Penn also saw W40 women’s, M70 men’s WRs in 4×400

Jearl Miles-Clark, the four-time Olympian, teamed with Charmaine Roberts, Renee Henderson and Jane Brooker at Penn on Friday to lower the W40 world record in the 4×400. Running as East Coast Masters, the quartet anchored by Jearl ran 3:56.27 against some men’s teams. The listed W40 WR is 3:57.28 by an Aussie team at the 2001 Brisbane world masters championships. And in the same race apparently, the Sprint Force America M70 team of Larry Colbert, Mack Stewart, Rich Rizzo and Bob Lida clocked 4:24.83 to beat the listed world age-group record of 4:31.07 by a German foursome at the 2006 European masters championships in Poznan, Poland.


Here are the results from that amazing race:

147 MX Masters Mixed 4×400 50 and older Friday, 4:20 pm
Place ID School/Affiliation Mark Runners
1 AA Houston Elite TC 3:41.90 Bill Collins, George Haywood, Charles Allie, Horace Grant
2 AB Sprint Force America 3:47.64 Brent Cotton, Archie Glaspy, Edward Gonera, Francis A. Schiro
3 AC Nike Central Park TC 3:53.06 Val Barnwell, John Brooks, Stuart Calderwood, Alston Brown
4 AS East Coast Masters 3:56.27 Charmaine Roberts, Renee Henderson, Jane Brooker, Jearl Miles-Clark
5 AG Shore AC B 3:59.22 Rick Lapp, Ton Plaster, Tom Zarra, Bob Andrews
6 AD Mass Velocity TC A 4:00.04 Tucker Taft, Tom Gillen, John Huth, Charlie Kelley
7 AF Mass Velocity TC C 4:07.48 Greg Davis, Nathan Rathlow, Jeff Elliot, Rudy Briscoe
8 AE Mass Velocity TC B 4:08.87 David Rusch, Bob Powell, Larry Zwick, Roger Pierce
9 AI Team Osprey 4:11.29 Pat Good, Randy Beddoe, Jim Keller, Charlie DiPetro
10 AU Millrose AA 4:18.30 Janice Reid, Rebecca Connolly, Sonya Badger, Terri Ballou
11 AT Athena TC A 4:21.15 Maryline, Joan Hunter, Teri Rath, Lorraine Jasper
12 AZ Sprint Force America 70+ 4:24.83 Larry Colbert, Mack Stewart, Rich Rizzo, Bob Lida
13 AO Garden State AC 60+ 4:36.89 Glen Schmehl, Joe Horick, Ralph Fusco, Paul Henry
14 AX Nike Central Park TC W40 4:42.11 Adriana Ostrowski, Sue Pearsall, Jeannine Bardo, Susan Richardson
15 AV Athena TC B 4:43.62
16 AY Northeast All-Stars 4:50.00 Kitty Anderson, Caryl Senn-Griffith, Corrine Steinback, Barbara Cronin-Stagnari
17 AR Shore AC 60+ 4:52.10 Harry Nolan, Dale Zurheide, Walt McGowan, John Kuhi
18 AK Pineland Striders 4:54.86 Ian Stevenson, Rick Brown, Lisa Valeriani, Vince DelGuercio
19 AW Shore AC W40 4:55.65 Dawn Littlejohn, Jan Vaughan, Wendi Glassman, Barbara Brennan
DNF AP Nike Central Park TC 60+ Noah Perlis, Hal Lieberman, Frank Wilson, Salih Talib
DNF AJ Zen Masters Lee Ex, Ross Donolow, Tony Mancini, Joe Quinn

Print Friendly

April 27, 2008

7 Responses

  1. Robert Koop - April 27, 2008

    Ken,
    may be the W40-4×4-WR is listed as you are reporting. But 2002 the German W40 4×4 at the .XIII. European Masters Championships in Potsdam (GER) run 3:56,02 min. The German W40-team: Martina Seidel (*1962), Irena Gazda-Sagolla (*1961), Birgit Broda (*1962) and Brigitte Heidrich (*1961).
    But the new mens70 4×4 WR is very impressive.
    Robert Koop
    btw greetings to Mrs Sandy Pashkin… 😉

  2. peter taylor - April 27, 2008

    The listed M55 world mark for 4 x 400 is 3:43.59 (Great Britain, 2007. Thus, as I understand it, the team of Bill Collins (M55), George Haywood (M55), Charles Allie (M60, and Horace Grant (M55)will be seeking acceptance of their 3:41.90 in this event (see above) as a WORLD RECORD.

  3. Bill Collins - April 28, 2008

    I like to thank Pete Taylor and Phil Felton for putting together a great field of runners for the 114th running of the Penn Relays. Pete, thanks for making sure all the information and records got the attention they deserve. This was the largest masters feild ever.

  4. peter taylor - April 28, 2008

    Thank you, Bill. And now for your benefit (and all other masters athletes) I will tell you exactly what I did (to the best of my recollection). Not for accolades, but rather to point out an important issue.
    Before the 100-m dashes on Friday I walked onto the infield (not permitted for athletes) and headed toward the finish line. I then crossed the track and climbed the stepladder on the wall to get into the stands (could have taken another route, but it was longer). I then walked all the way up to the announcers and sat behind them (in a section strictly off limits to athletes). After your WR 11.44 I immediately asked for a photo from the FAT people (they sit right in front of the announcers). As an aside, let me say that the chief of timing said something like the following (not a quote): “It’s only the masters who require photos.” Still, he was very gracious.
    I realized I needed a wind reading and somehow managed to get myself onto the track. Of course, any athlete who tried this would be subject to detainment and ultimately (if he resisted too strongly) arrest by the City of Philadelphia Police. Fortunately, I had on officials’ garb and credentials.
    I hunted down the “wind gauge guy,” only to have him tell me he was not the right one. I then hunted down one of the starters to ask him who was the actual starter for your race. Got the actual starter to sign the form (imagine an athlete trying to do this). At some point I was informed that the wind reading is now integrated automatically into the timing, and thus I went all the way back up to get the timing people to sign off on the wind reading (it is right at the top of the picture).
    I then had 1964 Olympian Herman Frazier (a college referee; masters athletes do not have their own referee) sign off on your record. Or was it Jim Thompson (Herman Frazier was our referee for four of the five records to be submitted), another referee?
    I did this process in some variation for every one of the five records set. The main issue, however, is that no athlete could do what I did. And now for the important point: As I understand it, it is up to the athlete to gather all of the information if he/she wants a record approved. At the Penn Relays this is not permitted. Had I not stepped in to lend a hand, every record set would have been subject to rejection on the grounds that the application was incomplete. Yes, there is the problem.

  5. Mary Woo - April 28, 2008

    Pete- it’s clear you ran the “records gauntlet” entirely for the sake of the athletes involved, and for that I must say I you are a hero. You are also heroic for pointing out in very clear terms just how difficult (sometimes impossible) it is to get the danged records ratified. Thank you.

  6. peter taylor - April 29, 2008

    Thank you, Mary, for your kind remarks. Yes, it’s tough to get the applications completed (especially at the big meets such as the Penn Relays, where the movement of the athletes is severely restricted). There are other reasons as well that records don’t get accepted, and this has implications for your announcer (usually Peter T.).
    For example, this summer we will be going to Spokane for the outdoor nationals. The listed W40 mark in the 1500 is 4:32.73 by Joan Nesbit (there are no pending marks listed). If a W40 competitor runs 4:32.72 or better at Spokane I will simply say that she broke the listed mark for W40. I will not “pick her up” during the race to say whether she is ahead or behind record pace, etc.
    Why such a conservative approach? I don’t know the exact number, but my best guess is that Joan Nesbit’s mark is about 11th on the list of best performances for W40 1500. Two superstars (Ruth Wysocki and Alisa Harvey) have better performances (don’t know exactly how many for this fleet pair,) and emerging star Aeron Arlin-Genet has at least four. Thus, if I estimate a total of six for Wysocki and Harvey I conclude that Nesbit is in 11th place (again, no pending marks are listed on the USATF Web site). That is why announcers sometimes have to be conservative in masters track.

  7. Jane Brooker - June 3, 2008

    Why do people have to ruin and squelch the accomplishments of others? our WR IS an official WR. Whatever the Germans did, was not recorded as an official WR. The Australians had the record before we did. We broke the WR and have the official WR. Thanks.

Leave a Reply