Finally, a major meet in my back yard! On Thursday I posted details of the USA Masters Games on Times of San Diego. The overall festival of two dozen sports will be held in mid-July, but soccer and track will be held in late June — at the Olympic Training Center in Chula Vista — to avoid conflicts with Baton Rouge masters nationals. The USA Masters Games will be USATF-sanctioned, and our friend Willie Banks will chair a committee (and plans to compete as well.) Did you attend the inaugural USA Masters Games in Greensboro this past July? How did it go? My dream is that San Diego’s David Pain, now 94, will be able to see his local affair — and appreciate what his efforts spawned.
A three-day track meet will be part of the USA Masters Games in San Diego.
Middle-distance and other track friends of M60 Dave Cannon are mourning his death Oct. 24, apparently from cancer. It was reported by Cassi Erickson on his Caring Bridge page. Cassi wrote: “David has passed. I was next to him, I put his Seahawk hat on him, his Club Northwest running Jersey, medals, gave him a sip of scotch & sipped next to him. He has always been a scotch man. Guess I will never get that hat back. Thank you, for Love, compassion, and the devotion of helping him cross.” Dave competed as recently as 2013, according to mastersrankings.com. In 2008, Dave ran in Tony Young’s M45 world record mile race, with Dave clocking 4:37.34 at age 51. Video is here. On Caring Bridge, Pete Magill (who was second to Tony that day) posted a tribute.
The 30-ring circus known as Perth worlds is going full blast (see results here) — and my Facebook feed is flooded with photos and videos. But I’ve been playing hooky from my hobby. Tuesday night, wife Chris and I got dressed up and collected a total of 19 awards at the San Diego Press Club’s Excellence in Journalism Awards. Chris won 10 individual awards and me seven. We also both won for being part of the Best Local News Site in San Diego County! Yowza! Times of San Diego was third in 2014, second in 2015 and top dog in 2016. Very proud of our team. For details on our awards, see this writeup. Meanwhile, the Perth meet is being streamed live here. That may be a first for WMA, and about time. Keep in mind that Perth is 15 hours ahead of Los Angeles (12 hours ahead of New York.) Have fun!
A month ago, M75 multi-eventer Don “Boomer” McCrea traveled from his Oregon home to Atlantic City, New Jersey, to accept a major geezer sports award: Male Adult Athlete of the Year for the National Congress of State Games. It’s kind of like the Senior Olympic circuit, except all ages compete. Boomer beat out 33 other state nominees, so it’s a notable honor. But even more praiseworthy is Boomer’s acceptance speech, which includes this revelation: “I knew I had problems early on, but I hid it until I was 50 years old, when I was diagnosed with bipolar disorder. I wouldn’t be here today if I hadn’t chosen sports instead of drugs and alcohol as many others have done. We didn’t talk about mental illness in the 1940s and ’50s, but I’m talking now and I’ve survived thanks to sports.” Bully for Boomer!
As previously noted, WMA is taking the leap into out-of-competition drug testing, a masters first. In his official report to the Perth General Assembly, President Stan Perkins says: “WMA now has approved out of competition testing and will increase its targeting testing to ensure that athletes adhere to the rules of our sport. The adaptation of the IAAF Medical Handbook to specifically cater to Masters competitions needs to be completed to provide effective guidelines to future WMA Championship hosts and for use within the WMA Regions.” In the kiddie world, elites register for a testing pool. (See IAAF guide.) Unless you’re world-class, your chance of being tested at home are akin to being struck by lightning while riding an alligator at the North Pole. And given the expense of testing, I doubt many will be done. A suggestion: Test only athletes 90 and over. A suspension for any other age group is worthless. Folks can come back two or three years later.
Elite M40 finish in 2010: Nick Berra (left) nips Tracy Lokken in 4:24.74.
Meet directors Tom Hartshorne and Charlie Fay say star milers can race for free at the 50th annual Hartshorne Memorial Masters Mile in late January. “The $20 race entry fee will be waived for elite runners,” Charlie writes. “On the Webscorer registration site, enter ELITE in the Discount Code field. Once you click the Calculate button, the entry fee will be deducted from the total fee due.” Deadline for entering the January 21 meet in Ithaca, New York, is January 7. Tom, son of race founder James, also wrote a touching mile memoir:
If your wallet isn’t already empty from 2016, here’s another track trip for you: Daegu. South Korea is hosting WMA indoor worlds in late March 2017. Online registration doesn’t appear to be working on this page. But buried is a PDF entry form you can print and mail to your affiliate (USATF, etc.). Entering one event and buying nothing else will cost you $100. (Adding a results book, athletes party, guests are extra.) Entering the 4×200 — one team per country per age group — is free. Entry deadline is Jan. 24, 2017 — just three months away if you build in time for processing. My only gripe with Daegu is the absurdly high qualifying standards. You have to attest to: “I am physically and mentally fit to compete in the WMACi safely and without causing injury to myself or other participants in the WMACi.” Sigh. That counts me out. Check out this video, but don’t expect the 2011 IAAF crowds at the 2017 WMA meet.
Seven months after scratching from the 800-meter exhibition at IAAF Portland worlds, Masters Hall of Famer Nolan Shaheed is back on the track, apparently recovered from injury. Now 67, he ran the 1500 and then the 800 at a low-key meet Sunday in Glendale. See results here. His times are top-notch — 4:57.05 and 2:31.54 — but far off his usual world-leading standards. The best M65 800 this season is 2:22.72 by Holland’s Hans Smeets. His age group’s best 1500 is 4:47.25 by American Tom Bernhard at Michigan nationals. Nolan ranks 4th in the world in the 15 and 19th in the 8. He’s not entered at Perth worlds. Some photos from the Glendale meet — called the Self Transcendence Masters Games — are posted here. The meet itself (once named Sri Chinmoy) is making a comeback. In any case, welcome back, Nolan (who still holds at least eight world records)!
USATF named our sometimes-tracko friend Brian Pilcher as Athlete of the Week on Tuesday for his amazing race in Chicago. “All I can say is holy crap,” Brian reacted on Facebook. “I never expected this in this lifetime and I am totally grateful for the recognition and otherwise speechless.” Indy reported: “Brian Pilcher (Ross, California) ran the fastest half marathon by an American over 60 at the Bank of America Chicago Marathon, breaking an unprecedented four American records in a single race. According to the USATF Pacific Association, Pilcher’s 1:16:54 was 1 second under Norm Green’s 1993 record and his 25 km time of 1:31:41 destroyed Alex Ratelle’s 1:36:20 mark set back in 1989. At 30 km, his 1:50:53 was almost 8 1/2 minutes under Patrick Devine’s record of 1:59:22, also set in 1989. Finally, his gun time of 2:42:44 tied Clive Davies’s 37-year-old marathon record. Pilcher’s astonishing performance came one week after breaking a 5k age division US record at the Syracuse Festival of Races with an overall time of 16:38 and 5:21 pace. This marked a triumphant comeback for the USATF Masters athlete after dealing with injuries for much of 2014 and 2015.” Just goes to show. It ain’t over till Bluto says it’s over.
OK, get real. Men who are 85 don’t run a mile in 7:18.55 or marathons in under 4 hours. So what do we make of Ed Whitlock, who did both this year? At Sunday’s Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon, Ed ran 26.2 miles in 3:56:33, crushing the listed M85 world record of 4:34:55 by Aussie Robert Horman in 2004. Ed “ran in a 30-year-old singlet and 15-year-old Brooks shoes … going through the halfway mark at 1:54:34,” say Canadian media. “He says that he went out a bit too hard but still maintained an overall average pace of 5:36 per kilometre.” That’s 9:02 a mile. The listed M90 mile world record is 10:30.9. Who thinks Ed won’t shatter that as well in 2021?
Ken has followed track as an athlete, writer and web-master since the late 1960s, and saw most sessions of track and field at the 1984 Los Angeles and 1996 Atlanta Olympics. He also attended the 1988, 1992, 2000, 2004, 2008 and 2012 Trials, the last three as a blogger and Patch correspondent. [More...]
