Gary Snyder has issued a “vision” statement in his race for WMA president at Malaga worlds. Creative stuff. He’s thinking beyond the current lets-put-on-a-track-meet-and-raise-money-for-travel-junkets mind-set of WMA leadership. One idea is holding a low-key meet concurrently with worlds. (Cheaper entry fees and less pressure for rookies, I imagine.) “Add a low key competition category for ‘participants’ – no medals – no records – just compete,” Gary writes. “This would attract new athletes not only for the championships but lifetime members for local clubs etc.” He’s running against a German lady not admired in some German circles. (I’m not aware of a third candidate.) So it looks as if Gary and Margit Jungmann will be going mano-a-mano. Eventually, I’ll shoot both of them a set of smarmy questions. If you have topics I should cover, post your queries here or shoot me email.
Our friend Steve McGill, a hurdles expert and author of a Rod Milburn biography, is offering another sprint/hurdles camp. He says: “I did one in November and one masters athlete came, and she really enjoyed it and really learned a lot.” So Steve is inviting masters to his next one at JDL Fast Track in North Carolina. It’s 9 a.m to 4 p.m. March 31 – April 1. Steve will coach, along with Hector Cotto and Jenna Pepe. Cost is $250 or three or more athletes $230 each. “We teach sprinters and hurdlers efficient mechanics and technique,” the camp website says. “Our ability to teach and explain and to provide individualized attention as needed is what sets us apart.”
Inaugural Speed and Hurdle camp was held at JDL Fast Track in November.
Germany’s Wolfgang Ritte, dubbed the Masters Bubka by Bubba Sparks, broke the M65 indoor world record in the vault twice on Jan. 19, ending at 3.95 meters (12-11 1/2). Wölfie turned 65 on Jan. 7. He bettered the listed WR of American John Altendorf — 3.86 (12-8) at the Reno Pole Vault Summit in 2013. In Edmonton, Alberta, over the weekend, Canada, W75 Carol Lafayette-Boyd reportedly smashed world indoor WRs in the long jump and triple jump. She long jumped 3.97 (13-0 1/4) to better Christiane Schmalbruch’s record of 3.71 (12-2). She triple jumped 8.46 (27-9 1/4) to cream Christiane’s record of 7.87 (25-10). Loretta Amerongen also reports Carol broke Canadian records in the 60 – 9.66 (Kathy Bergen’s world record is 9.49) and she also broke the Canadian record in the 200 — 33.45 (Kathy’s world record is 33.06). Awaiting results here. Finally, the UK’s Bridget Cushen reports on the WMA site: “Competing in the Scottish Masters 3000m Indoor Championships on 4 January (actually Jan. 7), 56-year-old Fiona Matheson broke her own W55 10.21.52 sec record set almost a year to the day in the same stadium. The 2014 WMA W50 Indoor 1500/3000m silver medallist in Budapest in 2014 was running in a mixed-age category when she lowered her own record by almost 3 seconds to establish a new W55 world record of 10:18.87 sec.”
The last print edition of T&FN featured high jumper Mutaz Barshim.
This really hurts: Track & Field News on Tuesday announced that it has mailed its last print edition. (Only online from now on.) I’m preparing a story for Times of San Diego. If you have a “Bible of the Sport” story to tell, please post a comment or shoot me a note. I’ve been a subscriber since 1970, when I was a sophomore in high school and first saw the magazine (black and white at time) at an Orange County invitational pro-level meet. (John Carlos was there.) I was a listed contributor in the late 1970s and 1980s, covering Jim Ryun’s retirement press conference at KU and doing the first (and maybe only) non-staff-written Q&A interview (with Al Oerter around 1979). I was rough on editor Garry Hill for his infamous “nobody gives a rat’s ass about masters track” comment of 20 years ago. But I was a fan of the mag. This is the end of an era to end all eras.
Last April, the IAAF held a mixed-sex 4×400 relay, reporting thusly: “The beauty of the mixed relay is its anarchy, the absence of a set running order of sexes allowing for final legs like the one we witnessed here.” To Duncan Greenshields of Ontario Masters Athletics, the beauty is the record-setting opportunity. As OMA records czar, Duncan is thrilled to announce his province will soon have a bunch of new records. “Your opportunity to set an Ontario Masters relay record just DOUBLED!” he writes. “Did you know the Tokyo 2020 Olympics will have a mixed Men/Women’s 4x400m relay? Yes it will! And we’re starting here in Ontario, too…. We are beginning with Mini Meet #2 (Jan 21st) with a 4×400 relay!” He concludes: “But don’t run only for the record. Run because a relay is fantastic fun. And you will be part of making history.” Nice. Masters meets have experimented with mixed 4x100s, but to me the beauty is it makes possible for more people to run relays. Easier to get two guys and two gals together in a given age group than four guys or four gals. Best of luck, Duncan!
On Sunday, Feb. 18, masters exhibition 200-meter races are being held at USATF open indoor nationals in Albuquerque. Joy Upshaw is in charge of putting fields together in W70-plus and M75-plus. But the Status of Entries page shows nobody registered. Uh oh. The time standards are sub-30 for men and sub-34 for women. I suspect those will ease if need be. A Facebook post says: “Each field will have six athletes and the races will be run in prime time. … Contact Joy Upshaw (coachjoyupshaw@gmail.com) for details.” Joy also is looking ahead to a long-jump-centric meet. Her local paper says: “Joy and [Olympian sister] Grace, along with their other siblings Chip and Merry, plan to honor their father with a Monte Upshaw Long Jump Festival to be held at Edwards Stadium…. The event is being planned to coincide with the Brutus Hamilton Invitational meet on April 27-28. Proceeds will go to benefit the UC Berkeley track program. The venue is appropriate, since the long jump pit at the stadium is memorialized with a plaque in Monte’s name. Monte and Grace Upshaw are the first father/daughter pair inducted to the UC Berkeley track and field Hall of Fame.”
Portugal’s Helena stands accused of sweeping drug case under the rug.
How could M50 Ukrainian high jumper Oleg Kramar compete at 2016 outdoor and 2017 indoor worlds despite having tested positive for banned stuff at the EMA indoor championships March 29-April 3, 2016? A European wondered the same. This person tapped contacts at IAAF and FIDAL (the Italian track federation) as well as EMA leakers to learn something stunning. Oleg was never told about the drug-positive. The folks in charge of the Ancona indoor meet, where Oleg was found with Stanozolol in his system, covered up the test for months. “The doping delegate of EMA was [Portugal’s] Helena Maria da Silva Pires de Carvalho at the same time she was indoor manager in Ancona and EMA secretary,” this source told me, noting that “at the end of May, the [NADO testing] laboratory [had] sent out a list with all sample codes. These sample codes are in the hand of the doping delegate, in this case … Helena Carvalho. The doping delegate must act if there is a positive case.” My source went on: “The main responsible person in Ancona was Kurt Kaschke, president of EMA. … In one sentence: Helena … did a small part of her duties and forgot to inform IAAF as well as the Ukrainian federation about the case.” My source also noted controversies over the new EMA Constitution at the July-August 2017 European masters outdoor meet in Aarhus, Denmark (where Oleg also jumped).
North Carolina-based Piedmont Pacers, a “running, track & field club,” has announced the “First Annual American Masters Track & Field Classic” on April 14, 2018, in Durham, North Carolina. The website logo calls it “American Masters Track & Field Championship,” but that’s probably an oversight. In any case, this has potential to fill a gap left by the demise of the famed Bob Boal/Southeastern Masters meet, held at NC State in Raleigh. Organizers crow: “This will be a premier event focusing on Masters athletes (over age 25) with age group and team awards on the line and at a world-class location at the Durham County Stadium, the site of many USATF, College and High School Track & Field events. This will also be a USATF Certified event and timed by Rhodes Race Timing Services and hosted by the Piedmont Pacers Running, Track and Field Club. There are discounts for entering at least three events (10%) and more discounts for entering at least six events! (15%)” Whatever. At least they seem to have an info-rich site. A couple interesting events — a standing long jump and a tug-of-war (10-year age groups, four members per team). Please send pictures!
Classic or Championship, meet should be a little more humble, marketing-wise.
Ireland’s Joe Conway, a national class middle-distance who lived in Texas, died last month of a heart attack, we sadly learn. He was 50 and competed as recently as 2017 Baton Rouge nationals. A friend, Conor O’Driscoll, wrote me: “Joe was always great company at national masters meets. He will be missed.” A former media man, he contributed to Jumping the Gun and wrote well. See his delightful pieceabout Irish WR man Joe Gough at 2015 Budapest indoor worlds.
If you’re planning to attendMalaga worlds in September, tourism is probably part of your sked. So why is La Nova Sporting Club selling a masters sports camp at Alicante, Spain — four hours away? And who’s willing to cough up at least $1,900 for the privilege? Those are my questions upon reading the promo. Camp organizers say: “We know you will arrive fully focused on ‘Preparation and the Pursuit of Excellence,’ and the last thing you want to is to have to wait and queue for taxis or buses, so our La Nova Sporting Club driver will meet you at the arrivals lounge and take you in comfort to the resort. … Whilst we know you’re there to train and prepare, should you wish to take some time off, Alicante and Santa Pola are minutes away, with lots to see and do.” The “holding camp” is Aug. 27 through Sept. 2 “for athletes competing at the World Masters Athletics Championships in Malaga, Spain starting on the 4th September 2018.”
La Nova drapes itself in Daegu worlds imagery to sell sports camp. Why bother?
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...]
