Canadian masters officials have decided to piggyback (or piggyfront) the USATF masters nationals in 2007, reports our friend Doug Smith. “We held a very successful Annual Meeting on Thursday at Sport Alliance in Toronto,” Doug writes. “The big news is that the bid from St. John, New Brunswick, was selected to host our National Outdoor Championships next year. Bill MacMackin and the St. John Track & Field Club submitted one of the best bid packages that we have ever received. The venue will be the Canada Games Stadium. They are making every effort to schedule the meet for July 28-29, the weekend before the USATF Championships in Orono, Maine. That would attract a number of USA competitors to our meet, and a larger number of our members who would want to travel to the East Coast for two big meets.”

Read the rest of this post »

Well, I guess this is good. A few months ago, on a lark, I submitted this blog to blogburst.com — a service that promotes blogs to rootin-tootin’ real publishers, like newspapers and stuff. If something on a blog is of interest to a publisher, it links to the blog. And it drives more visitors your way. Anyway, this week I got this note: “Greetings! We are pleased to extend you an invitation to the BlogBurst Network . . . Thanks for helping us show off your blog! Best Regards, The BlogBurstTeam” So don’t be surprised if you see this blog show up on one of the big boys’ Web sites. I’m just tickled we’re getting noticed. (And oh, BTW, in the third quarter of 2006, nearly 41,000 unique users visited this site. Not too shabby.)

Bill Collins is back in Houston after being feted at the IAAF Gala in Monaco, where he and Melitta Czerwenka-Nagel of Germany received their IAAF Best Masters of the Year awards over the weekend. I wrote to Bill, asking about the shindig, and whether he hobnobbed with the track gliterrati. As a matter of fact, he replied: “Yes, Asafa Powell and I talked and took a few photos together, just a little talk about an age-graded race (that) would be very interesting. He really has a very quiet demeanor like myself, so lots of talking did not happen.”

Read the rest of this post »

The Telegraph newspaper in Britain concludes its Zola-Budd-at-IAAF-Gala story with an intriguing tidbit: “In addition to studying for a Master’s degree in pastoral therapy, she is running again. The aim is to compete on the masters’ circuit. ‘I’m trying to train once a day, every day of the week. It’s a bit like old times,’ she said.” A South African paper reported: “Having been reconciled with her husband, she is aiming for a comeback on the Masters circuit for over-40s. ‘I’d like to think I could be competitive,’ she said.” Yowza!

Read the rest of this post »

All four candidates for the vacant USATF Masters T&F Committee chair have completed my questionnaires and their answers reflect a wide range of approaches to our problems. All for the good. This election will offer masters delegates to the Indianapolis USATF convention in two weeks plenty to chew over. The seat they’re vying for — George Mathews’ unexpired term — will last only two years. But if those two years see progress, the incumbent chair in 2008 can probably count on a four-year term to follow. You also can go straight to a candidates’ responses by clicking these names: Mark Cleary, Bob Fine, Joy Upshaw Margerum and Gary Snyder. Read ’em and comment!

Folks down in Brazil have posted results of the South American masters track and field championships, which ended over the weekend in Rio de Janeiro. A handful of Americans — some sprinters, hurdlers and thrower Rex Harvey of Ohio and WMA leadership fame — came away with some duplicate awards, I gather. Below are all results involving athletes from Estados Unidos. USA teams also swept the M45 sprint relays, with Val Barnwell of Brooklyn and Darnell Gatling leading the team. Val won gold in the 100 (11.91) and bronze in the 200 (24.02). Darnell won the 400 hurdles in 58.38 and won silver in the 200 (23.96), just ahead of teammate Val. In his M50 debut, Benny James won the 400 by two seconds in 53.81.

Read the rest of this post »

The European Veterans Athletic Association runs masters track in Europe. Its Web site has been a treasure trove for several years. Now it’s added a 92-page PDF handbook to the mix — which covers everything from rules and bylaws to records and Eurovet championship breakdowns by country. (That’s close to 40 nations — from Albania to Ukraine.) The Euros know how to organize stuff. The handbook could serve as a model for a similar project by USATF Masters — a one-stop shop for all U need to know.

Under the heading “Suspension of Hella Boeker (GER) now official,” the Eurovets news page says: “The German Athletics Federation (DLV) informed that on November 1, 2006 the DLV Disciplinary Commission declared the thrower Hella Boeker (W 65) ineligible for one year from the date of the decision with a deduction for the suspension served from September 15, 2006 until September 14, 2007. All results of Hella Boeker are to delete and the medals have to been returned.” The item is signed: “Dieter Massin, EVAA-President, November 06, 2006” We noted this case almost two months ago, but many questions remain (besides: What’s a deduction mean here?) — notably, did Hella have a TUE? Stay TUNed.

Brian Oxley of Canada, a founder of masters track in that country and recently retired from WMA politics, was greatly affected by the death of Derek Turnbull, one of the greatest masters runners of all time. This week he sent a circle of friends a poetic tribute to Turnbull, which I’m honored to share here. Brian began: “I’m sure you’ve all read ‘Robinson Crusoe.’ Written by Daniel Defoe, born 1660. Defoe also toured England and wrote about his travels.”

Read the rest of this post »

M55 thrower Neil Griffin and friends traveled to Munich, Germany, in late September in hopes of avoiding a doping suspension. They met with an “arbitration” panel. But this panel had more to do with imposing punishment than acting as a neutral, independent go-between. It was appointed by WMA. One of the mysteries of this case is now resolved: Who made up this panel? With permission from Neil, I have posted the official “findings” of this panel, which have the patina of fairness.

Read the rest of this post »