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Karla Del Grande quietly preps for indoor WR assault in sprints

Our Ontario friend Karla Del Grande turned 60 last March, and from the looks of recent results, she’s ready to demolish indoor sprint records from 60 meters to 400 meters. At a Toronto all-comers meet Sunday, world-champ Karla ran the 50 twice (in 7.51 and 7.53) and the 300 in 48.31. The listed indoor WRs […]

January 5, 2014   Posted in: Uncategorized  3 Comments

M95 superstar Pauwels plans own death after discovering cancer

Belgium’s Emiel Pauwels turned 95 in late December, but will seek no more world titles and records. He plans to die next week. Belgian press reports say he suffers from stomach and colon cancer, which prevented him from keeping his food down at Porto Alegre worlds. “The doctors did not operate on me,” Emiel said, […]

January 4, 2014   Posted in: Uncategorized  17 Comments

An old masters Christmas story via Texas, Norway and Bulgaria

Several weeks ago, a Bulgarian reader sent me a link to a 1996 article about a Norwegian marathoner named Tor Aanensen. The Bulgarian — Ventseslav “Ventsi” Ivanov — wrote me: “[Tor] trained patiently for 25 years till he became a world [10K] champion at the age of 55. … This story about patience and persistence […]

December 24, 2013   Posted in: Uncategorized  3 Comments

Christa Happ dies at 83; German legend set WRs in vault, HJ, LJ

German superstar Christa Happ, known to her friends as Christel, died Oct. 11 at age 83, only a few years after setting W80 world indoor and outdoor records in the high jump and pole vault (and also long jump outdoors). She competed as recently as January 2013. Cause of death is still unknown to me. […]

October 21, 2013   Posted in: Uncategorized  2 Comments

Brazilian claims M85 world record in 100 as Americans take 9 golds

Saturday was Speed Day at Porto Alegre worlds with finals held in the 100-meter dashes. See results here. Completing his comeback from a 2009 doping suspension, Val Barnwell won M55 in 11.90 as fellow Americans Tom Jones and Ken Thomas took third and fourth. Other Yanks taking gold were W35 Brandi Bernert (12.23), W50 Joy […]

October 19, 2013   Posted in: Uncategorized  13 Comments

World records set in heptathlon, shot, sprint heats at Porto Alegre

Oct. 18 results from Porto Alegre show world records in the 100, shot put and heptathlon — all by women. Most amazing is the 13.30 for Canada’s Karla Del Grande in the W60 100 — crushing the listed WR of 13.75 by Germany’s Ingrid Meier in 2008. Karla won her semifinal race. In the prelims, […]

October 18, 2013   Posted in: Uncategorized  4 Comments

Questions for WMA prez candidates Rex Harvey and Stan Perkins

Thursday night, I submitted a dozen questions to Rex Harvey and incumbent Stan Perkins, candidates for president of World Masters Athletics. I gave ’em a deadline of Oct. 11 to complete the surveys, so I could post them the weekend ahead of Porto Alegre worlds. Usually, reporters don’t publicly share questions before responses. But what […]

October 4, 2013   Posted in: Uncategorized  3 Comments

6 world records at British masters nationals: 3 by Evaun Williams

Athletics Weekly in the UK is reporting six world age-group records set this weekend at the British Masters Track and Field Championships in Birmingham, including five by W80 Rosemary Chrimes and W75 Evaun Williams. AW, which takes geezer track seriously (unlike Track & Field News), says: “Chrimes, the 1970 Commonwealth Games discus champion who also […]

September 15, 2013   Posted in: Uncategorized  6 Comments

Carmelo Rado adds M80 discus WR to collection, along with pent

A story posted before the World Masters Games in Turin was headlined: CARMELO RADO, A MAN WHO SETS A RECORD EVERY TIME HE THROWS. But he set no bests in Italy. Didn’t compete. But a month after turning 80 in August, there he goes again. “The Italian Rado Carmelo … set two world records in […]

September 13, 2013   Posted in: Uncategorized  3 Comments

Legendary Joe Keshmiri’s M60 shot record falls to Quenton Torbert

In my rush to celebrate Laurie Rugenstein’s mile world record (unlikely to be ratified), I overlooked another 60-something’s record: Quenton Torbert threw the 5-kilo shot 16.67 meters (54-8 1/4). The mark at the Mid-America USATF regional meet in Fort Collins, Colorado, beat the listed M60 American record of 16.46 (54-0) by the late throwing legend […]

September 12, 2013   Posted in: Uncategorized  6 Comments