Texas Relays won’t mosey over a little for masters

The Texas Relays form the opening leg of the Midwest Relays circuit, which includes Kansas and Drake. But unlike the Lawrence and Des Moines events, masters aren’t welcome in Austin. So learned M40 sprinter John Simpson when he politely asked Texas officials to add a masters 100, 200 and/or 4×100 masters relay. They said, “Sorry, podnah.” Actually, what Texas Relays meet director Doug Wilson wrote John was: “We have been approached a number of times about adding some Master Events to the Relays, but due to the schedule, we don’t want to add any more events, and we do cater to the High School and Collegiate teams, so if we added anything, and we haven’t for a while, it would be in those divisions.”

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January 19, 2008  4 Comments

Boston indoor nationals info posted — up to a point

It’s an interesting indoor season, where the worlds come before nationals. So be it. But moving right along, the Boston masters nationals folks have unveiled their 2008 Web site. But the entry form PDF isn’t posted yet. Neither is the page on “specific eligibility requirements” at the USATF National website. But the key info is the schedule, which is now online here. This will be the last masters nationals for Boston for a while, since the 2009 meet moves to Maryland. And 2010 hasn’t been assigned.

January 18, 2008  5 Comments

Big names entered in Hartshorne miles Saturday

Masters record-holders John Hinton, Anselm LeBourne, Nolan Shaheed, Frank Condon, Alisa Harvey, Patti Ford, Carolyn Smith-Hanna and Patty Blanchard are among the entrants in the Hartshorne Masters Miles this Saturday in Ithaca, New York. Tom Hartshorne, son of the founder, provided the lists below and writes: “Here are the fields assembled for the 41st running of the Hartshorne Memorial Masters Mile at Cornell’s Barton Hall. . . . Peter Taylor will be introducing the athletes and giving the play by play of each race. Hopefully, our club site (at Fingerlakesrunners.org) will have the results posted soon after.”

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January 17, 2008  No Comments

$500 prize promised winner of masters 800 Challenge

Doug Thompson, a respectable 800-meter man, informs us of the second annual running of the SISU 800 Meter Challenge Race on March 8. He writes: “This is an attempt to get a regional ‘elite masters’ competition to Mesa, Arizona, a few weeks before indoor nationals. I’m funding $500 in first prize money through my foundation, and it looks like we’ll have some shoe sponsors as well (details on www.SISU800.com). We hope to continue to increase the prize money in the next few years so that we can make this very attractive to masters 800-meter runners. Last year we had a great field, all from Arizona, and set several State records. We should shortly have some pictures up from last year’s race on the web page.”

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January 16, 2008  2 Comments

M50 McBarnette ups own American indoor HJ record

New year, same old Bruce McBarnette. On Dec. 16, Bruce — an attorney/actor/real estate tycoon in Loudon County, Virginia — set an M50 American indoor record in the high jump with a mark of 1.86 meters. On Sunday, he added a centimeter, making it 1.87 (6-1 1/2). The latest leap came at the same site as the previous: the Prince George’s Sports and Learning Complex in Landover, Maryland. Bruce is rounding into fine shape for French indoor worlds in mid-March. He’s won four world age-group titles, but his fifth isn’t guaranteed because of the presence of American teammates Jim Barrineau, an Olympian and former M40 world record holder, and Peter Hlavin of Los Angeles, who went 1.80 twice last year outdoors.

January 15, 2008  3 Comments

Hacker new president of World Masters Athletics

As expected, Monty Hacker of South Africa has taken over as president of World Masters Athletics. He succeeds Italy’s Cesare Beccalli, who died of a heart attack last month in Brazil. Monty thus becomes the first Southern Hemisphere prez of WMA. The WMA Web site reports: “Following upon the death of our President, Cesare Beccalli, our Executive Vice President Monty Hacker has assumed the office of President in an acting capacity until the next General Assembly (Lahti FIN 2009), in accordance with the provisions of clause 7 (b) (ii) of the WMA constitution. In accordance with IAAF precedent he will continue to retain his office as WMA Executive Vice President. He will however delegate certain of his Executive Vice-Presidential functions to one or more Council members, in order to reduce his executive work load.”

January 14, 2008  2 Comments

German tops American’s new M55 world PV record

Sorry, Jeff. Wolfgang Ritte has entered the room. The same day M55 Jeff Kingstad thought he was upping his own world indoor record in the vault, German world champion Ritte was putting it appreciably higher someplace in Deutschland. According to results posted on Annette and Robert Koop’s site, Wolfgang cleared 4.20 meters (13-9 1/4) — just five days after turning double nickels. (That translates to a 5.72, or 18-9 1/4, on the Age-Graded Tables.) So who will end the season uber alles? Wolfie is among 333 Germans listed as entrants at French worlds in March. Jeff isn’t listed as an entrant. But he has the luxury of competing at Boston nationals AFTER the Clermont-Ferrand meet and can see what mark he has to surpass. Who will be the first to 4.27 (14 feet)? Go get ’em, Jeff!

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January 14, 2008  One Comment

Vacancies near the top and all around USATF Masters T&F

This coming December, Gary Snyder’s two-year term ends as chairman of the USATF Masters Track & Field Committee. I don’t know if he’ll run for a full four-year term, but I do know this: Our organizational directory shows a slew of vacancies. According to this list, we lack a national vice chair for masters track and two regional coordinators (Midwest and Northwest). January’s National Masters News shows Janet McCarty-Smith of Tulsa as the current vice chair and two folks in the “missing” coordinator slots. But if NMN is right, why is the official USATF site wrong?

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January 14, 2008  No Comments

Jearl Miles Clark making a bid for fifth Olympics at 41?

Four-time Olympian Jearl Miles Clark, known for her 800 and 4×4 prowess, ran the 400 in 58.40 yesterday at the University of Kentucky. Here are results. She turns 42 in September. The listed W40 indoor WR is 56.82 by Holland’s Tilly Verhoef-Jacobs. The American age-group record is 57.40 by Lesia Batiste. Jearl, who hasn’t recorded a mark since 2005, might be thinking Beijing.

January 13, 2008  No Comments

About 200 kick off indoor season at Dartmouth

I’m told that 200 masters athletes took part Friday in the 33rd annual masters meet held in conjunction with the Dartmouth Relays in Hanover, New Hampshire. Results are posted. Craig Fram, 49, ran the 1500 in a wonderful 4:30.99, a time that would have ranked No. 2 on the 2007 U.S. list. Most of the entrants were New Englanders, but M55 hurdler/jumper Jim Broun and M60 hurdler/vaulter Joe Johnston came all the way from Florida. And M45 thrower Ken Jansson journeyed from Wichita, Kansas. Ken’s weight throw of 15.98 (52-05 1/4) was among the meet’s top marks.

January 13, 2008  2 Comments