultraweight penta, so maybe the Seattle winners are record-holders by default. In any case, congrats to gold medalists Laura Jinkins (W40), Carla Edman-Surina (W45), Joyce Taylor (W50) and Georgia Cutler (W65). You’re the vanguard of a new breed of strongwoman. Why should guys have all the fun?

Jock Jocoy last competed in 2001, in M75 sprints.

Jock Jocoy, a race-horse doctor and former masters decathlon record-holder who competed into his mid-70s, died Saturday at his home in Southern California, says this report and old friends. In the mid-1980s, Jock set a world record in the decathlon for 58-year-old men at 4,238 points, according to an article in The San Diego Union. “He couldn’t make the World Masters track championships in Rome this year because it came in the middle of the Del Mar meeting,” the story said, “but he’ll be going for the gold in Australia next year. ‘Fitness,’ says Jocoy, ‘is my way of life.’ ” Funeral arrangements were pending, said the news report. When I learn details, I’ll pass them along.

Read the rest of this post »

It’s 5 days to Christmas or Hanukkah, and you don’t know what to buy your running, jumping or throwing dad, wife or neighbor! What to do? Have we got a store for you! Thanks to my son Bobby and his design skills, masterstrack.com now has an outpost on CafePress featuring all manner of masters track products — shirts, caps, mugs, bags and much else. CafePress, which hosts 2.6 million online shops (see Wikipedia’s article), has a great reputation for high-quality products and service. It does all production and delivery. (Here’s another review and a company profile.) We just supply the designs and set the profit margin. (Which is minimal in our case.) Why go beyond our original T-shirt and mousepad offerings? Because you deserve greater choice, and because this CafePress site allows for easy expansion. Bottom line: It’s a great way to promote masters track and help masterstrack.com deliver independent coverage of our sport. (And it might defray some of my Lahti expenses.) The site isn’t set in stone, however. (Forgive the pun.) We can tweak designs to meet popular demand. We can add slogans. You can help us devise more clever mottos than “Old hammer throwers do it with steel chains” or “Old vaulters do it with a slight bend.” We hope to add a 2009 calendar with some of the great photos seen in our Gallery. Got ideas? Write me. In the end, this is your store! Let’s have some fun.

Coach Ross Dunton of Tennessee has emailed a newsletter that lists 15 men and 10 women as nominees for the USATF Masters Hall of Fame. Among the shoo-ins are sprinter Roger Pierce and all-around runner Marie-Louise Michelsohn. Tom Langenfeld and Audrey Lary are also a lock. My friends Kathy Bergen and Jim Selby of Southern California are longer shots, but very deserving. The source of these names isn’t given, so don’t consider this a definitive, official list. New inductees will be announced at the USATF annual meeting this December in Reno, Nevada.

Read the rest of this post »

Don’t trust anyone under 35. If you really want to be a serious runner, wait till you’re 35. Although I hesitate to discuss roadies on a masters track blog, I can’ resist crowing about the latest masters superstar: Haile Gebrselassie, who broke the 2:04 barrier today in the prednisone Berlin Marathon. Check out the IAAF report on the race. In the women’s race, 36-year-old Irina Mikitenko became the fourth-fastest ever at the distance with her winning time of 2:19:19. Nice runs, guys! I think Geb is now the oldest WR setter on the current books.

Read the rest of this post »

They’re up. Nearly 400 photos taken by my wife, Chris, and moi tell the story of last month’s Spokane nationals unlike any written narrative. Click here for series of shots, including Liz Palmer step-for-step with Joy Upshaw-Margerum in the 80-meter hurdles. Rita Hanscom passing a falling Amanda Scotti just yards from the finish of the W50 200. Bob Lida losing an M70 sprint as his “runner’s knee” collapses near the finish. Bud Held setting an M80 world record in the pole vault, and getting a joyous embrace from his love, Nadine O’Connor. And on and on. A bonus album shows masters founder David Pain, his daughter Robin and wife Linda as they visit with stars of the meet, the 40th anniversary of his first masters nationals in San Diego. Enjoy!

Read the rest of this post »

Mirko Jalava of Finland is considered one of the world’s top track statisticians, but I’m having doubts about his fact-checking (or at least keyboarding). In Roger Ruth’s latest data dump — searching for over-35 athletes on Mirko’s 2008 season lists at his pay site — two sprinters are listed with wildly inaccurate dates of birth. While perusing the 400-meter lists, two names (and DOBs) caught my eye. According to Mirko, Americans Johnny Thomas ran 48.76 at age 44 and Kevin Hawkins ran 48.62 at age 43. Yowza! Those are near WR times in their age group. How come I haven’t heard of these gents?

Read the rest of this post »

David O’Meara, 45, had barely returned home to Sarasota when he sent me a note thanking me for supporting his mile quest (which included his 20th sub-5 mile Sunday at Fifth Avenue). (See him in a cute NYC video here.) I replied with a set of questions, led off with the key one: So, like, when will you run masters track? He graciously replied: “I would like to compete on the masters track circuit when I am 50. I am going to continue promoting the ‘mile’ and that is why I would like to attend the indoor nationals as it is the only nationals that runs the mile event.” So there! Then he’ll get to meet some of the big boys. Of course, Hartshorne Mile organizers should contact him as well. Money is involved.

Read the rest of this post »

The German track Web site reports that 5,000 spectators waved white handkerchiefs in an emotional farewell gesture yesterday to M40 Jeff Hartwig, who turned 41 today. Jeff apparently competed in his final elite vault competition at Aachen. Despite low temps and rain, Jeff took fifth out of 12 with a jump of 5.40 (17-8 1/2), a foot short of his M40 world record set at the Eugene Olympic Trials. Some of Jeff’s Beijing experiences are recounted in this Phil Hersh blog post. A vault fan posted this about Jeff on Becca’s site: “Congrats on an amazing career!! and best of luck with whatever pursuit comes next for you. PB 6.03. 9 meets over 6.0m. 102 meets over 5.80.” Thanks for the memories, Jeff. But rest up and come back stronger at M45!

Read the rest of this post »