I’m thankful for my mom and dad (both living). They gave me skinny genes. I’m thankful for my wife, who supports my trackstar ambitions. I’m thankful for meet directors, USATF officials and my elite teammates in the Southern California Striders for treating me as an equal. (How elite? Candidates for the top award of the year included Kathy Bergen, Rita Hanscom, Damien Leake and Linda Cohn. Kathy won.) And certainly not least — y’all who read these self-indulgent posts and post thoughtful comments. (And cut me generous checks after a plea for support.) This year, I sped past the 5,000 mark. As of Wednesday, I’ve blogged 5,112 times and gotten 28,616 comments (and less than half are mine). Happy Thanksgiving, and see you at outdoor nationals!
Kenichi Ito has lowered his own world record in the 100 at age 32. You may not have heard of this Japanese gent because his event is running on all fours – monkey style. This month at Komazawa Olympic Park Athletic Field in Tokyo, he covered the distance in 15.71 seconds. “According to The Telegraph, Ito beat his own record of 15.86 seconds that he set the year before,” said one of many reports. So now I have a goal: never let the monkey run 100 get faster than my two-legged PR. Watch me take this back in about five years. Who will be first M35 to go hands and feet for 100 meters?
Kiwi media report a couple New Zealand national records at the South Island champs over the weekend — all by W75 Myrtle Rough. She ran 1500 in 7:01.64 and 5000 in 26:04.40. By comparison, the American records in that age group are 6:41.88 by Jeanne Daprano and 26:55.11 by Mary Harada. The listed WRs are 6:34.22 and 24:03.90. “She also holds national records in the 3000m and 800m. Rough, one of 25 Otago athletes competing in Timaru, shattered a record in the 5000m, set by Ailsa Forbes in 1986.” It’ll be a long season for them, headed to Perth worlds.
So when will track and field gets its own iconic logo?
Rick Reaser at San Diego State University reminds us that track season is eternal — at least in warmer climes. His annual Red and Black meet Saturday, Dec. 5, is masters-friendly and cheap. (Check out details here.) The SDSU meet is the first of three in the local USATF Winter Track Classic Series, with all-you-can-eat costs ranging from $5 to $10 (or $15 at last minute). Other meets are Saturday, Jan. 16, at Sweetwater High School in National City and Saturday, Feb. 13, at Mount Miguel High School in Spring Valley — both suburbs of San Diego. Seth Brower of Texas has some throwers-centric meets coming up as well. Of course, our winter-slammed friends in the East and Midwest will have indoor meets coming up as well. Hope you can shovel a path to the car.
Bob Hahn displays hook ’em horns at 2014 North Carolina masters nationals.
Bob Hahn, my longtime hurdler friend, once told his local paperthat he’s two-dimensional. “I don’t hunt, fish, play golf — just insurance and track,” he said. Now I’m pained to say he has a third dimension: criminal fraudster. On Friday, I was shocked to learn that he had pleaded guilty in a case called 6:15-cr-00065-MHS-JDL All Defendants USA v. Hahn, filed the day before. He signed a plea agreement, which is sealed. But his admissions are public. (See the federal documents.) Bob, 64, was accused of taking $5.48 million from more than 90 people, telling them they’d get a 20 percent annual return. Federal documents say he paid out $4.07 million — with 31 realizing a net gain on their investment and 61 a net loss. His Ponzi scheme lasted eight years, ending in February 2015. The docs don’t say how he was caught. But he pleaded guilty to only two counts, meaning the feds had potentially dozens of other cases to cite. Alhtough the maximum prison term is 20 years, Bob told me in a phone call Sunday night, his lawyers expected a sentence of 22 to 25 months. A sentence date hasn’t been set. He ran at Jax nationals. Hope he can make comeback.
Bob signed his fate Oct. 30, but the news didn’t come out until Friday.
Jerry (right) with former national chair George Matthews at 2008 Reno annual meeting.
Jerry Bookin-Weiner, national masters throws coordinator, has been named 2015 winner of the David Pain Distinguished Service Award. The USATF Masters Awards Committee (of which we are both members) made the selection in the past week or so. Jerry’s response: “I am humbled. Thank you all.” The honor was originally called Administrator of the Year Award, and that fits Jerry. But he’s also an active athletewho goes way beyond the call of duty by knowing all there is to know about the implements, specs and rules. And he shares his wisdom via his Throwers Circle column in National Masters News, where he tells the truth. No matter how it pains some. He once kept a blog, too. In his former day job (he retired in July), Jerry did higher-ed study-abroad stuff. He’s a Mideast expert. Y’all can fill in the many blanks of what he does for masters. Mazel tov to Jerry, who says he’s a candidate for USATF Masters T&F vice chairman in 2016.
WMA Prez Stan Perkins made it official Wednesday: “No Masters athlete who is affiliated with the ARAF [Russia’s USATF] is permitted to participate in any athletics competition outside of Russia. This includes all competitions, and applies equally to teams as well as individuals. In addition, any Masters athlete, or intending Masters athlete, who is affiliated with the ARAF is excluded from consideration of transfer to another affiliate regardless of the circumstances, whilst this provisional suspension, or any addition suspension that may be applied, is in place.” WMA was informed Nov. 15 by Cesar Moreno Bravo, our IAAF rep: “Under IAAF Constitution Article 6.11(b) and Article 14.7, that the ban on participation of Russian athletes would apply to any Russian athlete who is affiliated to ARAF (or who is affiliated to a club or region that is affiliated to ARAF). This includes any athlete whose participation has been negotiated by the organisers but also any athlete with an affiliation to ARAF. This suspension also includes Masters athletes and Masters competitions.” Whatta shame.
The first 20 of 185 records submitted for approval.
In his first year as USATF Masters T&F Records Committee chair, Jeff Brower handled at least 271 marks for consideration. To his credit, he’s giving dozens of folks time to fix problems in paperwork. According to his records report to the Houston annual meeting in early December, he’s recommending 185 be approved and 24 rejected. But Jeff also is recommending 62 marks “for deferral.” So hope remains for them. Best of all, Jeff is revisiting marks as old as 2007 — and making them kosher. I count 33 marks from before 2015 getting his stamp of approval, including Charles Austin’s incredible M45 high jump WR of 2.05 (6-8 3/4). See the list of marks starting on page 23. (Masters LDR and racewalking also submit records, but I don’t care about them. Sorry.) In the same PDF, we also see our national chair Gary Snyder’s minimalist report. How minimal?
Tom Petranoff, whose monster javelin throws helped force a change in the specs, became a great masters thrower for a time. Now he’s pointing his daughter, Leigh, toward the Games. I interviewed Leigh for Times of San Diego. I also called in my chips — assembling some masters friends to form a panel commenting on Leigh’s technique and chances at Rio. Loved their insights and positivity. Leigh is relatively short — 5-7 and 140 pounds — but she has a giant appetite to join her dad as an Olympian. (She also could use some financial help.) Hope she makes it.
Willie’s TJ article is cover story of November issue.
Lemme tell you. If I had run a couple more years of college — instead of being cut after my sophomore year — I would have run sub-54 in the 440 hurdles. But I’m not alone in woulda-coulda-shoulda. Some months back, I helped my masters friend Willie Banks prepare an article for Techniques magazine. (It’s the journal of the U.S. Track & Field and XC Coaches Association.) The article came out last week. In it, Willie says he could have been the first 60-foot triple jumper had he done a better hop-step phase. (Jon Edwards went 60 a decade after Willie’s WR of 58-11 1/2.) I gotta salute Willie for his honesty. He admits being lazy on technique. (He also says the WR could be 62-4 today if elites took his advice.) So what’s your story?
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...]
