At 5:40 a.m. Pacific/8:40 a.m. Eastern today Jeff Hartwig, our 40-year-old masters superstar, jumps in the men’s vault prelims in Beijing. Earliest results and discussion will be on Becca Gillespy’s site. Jeff says in a recent story that “If I thought I could go 10 more years, I would. I love the sport that much.” But in another article, he signals that he’ll retire in September. Today’s event will be a challenge. They’re taking anyone to Friday’s finals who jumps 5.75 (18-10 1/2) — or the top 12. Jeff has a season best of 5.71 — the M40 world record, of course.

Read the rest of this post »

The 2009 USATF masters outdoor nationals will be held July 9-12 at the National Training Center in Clermont, Florida, according to this hastily posted stub of an official site. (Note the reference to the meet being July 7-12 at one point.) Comments posted on this earlier blog entry telegraphed the info informally a couple days ago. The dates (the earliest in recent memory) allow folks a couple weeks to rest up for the Lahti world meet, which starts July 28, or the National Senior Olympics in Palo Alto, which starts August 5. Whew! Glad we have that matter out of the way. Ironically, the host NTC calendar doesn’t mention the 2009 masters nationals. In nine days, the NTC will host WMA regionals. Here are the current entries.

Betty Jarvis didn’t make it to Spokane, but she’s among 70 entrants (and by far the oldest) at this weekend’s USATF National Masters Weight Pentathlon Championships in Connecticut. A 2004 inductee into the USATF Masters Hall of Fame, Betty is still going strong at 93. She hails from Aberdeen, North Carolina, and may be shooting for the W90 American record of 4682 points by Margaret Evans in 2003. Go Betty!

The entry books for the 2009 WMA world masters championships in Lahti, Finland, were available at Spokane nationals last week, and the newly posted Lahti Web site confirms what I read: Be prepared for a qualifying standard of sorts. Starting heights have been listed for the high jump and pole vault. They aren’t onerous, but they’ll weed out the nonserious jumpers. But I also note something really strange: Creation of a new hurdles event. In the “scheduling notes” section, we learn: “W70+ will now run the 200 Hurdles (.686), not the 300 Hurdles.” That’s news to me — and World Masters Athletics, which has approved no such event. Bizarre. How about a standing long jump and softball throw, too?

Rumors have been flying that Clermont would forgo the 2009 masters outdoor nationals — and that Spokane would be willing to host again. So I wrote some enchiladas. The answer came swiftly. “False,” wrote USATF Masters T&F Chairman Gary Snyder. But many questions remain, including the status of the contract between USATF and the local organizing committee in the town near Orlando in central Florida. Another: When will the 2009 meet be held? This is a big deal for those interested in hitting nationals as well as the National Senior Olympics across the country in the San Francisco Bay Area. The Senior Games track meet is Aug. 5-11, 2009. And the world masters meet in Lahti, Finland, is July 28-Aug. 8, 2009.

Read the rest of this post »

Jimson Lee of Canada and speedendurance.com brought his video camera to Spokane masters nationals and made good use of it. His prime focus was the sprints. He even caught an apparent unrecalled flyer by Leon Sanders in the M55 200, won by Bill Collins. Of the M65 200 won by Steve Robbins, Jimson wrote: “How do you film the entire race when he runs? He annihilates the competition. My wide angle lens only covers so much.” No problem, Jimson. You done good!

Read the rest of this post »

Every year following masters outdoor nationals, USATF reserves its Athlete of the Week award for a top performer at the masters meet. This year, many stars were worthy — including M55 Bill Collins, M65 Steve Robbins and W55 Kathy Martin. But USATF likes to mix things up, too. So this year they named Bud Held, the M80 vaulter and thrower, for the weekly honor. It was a perfectly apt choice. Bud was one of the 186 athletes who competed in the first masters nationals in San Diego in 1968. Given that Spokane was the 40th anniversary of the meet, the AoW honor is a great way of recognizing masters past and present.

Read the rest of this post »

This was my 11th masters outdoor nationals since 1995, and I haven’t been to one with more helpful, friendly, kind, cheerful and courteous meet management, led by Marla Emde of the Spokane Sports Commission and USATF’s Jim Flanik of the Games Committee. Other nationals featured some truly officious officials, who liked to throw their weight around. Not here.

Read the rest of this post »

It was magical and memorable and more. Tonight’s Athlete Banquet at the Northern Quest Casino west of Spokane drew 400 athletes, friends, families and officials. In a room with four screens tied to one computer system, Linda Pain presented a slide show of her husband David Pain’s life, and as David went up on stage after the narrated picture show, he got a standing ovation as the masters nationals marked their 40th anniversary. David, 86, read a letter from WMA President Monty Hacker of South Africa honoring North America for landing the 2010 indoor worlds in Kamloops, British Columbia, and the 2011 outdoor worlds in Sacramento.

Read the rest of this post »

In the mid-1950s, when he was an Olympian, Bud Held set world records in the open javelin. Ten years ago, at 70, he set an age-group world record in the high jump. So what does he do upon entering M80? He sets a world record in the pole vault, of course. Returning to an event he first did in 1942, Bud cleared 2.40 (7-10 1/2) on his third try today and then passed to 2.65 (8-8 1/4). He again needed three tries to clear. Then he called it a day at Spokane masters nationals. But 2.65 beat his own M80 PR of 2.62 of a week ago and the listed world record of 2.60 (8-6 1/4) by William Bell (Olympic medalist Earl Bell’s father) at Decatur nationals in 2004.

Read the rest of this post »