Tony at 2006 nationals.
After many years wearing Puerto Rican colors at world masters meets, M50
Getulio “Tony” Echeandia of Queens, New York, will compete for Team USA at Perth, according to the
entrants list. That means he can help America win 4×4 gold down under. He’s a U.S. citizen, of course. Last year,
Tony explained: “I run for Puerto Rico because I did when I was younger on the national team, and I felt it would be hypocritical to run for the U.S. as a masters athlete because I never ran for the U.S. when I was younger.” Now he’s made the switch, thank goodness, and we’re thrilled to have him. At Lyon, he won the long hurdles (57.53) and took bronze in the 400 (52.98). Our German masters friend
Alfred Hermes notes his
country’s relay pool. Looks tough. But the Aussies will be favored in many events, just becuz.
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August 25, 2016
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Pete, who turned 55 in June, wrote a page-turner.
Masters 5K legend
Pete Magill has published a new book,
“The Born Again Runner,” which gave me
reason to interview the South Pasadena author. Among other things, he explains his skepticism of “shiny objects” — digital devices marketed to runners. I also pinned him down on doping. He told me: “Runners should definitely take medicines their doctors prescribe to protect their quality of life. But they should also understand that drugs that function as PEDs don’t give a little boost. They give a huge boost that is unattainable to someone not using those PEDs.” I was very impressed with the dozen mini-profiles in the book, including one of his
Speedrunner partner, coach
Eric Dixon. It’s heartbreaking. Eric saw his dad shoot his mother dead. But buy the book for the rest of the story.
Masters are profiled in Pete’s first book since “Build Your Running Body.”
August 24, 2016
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Nadine O’Connor and Jeff Davison battled at 2007 Club West meet at UC Santa Barbara.
Three years after its last edition, the fabled
Club West Masters Track Meet is back. Long held at ocean-overlooking Santa Barbara City College and then UC Santa Barbara and
Moorpark College, the event went dormant in 2014 and 2015 “as we sought a good venue at a reasonable cost,” says
Robin Paulsen, Club West interim president. This year’s meet will be Sunday, Oct. 30, at
Westmont College in Santa Barbara. “They have done an incredible job with their facility,” Robin said. “It is truly state of the art. … We have added a standing long jump event for athletes over 60. And we are opening our meet to athletes with a physical handicap. Notice the steeplechase doesn’t have a distance. We have been running a 2000 steeple for 60+ year olds because those were the only competitors. If we get some who wish to run a 3000, we will include both distances.” For meet info, schedule of events, registration info,
go to directathletics.com. Here are
photos from 2007 Club West meet.
August 23, 2016
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Joanne “Jo” Pavey kicked in during Rio 10,000
Britain’s
Jo Pavey was lapped early in the WR 10K at the Rio Games, but her 15th-place time of 31:33.44 was historic as well — a WMA W40 world record. Jo turns 43 in September. How good was her mark? It would have beaten the men’s world record in 1884,
also by a Briton (Walter George). Jo beat the listed W40 WR of 31:40.97 by Russia’s
Alla Zhilyayeva in 2009. (The winner’s time of 29:17.45 would have been a men’s WR — in
Emil Zátopek era — as recently as August 1950.)
Jo said of the
Almaz Ayana mark: “When I heard the times, I just couldn’t believe it. It’s so much faster than you could ever imagine anyone could run. I was aware how soon they lapped us. You hope not to get lapped at all, but to get lapped so early is really shocking. It was almost confusing. Everyone was running so fast you didn’t know who was in which lap.”
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August 22, 2016
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Antwon Dussett was only 30 in 2006, when he won the 200 and 400 at Charlotte nationals.
The late
Randy Sturgeon was publisher of National Masters News for eight years, and he honored the monthly’s history by safeguarding its treasured storehouse of photos. These images graced its pages (usually in black-and-white) for decades. Now many can be seen in their original full-color glory. Sunday night, I uploaded to
mastershistory.org 108 PDFs representing many months of NMN. Most are searchable via Google. It means people looking for photos of grandma in her track heyday are in luck. Among the most recent shots by former publisher
Suzy Hess and hubby-to-be
Jerry Wojcik were of the infamous 2006 Charlotte nationals — hampered by heat and lightning storms. Many months of NMN photos remain to be scanned and posted, but that should be soon. In the meantime,
check out the NMN archive and savor these shots for the first time, starting in 1989.
NMN Publisher Suzy Hess caught a campus cop at UNC Charlotte in 2006 informing folks that nationals was being shut down for the day due to heat.
August 21, 2016
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Ruth’s 1.97 winner would have beaten the Lyon worlds W35 champion by nearly a foot.
Wow, what a crazy night in Rio! The W35 Spanish high jumper wins a low-height contest on misses, and M40
Bernard Lagat takes sixth in the 5000, then is moved to third because of three DQs, then is
moved to fifth after appeals. The IAAF noted: “As it was, Lagat finished fifth in 13:06.78 and became the oldest ever 5000m finalist, adding to his own statistic from London four years ago.” (And lowering his own age-group WR from 13:14.97!) But don’t forget
Chris Brown, 37, who had an incredible anchor in the 4×400 to help the Bahamas win bronze. In the HJ, “
Ruth Beitia … became the oldest ever jumps champion in Olympic history as a flawless record up to and including 1.97m secured Spanish gold for the 37-year-old,”
IAAF noted.
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August 20, 2016
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Ivan hopes he’ll test negative to keep medal.
M40 hammer thrower
Ivan Tsikhan of Belarus took silver in Rio, hitting 77.79 (255-2 1/2) on Friday. (The listed M40 WR is 82.23 by
Igor Astapkovich.) Hope he tests clean this time. He’s had
two positives in the past. It’ll be hard for another geezer to beat Ivan’s medal. But fellow fortysomethings
Bernard Lagat and
Meb Keflezighi will try this weekend in the 5000 and marathon, respectively. Too many 35-plusers are in the Games to count, but we’ll be cheering for 37-year-old
Ruth Beitia of Spain in the high jump (against our submasters hero
Chaunte Lowe, profiled in The New York Times.) And a shout-out to
John Nunn, 38, for surviving the 50K walk despite cramps, where nearly half the field didn’t finish. “Nunn was on personal-record pace through 30K when cramps set in that he couldn’t shake,” USATF reported. “Nunn struggled to maintain form and focus over the latter stages of the race, but stayed in it until the end, crossing in 4:16:12.” Who are your favorite masters-age Olympians?
August 19, 2016
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Jo Holmes slams “junket.”
Auckland is hosting the 2017 World Masters Games, but that doesn’t mean New Zealand government-watchers are letting the LOC do anything it wants. Especially not wasteful spending. On Friday,
Radio New Zealand reported how a
press release slammed two managers from an
Auckland Council agency for being on a weeklong trip to the Olympic Games – at a cost of $30,000. “The trip has been criticised by the Ratepayers Alliance lobby group, with its spokesperson
Jo Holmes calling it a ‘junket,'” said the radio website. ATEED (Auckland Tourism, Events & Economic Development agency) defended the trip, saying the general manager of visitor and external relations was in Rio to promote the World Masters’ Games. It said the second manager in Rio was also responsible for international sporting relationships.
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August 18, 2016
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Seb has splaining to do.
In the olden days,
WMA had a rule against promoting the rival World Masters Games, whose big meets were held in the same odd-numbered years. Now that WMA worlds are even-numbered years, it’s not as big a deal. But it’s still startling to learn that IAAF Prez
Sebastian Coe is one of several Olympian ambassadors in Rio hyping the
2017 World Masters Games in Auckland, New Zealand.
Inside the Games focused on the marketing of masters to current and recent Olympians. But I’m curious what WMA poobahs think of Lord Coe working for the Dark Side. (IAAF and WMA have a long and tight relationship.) Methinks the Olympic middle-distance champ is being paid for his coziness. What’s he doing for WMA?
August 17, 2016
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Ed during 10K WR.
Who runs marathons at world-class levels and then challenges the world-record holder at 800 meters? Insane question, right? Well, it’s just another day at the office for M85 superhuman
Ed Whitlock. In response to queries after his double WR weekend, Ed graciously satisfied my shameless curiosity on his half-mile: “It was my first 800m race in many years,” he said. “I did run a 800m leg of a 4X800m relay two or three years ago in around 3 minutes. For Sunday’s race, I was hoping to stay close to
Earl Fee and have a good race with him on the finishing straight, but he gained a substantial gap on me in the first 100, which then remained substantially the same for the remainder of the race. He won by about 6 seconds in 3:21.”
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August 16, 2016
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