Somebody took fourth in this incredible race! (Yet almost won it)
Doug Smith, the Ontario masters maven, got this amazing shot of an astounding finish in a mini meet up north Feb. 6. This actually was the end of a 200! M40 Malik Crepsac won in 24.96. Results are here. Anybody ever seen a closer finish in the deuce?
Ken Kudo, Malik, Andre Mitchell and Mark Smyth finished within a tenth.
25 Responses
Wow! That is a fantastic shot and an amazing race. Rare to see four competitors so close at the end.
now that’s what i’m talking about…!!!
very nice! Even though I’m in the weights, I can still appreciate excellence like this.
Did you check out the 400 meters results. Ear Fee ran 73 seconds at age 81 WOW !!!!
Thank you, Nolan. The Great Earl is booking. Has there ever been anyone else like The Great Earl? And how about that Karla Del Grande? Both Sharif Missiha (27.89) and Ming Tsai (28.00) got the better of Karla, who ran 28.55. But Sharif is 34 and Ming is 38. Karla is 57 (!!!) and will be at Albuquerque. Wow, is she good.
Back to the question at hand, the requirement for FOUR runners is what makes it hard. Virtually never see this in any race, especially indoor races that do not finish in lanes. Even in the 200, which does finish in lanes, I do not think I have ever seen this (four runners together).
The race I recall that reminds me a bit of this one was the M50 400 in our indoor nationals in 1996 (Greensboro). Bic Stevens and Ron Johnson battled the whole way, with Roger Pierce tucked in third. As I recall, I could not even see Roger coming down the stretch. I think he was still third with 20 meters to go.
Roger went to the outside, caught both runners, and literally flew threw the air across the finish line (landing on his front side). He won in 55.74, with Ron Johnson 0.01 sec behind in 55.75 and Bic Stevens third in 55.88. That’s the closest I can recall of the races I have announced.
I had the absolute pleasure of finishing in a similar blanket finish in a heat of the New England indoor championships last winter at Harvard (no picture, unfortunately.) As I recall there were six of us in the heat, and five of us were nearly abreast at the finish. We were all older than 50, so our times were a bit slower than this Toronto race, but all were around 27 seconds. We were dead even coming off the final turn and the straightaway was a real battle. I bumped arms with the next lane at the line and went down on my shoulder. My wife was horrified when I told her I’d fallen, but I said it had been the most exhilarating race I’d run in a long, long time. It made my season last year.
check out the finnish.in the nationals in the 100M hurdles between me, lee X, and jeff brower,2009in wisconsin
Doug took that pic with his fancy new camera. Nolan … Earl is now 82, and at the end of the day (he also ran the 800)he wasn’t happy with his performances. Imagine. Peter … Karla was under the weather the day before the meet, so I think she ran exceptionally well. Look out Sacto!
How about the Roger Pierce, Ralph Souppa, Larry Barnum 1-2-3 finish in the 400m at the 2007 National Outdoor Masters in Orono Maine:
Prelim Final
1 Pierce, Roger M62 1:02.17 59.02
2 Souppa, Ralph M60 1:01.86 59.24
3 Barnum, Larry M63 1:00.00 59.33
Notice that the prelim times were in the exact opposite order. Anyone who saw this finish remembered it for a long time. Larry moved past Roger on the final turn, and then Roger dug down deep and came back on him at the finish. Meanwhile Ralph just kept on chugging the whole way and caught Larry with his final step.
Thanks, Peter and Duncan for your comments on my race. The race pictured, however, was amazing and such a thrill to watch. Four great runners, really nice, hard-working guys, each of whom anyone would want to win! As they rounded the final curve, in perfect staggered alignment, it seemed that there was a collective inhale, and expressions of WOW! then all were cheered on collectively. We love our Ontario mini-meets, with mixed competition, a variety of events each time, Doug’s great photos, and support from fellow athletes.
I can remember a mens 35-39 400 @ the ’97 Nationals with Sal Allah, Eugene Vickers, and Ray Blackwell finishing in a seemingly dead heat. Sal, can you upload that photo finish? It was great.
Check those cats in lanes 3 and 5. It’s amazing what we can do on one leg.(^_^). Smartty
Here you are, Cornell (and everyone else):
1997 outdoors (San Jose)
400 dash
M35 Saladin Allah 49.67
Ray Blackwell 49.68
Gene Vickers 49.69
Yikes, that must have been the greatest 400 in the history of the US program. Amazing. I had forgotten about it because I wasn’t there to announce it (was not selected).
And just as soon as I settled down to breakfast after posting comment no. 12 I remembered another all-time great 400 that was run just last year (and which I was fortunate enough to announce):
2010 indoors (Boston)
400 dash
M40 Edward Winslow 51.17
Robert Thomas 51.22
Khalid Mulazim 51.23
reminds me how I used to be able to run on short tracks…In Oct I ran at a fall meet in Austin area and broke three metatarsals in the 200m on the curve…I’m still out of commissioin and have a burning desire to get back…looks like a lost season..
In response to john # 14…Simpdog is that you?
We had a close one in the m40 60 last year. Expect it to be the same for 2011.
2010 USA Masters Indoor Track & Field Championships
M40 60 Meter Dash
================================================================
Name Age Team Finals
================================================================
Finals
1 Drummond, Don M40 Lawrenceville, GA 7.27
2 Winslow, Edward M40 Montoursville, PA 7.28
3 Mulazim, Khalid M43 Cleveland, OH 7.29
4 Thomas, Robert M43 Grand Prairie, TX 7.39
5 Potocnik, Ron M41 Chicago, IL 7.51
6 Williams, DeWayne M43 Lawrenceville, GA 7.67
7 Warren, Mark M42 Santa Rosa, CA 7.73
8 Torres, Juan M43 San Jose, CA 7.78
Super shot and super result. Karin and Fred
Hi all,
it was a very exciting race to be apart of!
Karla, as you know I had my own cheering section, which may have been an unfair advantage! 🙂
I could hear my wife and daughters(four and six years old) yelling ‘Go Daddy Go’ on the far side of the track! Very motivating!
I agree, we’re very fortunate to have such well run competitive meets to participate in.
We do it all again this Sunday at Mini Meet#4.
Right you are, Don. The 2011 indoor nationals in Albuquerque should be kicking with good sprinters. Hard for me to believe that I will be flying from BWI to Atlanta to Albuquerque just 3 weeks from today. Yikes, I am so unprepared.
In terms of numbers, the turnouts in the shortest race, the 60, and the longest race, the 3000, are running to form in terms of presumed effects of Albuquerque’s altitude.*
At this point, in the 60 dash, Albuquerque already has 4% more entrants than Boston had last year at closing time (this is the USATF list and thus generally excludes Canadians). At the other extreme, the 3000 has only 67% of the entrants that Boston had. Presumably, some masters were concerned about running “at altitude” and did not enter.
Entries absolutely close on Sunday, February 13, with a $50 late fee, and thus we may get a few additional entrants in both events.
___
* Of course, other factors have no doubt come into play, including geography.
The closest race ever, difficult how to find out. In speed skating recently in the world cup three skaters were within 0.008 and only one got bronze, the others got nothing…
jstone…it is I…
Hey Simpdog! Sorry to hear that news! Hoping you get better soon! Take care of yourself!!
Tim McCrossen
Get well soon Simpdog!
Two extremely close is more often the case, it seems. Yesterday in the speek skating worlds two women on 500m the same time, that is the same 1/1000th. Today in our open class nationals on 60m also two silver medals, both men less than 1/1000th apart.
Leave a Reply