A new site (to me) called Geographical has a great overview of masters athletics. It says: “Photojournalist Susana Girón spent two years following some of the best of Europe’s athletes to various meets – Spain’s athletes in particular – visually documenting the passion for competition that still burns fiercely within them. At the last European Championship in Ancona, Italy, at the end of March this year, Spain had 93 septuagenarian athletes, 30 in the over-80s category, three over the age of 90, and one in the over-95 section – Valentin Huch of Barcelona, who, at a sprightly 97 years old, took a bronze medal in the long jump, silver medals in the triple jump, discus and shot put, and a gold medal in the hammer throw.”
Susana loves odd angles, but they work for the subject. We’re all odd, right?
National chair Gary Snyder says Sabra Harvey and Don McGee — both national champions at Michigan — have been awarded $1,500 each to help defray expenses to Perth worlds. Kudos to you! Masters LDR gave M50 walker Dave Swarts $500 (one of two applicants). He was chosen by Paul Carlin and Lloyd Hensen, says Mary Rosado. Gary says 41 applications came in for the USATF Masters T&F stipends. The top two were chosen by Gary and USA Team Manager Phil Greenwald. Sabra and Don were considered the most likely to win multiple medals at the 2016 world meet. Sabra, a W65 middle-distance star and record-holder (profiled here), won the 800, 1500 and 5000 in Michigan. Don won M55 100, 200 and relay golds at Grand Valley State University.
M55 sprint champ Don smiled as USADA led him off to drug-testing in Michigan.
Liz (left) and Joy Upshaw both broke the W55 WR in 60 hurdles at ABQ 2016. Rob Jerome photo
Liz Palmer turned 56 Tuesday. It should have been a day of joy for the champion sprinter-hurdler. Instead, it was the day she publicly confirmed a long-running nightmare — her testing positive in March for a banned substance at Albuquerque indoor nationals. She had taken silver in the 60 and 60 hurdles (behind Joy Upshaw by tiny margins). Tuesday she wrote USATF Masters T&F national Chairman Gary Snyder, saying she had shipped her ABQ medals to him in Massachusetts. “I’ve been deeply deeply hurt by this, and I want to stop hurting,” she wrote, asking Gary to let her 4×200 teammates (Kathy Bergen, Karen Maxwell and LaTanya Glass) keep their gold medals. (There was no second place.) Liz, who holds ARs in three relays and the W50 60-meter hurdles (in 2012), prepared a 1,440-word statement on her case. She considers her track career over.
M35 sprinter Babatunde “Tunde” Ridleyof Maryland is one of the fastest starters I’ve ever seen in masters track. (He used to live in San Diego.) He’s also an eloquent speaker on our niche sport. On the FastTwitchGrandma channel of Vimeo, he talks about his motivation. He won gold in Porto Alegre and 100 and 4×1 silvers at Lyon worlds. USATF should share this testimonial. He hasn’t run in a major meet this year, apparently, and isn’t listed among Perth worlds entrants. Hope he’s OK.
From left at 2011 worlds are Tom, wife Sandy, Jerry and Christel Donley and Manfred Konopka.
Thomas Hinkes, a longtime masters vaulter, died July 19 from complications of cancer, his friend and rival Jerry Donley reports andlegacy.com confirms. “Shortly before his death, he was still vaulting with younger people while on vacation in Logan, Utah,” Jerry writes. “His most recent  major competition was at the 2016 National Indoor Championship in Albuquerque, NM in the 85-89 age group (where he took silver). Tom had competed as a master for many years — since the late seventies. He won the World Championship in his age group at Sacramento” in 2011. “Tom was an outstanding competitor. He vaulted in high school in Milwaukee and in college for Notre Dame. He began his career as a master while living in Madison, WI, and continued after moving to Phoenix. The past few summers he vaulted with a group in Logan, Utah.”
Henry triple-jumps at Greensboro. Photo by Rob Jerome
Former NFL wide receiver Henry Ellard celebrated turning 55 this month by crushing the listed American record in the triple jump Sunday, the final day of the USA Masters Games. He did it without the presence of M60 Willie Banks, in the centerfold of Sunday’s Parade magazine (the newspaper supplement). The mag features seven older athletes, including Willie and M95 Orville Rogers. I got a photo credit for a shot of Willie. His mini-profile says he competed at the USA Masters Games, butfinal results don’t show him in the jumps. The meet in Greensboro, North Carolina, had some great marks, though, even if few showed up. (Most entrants won medals.) Henry appears to be the only record-setter, with his 13.36 (43-10) TJ, far better than the listed AR of 12.76 (41-10½) by Anthony Bailey at 2015 Jacksonville nationals. Henry benefited from a maximum legal wind of 2.0 mps. He won M50 at Michigan nationals with a 13.26 (43-6). The M55 WR remains 14.13 (46-4 1/4) by Germany’s Wolfgang Knabe.
Willie Banks was profiled in July 31 Olympics issue of Parade magazine.
Rex (left) chats with Jerry Bookin-Weiner and wife Hedy at Michigan nationals athletes banquet.
WMA/USATF masters athlete and officiating legend Rex Harvey posted fabulous news Saturday on Facebook. Two years after being diagnosed, he appears to have conquered a rare form of appendix cancer. Rex, 70 and now living in Arizona, wrote: “Got really good news in Houston yesterday. Colonoscopy was clear and my cancer blood indicators are all improving and the two tumors that they could not cut out last February because they were too close to pancreas and liver are unchanged. [Doctor] was pleased, but not as much as I. No more treatments at all for now, only another check in 4 to 6 months. No restrictions on diet, activity or anything else for now. I can not thank all of you out there [enough] for all of your prayers and other positive support that you have given me over the past two years. With your help, we have been successful. Thank you all so much.” Among gleeful reactions from around the world: “Fanblinkingtastic!” When he first announced what he thought was colon cancer, Rex said: “So far, I have had no mental problems facing this. It is what it is and instead of wasting energy worrying about it, I would rather use that energy to deal with it. Possibly I am too dumb to worry.” Now his energies can be focused on the future — possibly as USATF masters national chair. On to Perth and Orlando.
Folks on Facebook are sharing photos of their medals from Greensboro, North Carolina, and the USA Masters Games, but I’m not seeing results. I’ve written to a honcho. The meet started Thursday and runs through Sunday. USATF is officiating, says this page. Site also says: “The USA Masters Games does NOT have access to 27″ Hurdles. The following events that would normally be run using 27″ hurdles will be run using 30″ hurdles: Men’s 70+ 300 Meter Hurdles, Women’s 60+ 80 Meter Hurdles, Women’s 60-69 300 Meter Hurdles and Women’s 70+ 200 Meter Hurdles.” Whatever. Just share results.
Lots of people use crowdfunding sites, but many masters athletes are either leery or timid about trying. No more. USATF is providing training to use such fund-raising tools. Masters track marketing chair John Oleski says that at the 2015 annual meeting in Houston he met with chief spokeswoman Jill Geer seeking USATF help with sponsors for masters. “During the discussion, she also suggested developing guidance for self-funding efforts like GoFundMe,” John tells me. “I researched the concept and wrote the paper. Since Grand Rapids, I incorporated some edits from Jerry Bookin-Weiner.” See his official release here. Here’s the guts of the program: “What strategies increase the success of a GoFundMe initiative? Although a small number of GoFundMe campaigns have gone viral and attracted donations from people with no personal connection, generally this has only been true for high profile stories and/or cases of exceptional need that have received substantial publicity. Masters athletes, like most GoFundMe campaigners, will need to rely primarily on their social circle.”
I shot slo-mo video at the over-60 women’s high jump at Michigan nationals and took all of 2.001 seconds to pick the background music. Hint: It figured prominently in a Stanley Kubrick film. So here you go, Strauss fans. Just as classic are the photos shot at Grand Valley State University by Doug “Shaggy” Smith, our Canadian friend. He isolated his Canon on lots of runners. See his Thursday gallery, Friday gallery, Saturday gallery and Sunday gallery. And apropos of nothing, the tall, skinny dude at left is me beating Michael Farinas in a San Diego-area all-comers meet 200 three days after nationals. He led at 100, but I dug down deep at Gail Devers’ alma mater, lengthening my stride, and won! Best moment of my season.
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...]
