USATF masters service award named for David Pain
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David Pain is our founding father — the meet organizer who launched our niche sport in 1966 with his “masters miles” and later national and world masters meets. Already a member of the USATF Masters Hall of Fame, David has been honored again. This time an award has been named for him. The USATF Masters Awards Committee under Dave Clingan (with the Executive Committee’s assent), unanimously voted to name its annual service award the David Pain Distinguished Service Award. It used to be called Masters Administrator of the Year Award, but Dave thought this was too confining. I had the honor of calling David last night at his home in San Diego to inform him of this latest honor. His response: “That’s a wonderful idea!”
Linda Pain, his wife, later wrote me:
You certainly surprised David. He was very pleased to be remembered and honored. . . . Thank you again for all your efforts in remembering David and preserving masters history.
USATF Masters serves mystery meat (make it meet)
Where will the 2009 USATF National Masters Outdoor Championships be held? We’ll know in two months, when delegates assemble at the national meeting in Indianapolis. Who are the bid cities? Possibly Sacramento. Otherwise, I haven’t a clue. Who’s running to replace George Mathews as USATF Masters T&F chairman? His vice chair, Suzy Hess, wrote me a couple days ago: “I don’t know yet. There will be nominations from the floor too.” Haven’t we seen this movie before? In the past, I’ve had to troll mightily to learn bid cities and chair candidates in advance. But who knows if such info will be readily available again this year? And isn’t it in the bidder/candidates’ interest to pump themselves publicly? So many questions, so little urgency to answer.
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USATF Masters sets goal: cut financial apronstrings
George Mathews’ May report as USATF Masters chairman is online now, even ahead of distribution by National Masters News. The major news is that USATF Masters has set a goal of becoming financially independent from USATF “within one to three years.” Very interesting — and disturbing.
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David Pain inspired my late father, Jim Hartshorne, on many levels back in the late 60’s. First, he inspired my father to compete in the first three National Masters Track Championships, all held in San Diego’s Balboa Stadium. Dad managed to win the mile in the first year of the Nationals and competed in everything from the 400 up to the marathon in those early years. Pain’s example of excellent meet directorship inspired my father to start several races in the New York upstate area, such as the Ithaca to Marathon marathon and the Ithaca 5 & !0, which is still raced. But Dad’s favorite was Pain’s masters mile. Dad not only started his own masters mile event in Ithaca at Cornell University’s indoor Barton Hall at peak hour in the middle of the Heptagonal Games, but then went on to lobby the directors of the Penn Relays, the Millrose Games at Madison Square Garden, and the Boston Garden’s version of the Millrose Games to admit the masters mile as a featured event. Within two years Dad was successful in all three venues. The master’s energy at the recent Millrose and Penn Relays still lives on in the form of other masters events, such as the 4 x 400 relays. Oddly enough the masters mile was discontinued at the Millrose Games and the Penn Relays in ’95. I learned recently that the addition of the masters relays at the Penn Relays in the 1980’s was the inspiration of none other than Pete Taylor.
We have David Pain to thank for the blossoming of masters events across the country and world. Having many options to choose from makes running all the more entertaining. Thank you kindly David! Tom Hartshorne, Ithaca, N.Y.
Congratulations to David Pain.It was a pleasure to meet him several years ago in San Diego when he was organizing a track meet in the 80s.Well deserved.
A quick image that sprinted into my memory bank yesterday as I was out running on the golf course. . .that of David Pain running various segments of the l969 National Masters Track Championhsip marathon in San Diego along the coast. . .wearing a rather heavy video cam helmet (perhaps it was jerry-rigged football helmet). It was early morning, but sunny and he was sweating profusely. He was enjoying every minute of the adventure and not surprisingly, drawing quite a bit of attention from onlookers. Of all the moments that I saw him over the several days of the meet, that image of David is the one that endures in my memory. At the time I remember thinking to myself; here’s a guy who likes to push the envelope. Tom Hartshorne
I want to thank David for inventing the 5-year age groupings for running and track & field. Every 5 years i’m so happy to age into another bracket and start the training for winning my age group cycle all over.
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