Britain’s Parsons smashes WR for indoor 60 meters
Val Parsons of Great Britain on Sunday broke American Kathy Jager’s W60 listed world indoor record for 60 meters, clocking 8.83 to pip Kathy’s 8.91 set almost three years ago. So reports correspondent Tom Phillips across the Pond. “Val (pictured here at last year’s Poznan Eurovets meet) ran in what was by all accounts a very well-attended and extremely competitive indoor meet at Windsor, England, on Sunday January 7 and clocked 8.83, which I gather is a world best, “Tom writes. “More info will no doubt emerge soon. An enigmatic e-mail I received from Val today says: ‘I hope that it will be ratified for record purposes. . . . Long story but I will relay it to you when resolved!’ ”
Alisa Harvey lowers own W40 world indoor mile record
Alisa Harvey out on the East Cost, again allowed back on the George Mason track, reports that she lowered her own world indoor W40 mile record Saturday. “I ran 4:47.2,” she writes. “I finished second behind Keira Carlstrom (4:46.1). It was a pleasure to be allowed to compete again at the Mason track meets. I give much thanks to Coach Andrew Gerard and Coach Julie Henner who were instrumental in removing the ‘top-50 in the world’ rule of the past.” Meet results here show that she beat 16 women (many half her age; she’s 41).
Masters single-age records online — if you want ’em
I’ve been wringing my hands for 10 years about Pete Mundle’s fraudulent “Masters Age Records.” Now it’s time to take matters into our own hands. Today I created a site on Wikispaces.com devoted to recording and updating masters single-age records. By you. Yes, you. Pete, now in his late 70s, can’t repair his single-age records book. And no single person can emulate what he did for decades. So now it has to be done by a community of passionate statfolk — or not at all. So I launched a Wiki. It’s called agerecords.
Masters should recruit Matson as mighty fund-raiser
Remember Randy Matson? Threw 71-5, set world records, etc.? Now I learn he did something even more impressive: He raised $1.4 billion for his alma mater, Texas A&M! Now he’s retiring at the young age of 61. So why doesn’t someone from USATF Masters T&F call up ol’ Randy and say, “Have we got a little job for you!” He might have the time now. (And while you’re at it, tell him heart ailments can be overcome. He can still throw if he wants to.)
Oregon burg raises bar, opens an indoor vault center
I’ve had enough of skateboard parks. Let’s open pole vault parks! Or do what the folks in Springfield, Oregon, did, as detailed in this intriguing story about an indoor vault facility set up for residents. Thanks to some masters vaulters who coach in the area, everyone from grade-schoolers to geezers can train and compete indoors. “There was a need in the community and we have the space,” said the center manager. “That’s what we’re here for and it’s worked out great.” (Jan. 7 update: Now the Washington, D.C., area is considering adding an indoor track center. Steve Nearman writes about this in his column.)
Batting 1,000: Your musial blog hits modest milestone
This is my 1,000th post. Yeah, I have 1,000 entries on Masters News and Muse. (And countless embedded links.) Coincidentally, my first post was on a January 5 — exactly four years ago. The cheeky debut headline: “A blog to boggle masters track.” And, yup, lots of people have been boggled. Actually, I launched the blog as an experiment. I wanted to see if masters track contained enough content to supply a daily diary of our niche. Duh! I could write five newsy posts a day if I had the time. I wanted to do justice to our traveling tribe, more than a monthly paper has room for.
New NMN owner humbly sends out call for results
Randy Sturgeon is deep into work on the February edition of National Masters News, which he bought last year. Although the venue of publication has changed from Eugene to Sacramento, he wants meet directors to know that he wants no change in their continued, enthusiastic support of the paper. He writes: “I could use some help from the masters community in getting results especially for track and field and race walking but also on the road.”
January 5, 2007
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Competing in National Senior Olympics? Jump to it!
Mike Soule, posting on our Forum, writes: “If you are planning on competing at the National Senior Olympics in July, there are a couple of dates you need to know about. First one is the Limited event varification form. That was due on the 31st of December. What is it? Well in Minnesota our Senior games didn’t have pole vault, so I was able to qualify at our state’s USATF championships. Now I didn’t know it was suppose to be in till yesterday and Greg Moore at NSGA allowed me to send my verification in via e-mail.”
SoCal Striders to club members: Let them eat steak!
Clubs are cool. Some cooler than others. My wife, sprinter Chris, is a member of the Southern California Striders, and this year she was summoned to the club’s annual dinner to receive an award. So off we went to what turned out to be a very newsy meeting. Cool. Tonight I also can share some cool photos of the event. (And few are cooler than those showing Striders vice president and webmaster Eric Dixon.) Can your club top the Striders for putting on the ritz? Send me links to your annual festivities, or list your club’s award winners. Celllllebrate good times, come on!
January 4, 2007
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Canada’s Keaveney counters allegations from Linz
Brian Keaveney took umbrage at being called a possible “Uniform Nazi,” but he calmly answered the central question posed in my recent post about Linz uniform policing. To wit: Did he challenge the uniforms of female athletes at Linz? Brian, who is president of the Canadian Masters Athletics Association besides being WMA’s vice prez for non-stadia events, says yeah, he did. He wrote me: “According to the WMA regulations, all athletes competing must wear an approved country uniform top. The first event of the non stadia in Linz was the cross country.”
January 3, 2007
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