Event organizer Dave Clingan has shared a report on Saturday’s Fountain of Youth Masters Mile in Canby, Oregon. He also posted photos of the mile, which included Henry Rono from New Mexico and a record-breaking performance by fellow M55 Nolan Shaheed of Pasadena. Dave writes: “To make (Nolan’s) accomplishment even more impressive, Shaheed had to catch an early morning flight from Washington DC to fly into Portland about two hours before his race. An accomplished trumpet player, he had a Friday evening performance at the Kennedy Center the night before.”

Dave’s report:

FOUNTAIN OF YOUTH MASTERS MILE
MAY 12, 2007
Canby, HS Canby, OR
It was a cool, breezy day in Canby, Oregon on May 12, 2007. Not ideal conditions for running a mile on the track, but not detrimental to a good competition, either. At 1:30 pm, 14 masters milers assembled on the start line to compete in the annual Fountain of Youth Invitational Mile race, the featured event at the 2007 Oregon Relays.
Despite the fact that elite Masters athletes (age 30 and up) are hardly household names, this field included some of best masters milers in America. Seven of these athletes have won National Masters Championships during their masters careers. Three currently hold American and/or World records in masters age-groups. Included in this field was Henry Rono, from Albuquerque, NM. Possibly one of the greatest distance runners of all time (holder of 4 world records in 1978), Henry is making a comeback this year as a masters athlete at age 55.
Two athletes in particular were contenders for breaking American masters age-group records at this meet. Tony Young, of Seattle, WA (who currently holds the American mile record for the 40-44 age group at 4:09.61), needed to break 4:18.83 to set a new record for the 45-49 age group. Nolan Shaheed (57) of Pasadena, CA, needed to break 4:45.6 to topple the American record in the 55-59 age division.
At the gun, Young jumped into the lead. His blazing 61 second first lap set him apart from the field. In second at the end of the first lap was Torrey Lindbo (34) around 63 seconds, followed by a large pack of runners at about 67-68 seconds. This pack included David Cannon (50), Kevin Paulk (46), Joe Dudman (42), Steve Gallegos (52), Nolan Shaheed (57) and Chris Yorges (41).
Young pressed hard at 800m, coming through in 2:06. Lindbo was a few seconds back and a dense pack followed with runners in close proximity jockeying for position. This scenario remained the same for the third lap as Young clocked about 3:12 with one lap to go. Assuming lead duties the entire race, Young came through first in 4:20.3. He was followed by Torrey Lindbo (4:27.0) and Steve Gallegos (4:35.6). All three set new Oregon Relays meet records for their age groups.
It was Nolan Shaheed, who crossed the finish line in 8th with a time of 4:42.7 who stole the show by setting a new American record on this day (in the 55-59 age group). His time broke the previous record by three seconds. To make this accomplishment even more impressive, Shaheed had to catch an early morning flight from Washington DC to fly into Portland about two hours before his race. An accomplished trumpet player, he had a Friday evening performance at the Kennedy Center the night before.
Crossing the finish line in 5:45.8 to a tremendous ovation was Henry Rono. It was perhaps not the time he would liked to have run on this day, but the presence of this legendary athlete returning to the sport at age 55 was greatly appreciated by the spectators and by his fellow athletes. Complete race results are posted on line at: www.mastersmile.oregonathletics.org