British team claims 4×100 relay world record for M35
An M35 British team of Darren Scott, Mark Dunwell, Jim Tipper and Anthony Leigh yesterday clocked 42.51 in the 4×1 at an international triangular meet in Ashford, Kent, England, reports our friend Pete Mulholland. Pete writes: “Looks like Great Britain has snatched the M35 4x100m WR from your guys who set the listed mark of 42.62 at the WMA Champs at San Sebastian in 2005. The event was an International, GBR v France v Belgium.” Full results are here. The record remains “soft,” however, since an American M40 team holds the listed WR of 42.20.
Stacy Dragila pops a 15-5 a week before the Trials
According to a report on the T&FN message board, Stacy Dragila today vaulted 4.70 meters (15-5) — another W35 world age-group record. It’s also among the top 5 jumps in the world this year! The mark, 5 inches below her PR, was made at the Olympic Training Center southeast of San Diego. 4.70 on the Age-Graded Tables is equivalent to an Open (20-30) mark of 5.32 (17-5 1/2). We’ve also learned that W55 Kay Glynn topped a Phil Raschker WR at Los Gatos High School in Northern California. Mastersrankings.com reports that Kay went 3.07 (10-0 3/4). That beats the listed WR of 3.05 (10-0) by Phil in 2002. Nice jumping, ladies!
Sneak preview of my Eugene Olympic Trials blog
This coming Thursday, I’ll take an Alaska Airlines flight to Portland, and then to Eugene, for a little track meet they hold every four years or so. Some of our masters track friends will be there –competing in open events as well as exhibitions. It’s the greatest meet on Earth! The Olympic Trials. And I’ll be reprising my 2004 Sacramento blog, which drew thousands of visitors from around the world. I hope you’ll visit my Eugene Trials blog as well. My first entry is up, and it relates a story I told in 2004 of an Olympian who failed to qualify for the Athens team. He was asked if he’d be back for another try in 2008. His reply: “Absolutely not — no chance.” Of course, he kind of changed his mind. His name? Jeff Hartwig.
Stacy Dragila flirting with 15 feet as Olympic Trials near
Stacy Dragila raised her year-old W35 pole vault record a year ago to 4.55 meters (14-11) at the Olympic Training Center in Chula Vista, California, last weekend. Details are posted on polevaultpower.com. Stacy is 37 but has a shot at making another Olympic team. Only two American women have higher outdoor marks this season. Her fans are out in force. Go Stacy!
Zola Budd coming to America for masters running cash?
Two years ago, the former barefoot teen sensation Zola Budd said she was interested in competing on the masters circuit — at least on the roads. (I blogged her interest.) This week, local press reports in South Africa indicated she was ready to cross the Pond and race in America — at age 42. We learn: “Well-known Free State athlete Zola Budd-Pieterse and her family are moving to the United States, the Volksblad newspaper reported on Thursday. However, Pieterse said she was not leaving for good and would return to South Africa at some stage, the report said. She said the rumours that she and her family were emigrating were rubbish.”
Trojan Masters track meet at USC bites the dust this year
Trojan Masters TC majordomo Eugene Driver, a former masters sprint champion, sends the sad news: “Due to low finances and high stadium fees, the Trojan Masters meet will not be held this year, Hopefully we will see you in ’09!” The Trojan meet (which I photographed a couple years ago) is held at the great track at the University of Southern California, not far from the site of the 1932 and 1984 Olympics. Also, a meet update from Mark Cleary: The USATF Western Regional Masters Championships will be July 12-13 at Cal State San Marcos. The meet Web site includes results from previous years. July 1 is the postmark deadline to avoid incurring a late fee of $20.
Run and take the money: Masters Athlete roadie article
The current issue of Masters Athlete magazine has a nice two-page spread on how masters road runners can make money at selected events. It’s kind of short and could use more detail on how to find money races, but I better not criticize the author too much or my wife will get mad. Anyway, I was limited to 600 words (and wrote 700 anyway.) Here’s my article posted on Masters Athlete Daily. My thanks to the sources for this story. Sorry I didn’t have space to quote you all.
A birthday gift: online workout log via masterstrack.com
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It’s my party, and I’ll pry if I want to. Do you keep a training diary? Do you do it on paper or via computer? Well, yesterday was my 54th birthday, and I’m offering you a present: Record your workouts and share the info via a new Web service with a familiar logo: masterstrack.com. Check out this great new tool. I didn’t create the site (Chris Dellinger of Fitness Partners did.) But I’ve agreed to partner with Chris, since this is really cool: a free online training diary that never gets lost or eaten by the dog. Chris wrote me: “Originally (back in 1998) we created an online fitness training log for the members of our site, but starting in early 2008 we started offering our features to other websites free of charge. I found your site via the StumbleUpon service and thought that our services might make for an interesting partnership between our sites.”
Jim Sorensen, star of 2007, making a summer comeback
Jim Sorensen, WR man
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A year ago, the big story in masters track was Jim Sorensen’s attempts at a sub-4 mile at age 40. He set world records at 800 and 1500 but came up short on the mile (although he did claim the American record). But his goal for 2008 was qualifying for the Olympic Trials. (And more than half the respondents to a poll thought he could make it.) That dream collapsed amid injuries and setbacks, however. He was hobbled for three months. Now he’s feeling healthy again and ramping up his mileage. In a quickie Q&A this week, Jim told me he’s considering a try at 10K at masters nationals in Spokane — and maybe competing at Lahti worlds in 2009.
Hot throwing at Southwestern Association masters meet
Mesquite, Texas, hosted the USATF Southwestern Association masters championships over the weekend (results below), and some great throws were recorded by the likes of Ken Jansson, Ken Ellis, Bob Ward and Steve Patridge, who had an M50 shot mark of 15.29 (50-2). Also, W50 sprinter Cindy Steenbergen clocked a nice 1 and 2. Thanks go to M70 sprint star Wayne Bennett, who provided these results.
