t-and-f: Kathy Jager's bumpy ride to reinstatement
Greetings, all: I've submitted the following article to National Masters News. I welcome your comments. Ken Stone http://www.masterstrack.com Kathy Jager's bumpy road to early reinstatement from her two-year IAAF drug ban took a wrenching turn in late July. And if she wasn't bruised enough before, she is now. First USATF informed the Arizona sprinter, 56, that her doctor-prescribed menopause treatment yielded a "drug positive" at the 1999 Gateshead world veterans meet, where she won six medals, including two sprint golds. Then she was told she could compete again soon if she passed a series of drug tests and received a medical exemption from the IAAF, allowing her to resume taking her daily dose of Estratest HS, which contains a minute amount of methyltestosterone, a banned steroid. Now Jager has learned that the IAAF has rejected her request for a medical waiver. "After a period of constant e-mail contact with the Monaco and Swedish offices of the IAAF Anti-Doping Commission," she and her husband, Carl, wrote in late July, "we finally wrung an answer out of them on Kathy's exemption request. "The answer was: No exemption will be allowed. No specific reasoning was advanced -- just that the IAAF `cannot allow any athlete to use testosterone.' " The Jagers said the fact that Estratest was a required medication -- with no proven link to improved athletic performance -- "was obviously not an effective argument." But what came next was equally mystifying. "The IAAF has also informed us that it is turning over the whole matter to WAVA for their `medical exemption' consideration." Until now, the World Association of Veteran Athletes has assumed a studiously silent stance in the case, giving no hint of its potentially decisive role. USATF, meanwhile, informed Jager that it had yanked its recommendation for early reinstatement, based on the IAAF's refusal to grant her a waiver. Jager -- the first masters athlete in history to be banned for drugs -- now has to begin a fight on a new front. "We're turning our attention to WAVA," the Jagers said. "In spite of these rather stark turnarounds in support, we're confident that it will eventually become apparent that positive, enlightened actions and changes in policy are required." USATF chief Craig Masback and WAVA President Torsten Carlius of Sweden failed to respond to e-mail requests for comment. Bridget Cushen of Britain, chairwoman of WAVA's Women's Committee, would only say: "Yes, members of the Women's Committee were informed sometime ago of a positive drug case involving a W55 competitor. I am unable to make any further comments at this stage." But David Pain of San Diego -- who launched masters track in the United States in the late 1960s and who helped create WAVA -- wasn't coy in his reaction. "To apply current IAAF rules to that problem was totally out of line," Pain said of Jager's plight. Pain said he left active involvement in WAVA after 1991 partly as a protest against WAVA's move toward affiliating with the IAAF, with its Draconian drug policies. At the General Assembly that July in Turku, Finland, Pain lost a race for WAVA secretary to Carlius. Pain campaigned against drug-testing in WAVA, first because it was "prohibitively expensive" and also because it was "a non-issue." The IAAF, meanwhile, has moved on to other drug cases. In early July, a three-member IAAF arbitration panel that included WAVA General Secretary Monty Hacker of South Africa ordered Jamaican sprinter Merlene Ottey, 40, reinstated from her drug ban. And in early August, the IAAF cut short the drug ban of Cuban high jumper Javier Sotomayor, allowing him to compete in the Sydney Games. Among the reasons for letting Sotomayor compete despite testing positive for cocaine, the IAAF cited "exceptional circumstances" and the jumper's "humanitarian work."
t-and-f: FlashResults to cover USA masters nationals
Greetings, all: The Eugene masters nationals Web site discloses some great news: http://www.flashresults.com/ will post results shortly after each event. These are the same folks who posted hurry-up information for the U.S. Olympic Trials. Did a fantastic job. An old high school coach at my school -- Don Chadez -- is part of the FlashResults crew, and he's a masters steeplechaser as well. If he competes, be sure to cheer him on. (Chadez also is a former Track Field News photographer.) Also note that, as predicted, the Esteemed Eugene meet directors have deleted the http://www.eugenechamps.com/records.html page -- not long after zapping the front page button to that file. Oh well. You gives and you gets. FlashResults is an absolutely SUPER addition to the meet, however. It'll enhance the event enormously. Ken Stone http://www.masterstrack.com
t-and-f: Early candidates for world WAVA 2005
Y ask Y: National Masters News reports in its September edition that four cities have expressed "interest" in hosting the World Veterans Athletic Championships in 2005. (The 2001 meet is in Brisbane, Australia, and the 2003 meet will be in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.) The early hopefuls are: San Sebastian, Spain San Juan, Puerto Rico Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada Sacramento, California, USA My thoughts on these four, plus some Web sites to check: San Sebastian http://travel.excite.com/show?loc=2647 http://www.cd.sc.ehu.es/DOCS/book.SS-G/v2/index.html After awarding successive world WAVA track meets to Australia and Malaysia, WAVA delegates in 2001 (when the 2005 site vote presumably takes place) may think it's time to return to Europe -- where the bulk of WAVA delegates reside. Also, Europeans love their summer vacations -- and southern coastal San Sebastian is Spain's answer to the South of France, with relatively cool summers. San Sebastian doesn't register high on the Sport-O-Meter, but that may not be an issue. More of an issue is San Sebastian's possible reputation as a tourist mecca. Translation: This trip won't come cheap. San Juan, Puerto Rico http://www2.gvsu.edu/~wilsonma/puerto_r.htm At the 1999 Gateshead WAVA Assembly, Puerto Rico was a bidder (along with Malaysia and Cesantico, Italy) for the 2003 meet. (See my report at: http://www.egroups.com/message/masterstf/744) But Gateshead delegates still had horrific memories of the heat, sickness and misery of the 1983 world WAVA meet hosted by Puerto Rico. However, PR may have been encouraged to bid again by the fact Kuala Lumpur -- a losing bidder for the 1997 and 1999 meets -- won the 2003 WAVA meet. But PR likely will lose again to better-financed and more sophisticated presentations. (PR's video in 1999 was a hoot.) PR will remain a long shot as long as anyone is still alive who can recall the unmitigated disaster that was 1983. Vancouver http://www.tourism-vancouver.org/docs/visit/index.html Canada hasn't hosted a world masters championships since the first -- Toronto 1975 (even before WAVA was formed). Besides being a wonderful place to visit (I'm told), Vancouver -- just north of Seattle, Washington, USA -- can boast fine track meet weather in late summer. The "X" factor in Vancouver's bid: Will Canadian bidders use Don Farquharson's name to pull votes? Don, who died recently, is a founding father of WAVA with many friends among the delegates. I can easily see WAVA approving Canada as host of the 2005 meet as a memorial to Don -- a thank-you for his more than three decades of work on behalf of the masters movement. It wouldn't be undeserved. Sacramento http://www.sacsports.com/ Of course, Sacramento got HUGE raves for its role as host of the 2000 U.S. Olympic Trials. The stands were packed every day, and the performances were outstanding. Also of course: It was hot as blazes during the prime-time afternoon hours. But a world WAVA meet wouldn't have to bow to TV ratings (lamentably), so Sacramento organizers would be free to schedule events in the cooler morning and late-afternoon/early-evening hours (just as Baton Rouge promises to do for the 2001 USATF masters nationals). I attended the last four days of the Trials, and weather was nice after dusk. Another possible plus: If Sacramento lands the 2004 Olympic Trials, moneyman Alex Spanos has pledged to build a cover to the stands for spectator relief. Masters would have it made in the shade in 2005. Downside: WAVA loves America -- but only up to a point. It awarded WAVA meets to the USA in 1989 (Eugene) and 1995 (Buffalo, New York). Ten years might be too soon for some delegates to return to Yankeeland. WAVA likes to spread the meets around. The bottom line: Vancouver will win. Delegates will be mindful that 2003 WAVA will have been held in one of the hottest places on earth. And Vancouver's coastal ambience will beat out Spain's based on the Farquharson Factor. See U in BC in 2005! Ken Stone http://www.masterstrack.com
t-and-f: Milt Campbell gets his due in U-T
Y ask Y: Mark Zeigler of The San Diego Union-Tribune has written a stunning front-page story about how Milt Campbell has been overlooked for decades despite winning the Melbourne deca -- the first black to be crowned "world's greatest athlete." Z-man interviwed New Jersey's Campbell via phone and got amazing stuff from him (such as the fact Milt could have been a judo Olympian). It should be posted sometime Friday at: http://www.uniontrib.com/news/uniontrib/fri/index.html If that link doesn't work, go to http://www.uniontrib.com and look for the Daily Paper link. A must-see from one of America's best Olympic writers. Ken Stone http://www.masterstrack.com
t-and-f: USATF Masters chair Weinbel has heart bypass
Y ask Y: Suzy Hess, secretary of USATF Masters TF Committee, passes along this note: Ken Weinbel, USATF National Masters Track Field Chair, underwent successful quadruple bypass surgery on Sept. 16 at Swedish Hospital in Seattle, Washington. Weinbel remained hospitalized for five days. His recovery time is estimated to be at least six weeks. Weinbel is in his last year of office, which ends after the election of new officers in Albuquerque at the USATF Convention. Masters track field business until his complete recovery will be conducted by Suzy Hess, Secretary, Masters TF Committee, and George Mathews, a member of the Masters TF Executive Committee. Well-wishers can send cards for quick recovery to Ken Weinbel, 4103 Hillcrest Ave., S. W., Seattle, WA 98116. Me again: Weinbel is a national-class M70 hammer thrower. His background is posted at: http://members.aol.com/trackceo/weinbel.html Ken Stone http://www.masterstrack.com
t-and-f: Let's deal with the REAL dopes
Y ask Y: I'm fed up. I've had enough. It's time to forget Bulgarian weight lifters, Romanians on Sudafed and shot putters gorging iron supplements. I demand that the IOC, IAAF and the World Anti-Doping Association tackle the real problem with worldwide athletics -- performance-INHIBITING substances. For every discus thrower on hGH, a thousand hammer throwers are overdosing on Big Macs. For every sprinter sucking down steroids, there are 5,000 hurdlers tweaking with Twinkies. Don't get me started with pole vaulters on pork rinds. Think that 5cm difference in the women's gymnastics vault hurt performances? Try running 400 hurdles with an MM monkey on your back. Rather than celebrate Eric the Eel for dog-paddling, the IOC should ask, "What was this guy loading up on -- polska kielbasa?" It goes on and on. The real villains of the Sydney Olympics are the multinational snack-food cartels pushing their artery-clogging, chin-doubling, tooth-rotting delights. In the real world of sport, there are more spare tires on athletes than at velodromes. Talk about dopes. A personal aside: At the Gateshead world WAVA meet last year, I BEGGED to be drug-tested, asking a pair of suits to make my career by forcing me to fill a bottle. Now I realize that I should have been drug-tested to learn what makes me so dang SLOW. Juan Antonio and Lamine may think their plates are full, dealing with drug cheats. But I think they should wipe off their mouths and chew on this: Some people see the world's athletes and ask, "Why are they higher, faster, stronger?" I see the world and ask: "How come I'm not?" Ken Stone http://www.laughordie.com
t-and-f: Recalling a 200 semifinal 28 years ago
Y ask Y: Now it can be told. And maybe now you'll pay attention. Remember when Rey Robinson and Eddie Hart missed a shot at Borzov at Munich because of schedule snafu? Nobody until now has told the story of the women's sprinters. One of them got screwed too! Tom Shanahan of The San Diego Union-Tribune dug this up while researching past track Olympians from San Diego. He met Jackie Thompson, a 200-meter dasher, who told this story -- which also deals with the marginalization of women's track of that era. No mainstream media outlet -- including TFN -- gave a rat's ass about women's track back then. Here's a portion of story from Sept. 28 Sports section of the U-T: The men's 100-meters fiasco at the 1972 Olympics in Munich remains seared in the memory of Americans who watched the sorry saga unfold on TV. Howard Cosell grilled U.S. men's coach Stan Wright as he squirmed in his seat. Wright had read the schedule wrong, and Rey Robinson and Eddie Hart missed their quarterfinal heats. The Soviet Union's Valery Borzov would sweep the 100 and 200 gold medals. Americans were outraged at the Cold War defeat. That's the story we remember. The story we never heard, though, came days after the men's 100. Jackie Thompson advanced through two rounds of the women's 200 to reach the semifinals. Then the U.S. women's coach gave her the wrong schedule. Thompson was on the warmup track just outside the stadium when a teammate shouted Thompson's race was about to start. She sprinted into the stadium, stripped off her sweats and stepped into the blocks just before the gun went off. "I was still catching my breath," Thompson said. The top four places advanced to the finals. Fourth was 23.14 seconds, fifth 23.17 and sixth was Thompson in 23.18. Her Olympic hopes were lost in the blink of an eye. Running in the second 200 semifinal was Barbara Ferrell Edmonson, then a 24-year-old kindergarten teacher and now an administrator at Cal State Dominguez. Her personal coach didn't trust the U.S. coaches and told her to arrive early at the stadium. The American team in 1972 was disorganized and in disarray, Ferrell Edmonson said. But unlike the men's fiasco, Cosell didn't go on TV and scorch the U.S. women's coach. There wasn't a word about Thompson's misfortune in most newspapers, including The San Diego Union and the Evening Tribune. Me again: Now how long will it take before masters athletes are accorded the same respect in the press? Hope it isn't another 28 years. Ken Stone http://www.masterstrack.com
t-and-f: Sanity on drug craziness
Y ask Y: Following are two thoughtful posts from the Masterstf Mailing List on egroups. They address doping issues in masters track but have application to the wider discussion of drugs in elite track. Ken Stone After reading Milan's unabashed "solutions" and conclusions on the Olympic drug events, I must weigh in. Even at the risk of alienating some readers with potentially excessive background and detail, I'm venturing out to acquaint all readers with some background on Kathy's "doping" conviction of 1999. My purpose is to assert a contrasting opinion that athletes---masters athletes in particular---cannot accept without question the rules promulgated by those who would be our regulators. In research that I have done since Kathy's suspension (for using methyltestosterone as part of her prescribed Hormone Replacement Therapy) I have not found, nor has anyone in the IOC, USOC, IAAF, WAVA, or USATF medical regulatory hierarchies been able to provide me, any evidence of a linkage between the trace amounts of this medicine and performance enhancement.Moreover, from a sample, the laboratories (and adjudicating bodies) are admittedly unable to determine whether the presence of a very small amount of methyl (such as is documented in Kathy's prescribed HRT regimen) represents the residual of having taken a large amount of hormone at some time in the recent past, or a small amount taken on a daily basis. So instead of establishing such a foundation before promulgating a testing procedure, regulatory bodies just simply ban methyltestosterone altogether. Now as far as regular testosterone is concerned, these same bodies HAVE established a threshold: the presence of more than six times a "normal range" is considered doping. Interestingly in Kathy's case, not only did she NOT test out as having six times the normal range, the addition of her methyltestosterone medicine merely lifted her into a "normal" testosterone range for post menopausal women of her age. Certain conclusions about this medicine and athletics become inescapable: a) There is no evidence linking minute (however determined) amounts of methyltestosterone with athletic performance enhancement. Such a linkage, one should expect, would be the very starting foundation for any specific athlete drug policy. b) Were a linkage (however doubtful) ever established, it would be most important to unequivocally determine whether or not a threshold exists below which no performance enhancement occurs. c) Neither the linkage, nor the threshold, nor the testing procedures which carefully follow and apply these data exists. Instead, as a convenience to the regulatory bodies, notwithstanding the considerable inconvenience and injustice for the athlete, a simple rule-of-detection-only, and one-size-fits-all is the myopic response. Certainly, it is a righteous and uplifting feeling to sound the clarion call for total ban, for all athletes, at all competitions and competition levels, of any kind of drug, used for whatever purpose, that the regulatory bodies pronounce as unfit. But the implications for athletes are really more involved than such a simple declaration. And living with one of those athletes who endures debilitations that are easily solved by unnecessarily prohibited medicines, and who has been stripped of honors fairly achieved, has generated some new perspectives indeed. At the very least, doping procedures, as they relate to the Masters athlete, are wrongheaded and are applied without adequate foundation. I enlist everyone's support for a complete reevaluation and restructure, with appropriate exemptions as warranted in the interim. And I'll reiterate Milan's invitation too: "Other opinions are welcome". Carl Jager Carl Jager's thoughtful contribution to the "drugs" debate prompts me to share with a wider audience another argument that I have tried out on a couple of contributors, privately. Kathy J's tribulations were the impetus for me to think more about the need for different standards for masters athletes. In 1998, I had a hemorrhagic stroke. I was very fortunate, in that the lasting effects have been minimal. I am able to compete. But I am less competive than pre-stroke, in large part because one of the medications that have lowered my b.p. by 20 (upper figure) and 10 (lower) points _also_ slows blood circulation to the extremities, by slowing down the heart. In other words, it adds what I conservatively estimate (taking age into account, and projecting the trend for the previous 10 years) is 1 sec per 100 meters: 2 full seconds in the 200, which was my "best," pre-1998 (although not that great). The beta-blocker makes me slower. Imagine my surprise, then, to discover, in picking up the card with the list of prohibited substances at Eugene, that metoprolol (the b-b) is banned. Why? Apparently because, I learned, target shooters and archers take it to slow down the heeart, and shoot
t-and-f: Masback calls out the Black Helicopters
Y ask Y: Last night's wire services were full of stories about USATF CEO Craig Masback's wacky proposal that WADA take over all drug testing for USATF. Aside from the hilarious idea of CM making unilateral decisions on behalf of a slow-moving and volunteer-driven organization on such a fundamentally radical move, I have some thoughts on the matter: 1. Masback clearly offered this "solution" to buy time -- a short respite from the media jackals. (Maybe now they'll chew someone else's butt for a change -- or forget about USATF after a few days.) But your out-of-control spin control will only raise further questions, Craigo. 2. Picture this: Los Angeles decides it's tired of the flak over self-policing the LAPD (a deep source of scandal this past year). So Mayor Riordan decides to call in an independent international agency to do the job -- the United Nations! Replace Riordan with Masback, and UN with WADA and you can appreciate how utterly nonsensical this concept is. 3. Fear of athlete lawsuits over lost privacy and confidentiality (by disclosure of suspected drug positives) apparently is the big bugaboo with USATF's drug-testing system. But how would having WADA do the dirty work protect USATF from lawsuits? Might as well make WADA the NGB for track in the USA. 4. Even if WADA does the grunt work in monitoring USA tracksters for drugs, what stops the IAAF or IOC (or this new power, the Court of Arbitration for Sports) from overturning a drug ban? Sotomayor must be laughing his head off. Has IAAF yielded its powers to WADA? 5. Athletes already are suspicious of USATF drug-testing regimens and reliability. How would WADA inspire any more confidence or cooperation? Enuf. Masback's idea (which got immediate thumbs up from the IOC/WADA honcho Dick Pound) is a prescription for disaster -- if not derision. A white guy won the 200. I don't think we should count on many more miracles this year. Ken Stone http://www.masterstrack.com
t-and-f: The Olympics and masters track
Y ask Y: (Originally posted on the Masterstf Mailing List:) Well, what a show Sydney was. And what a contrast it provided to our own experience as masters athletes. Notice how before ANY track event, Olympians ignored their competition? No handshakes. No "Good lucks!" What sportsmanship. That's why masters track has been a revelation to me these past five years of my involvement. We wish each other well BEFORE the race as well as congratulate each other afterward. We help each other, cheer each oher and sympathize with each other's failures and sufferings. That's because we've truly grown up (Maurice Greene will too, someday.) Makes you appreciate what a special thing we have in masters track -- where track nobodies and former Olympians and world-class stars meet and compete as friends. During my 10 straight nights on the Olympic shift at work (a career PR), I came across some items of interest to masters. Here are some of them: 1. Any slim chance masters have of competing in the Olympics (in exhibition events) may have been dealt a huge blow with the announcement that the IAAF is thinking of ending the traditional "rest day" in the middle of the Olympic program. This might also apply to the World Championships as well (next year they're in Edmonton, Canada). One of the plausible ideas put forth is that masters events could occupy the rest day at the Games. But without a rest day, odds are slimmer of getting a spot in the regular program, a la wheelchair races. 2. Someone in WAVA should comb through the results of Sydney and update its world age-group records to reflect such performances as Heike Drechsler's world W35 long jump record of 6.99 meters. I'm sure other W35 and perhaps M40 records were set in Sydney. And forget the friggin paperwork. (And Merlene Ottey ran W40 records before the Games.) 3. Jamaica's Ottey, age 40, sez she's still interested in continuing her elite sprint career -- despite the drug scandals she was dragged through. (Her specimen was mishandled, the IOC found, hence her reinstatement.) 4. Kip Janvrin took 21st in the deca at age 35 and broke 8,000 points earlier this year. Amazing score for a submaster, huh, Tim and Jeff? I don't share the traditional media cynicism about the Games -- that they're a circus for TV that showcases little but juiced performers. I've been to two summer Games, and I consider them some of the peak experiences of my life. I share the conviction that the Games are a salvation of mankind and call humanity to higher standards of fairness and friendship. My experience at the LA and Atlanta Games had a religious quality to them. Everyone around me shared the same feeling (even in two-hour waits to get into the stadium) -- that the event is the most special sporting event Earth provides and that being present for one is an incredible privilege. Being an athlete in the Games has to be one of the highlights of anyone's life. But every time we compete in our little masters meets, with a handful of family members cheering us on instead of 110,000 at Stadium Australia, we share the Olympic spirit -- higher, faster, stronger. We all laughed at Gateshead's T-shirts that said "Older, Slower, Lower," but we knew in our hearts that masters track is about challenging our own age limitations and our failing strength and speed. Masters track is about proving to ourselves that we are still athletes to the core. Our muscles may atrophy, our bones grow brittle -- but check out the eyes of a masters athlete struggling against pain at the end of a hard race. Those eyes are no different from Marion's, Michael's and Stacy's. Those eyes will never die. Ken Stone http://www.masterstrack.com
t-and-f: USATF prez candidate talks dollars sense
Y ask Y: Check out a post by Bob Bowman to the USATF associations mailing list on egroups: http://www.egroups.com/message/usatf_assoc/1225 Bob's running for president of USATF, and what really jumps out in his campaign pitch is his clarion call for USATF to push the IOC and IAAF for America's fair share of revenues from various meets, including TV rights to the WCs. He's right on the money. (Bob also demands a stronger push for IAAF to choose a USA site as host of the WC.) American athletes may not be a big draw outside of the Trials in the U.S., but overseas they fill the coffers of many meets, as well as the IAAF. So why not start playing hardball and demanding a share of the proceeds? Do we have to use the "B" word to get their attention? Bowman talks a lot of sense. Also makes me wonder if anyone else out there running for Pat Rico's job has something to add to the debate. Come out of the closet, U guys, and share your plans. Ken Stone http://www.masterstrack.com PS: Check out http://www.wce.wwu.edu/tracknet/evals2000.pdf This is USATF honcho Bill Roe's evaluation form for Masback. Wonder how he'll fare.
t-and-f: John Cosgrove's ideas for USATF
Y ask Y: John Cosgrove of the Southern California Association of USATF shares this memo with me. He sent it to Craig Masback in early February 2000. Cosgrove is toying with the idea of running for USATF Masters chairman. The memo is prefaced by some explanatory comments: Cosgrove writes: This articulates many of the elements of my vision and the (masters) Invitational races are actually elements in the overall plan. As you probably know, Dee Jensen is USATF 1st VP and Bob is the newly retired UCLA head coach. The ideas really flow from experiences I had trying to build a business out of the Mammoth Athletics Camp (MAC) in the late '80's. The video is from that. I learned the hard way about TF business realities. MAC still exists but now provides fitness services for companies as a separate division in my consulting company. It is run by Deanne Gutowski Schlobohm who is the women's coach at CSDH and a former WC 800M competitor out of UCLA. The club concept grew from my experience with the Boston Running Club (Fred Tressler) when I was in Boston. It really works and they are important players in our program (they have put on the M IC's for several years now) and run many championship events. He is also the head of Fila running promotions. I met with Craig last December along with Bob Larsen and Dee Jensen (she set up the meeting). I outlined verbally the rough contents of this and Craig asked me to write it up. It was vetted by Bob, Dee, both Masters Chairs, Chuck D., and many others. Since then I have had strong encouragement from other players such as Payton Jordan and John Smith. I spoke to Craig at Eugene and he is still interested but had to clear his plate from Sydney first. We (Bob Larsen I) have since had some feelers from possible sponsors. I recently received some emails from Carol McLatchie concerning one of those sponsorships in connection with Mammoth Mountain as a training venue. I am hoping to get visibility for Mammoth in return for corporate support for an athletic organization headed up by Bob. Both Bob and I have had meetings with the CEO of Mammoth along these lines. Carol tasked Ryan Lamppa and the Honickmans to follow up on this. Currently, Ryan is reviewing a video from me and is in contact with Bob as we speak. Masters will definitely be part of this in conjunction with a unified club. Fred Tressler has also been involved because he organizes the Fila sponsorships for the training venues. The memo: Craig A. Masback CEO USATF P.O. Box 120 Indianapolis, In 46206 Dear Craig: When you, Dee Jensen, Bob Larsen and myself met at the USATF Annual Convention in Los Angeles, you asked if I would summarize the ideas that we discussed. Apologizing for the delay, I have now done that, along with some additional thoughts. Bob and Dee have reviewed this write-up and have contributed their ideas to this proposal. Scott Davis, SCA President, has been kept abreast of our work and has contributed to and actively supported many of these ideas for years in many ways. Both Scott and Ken Weinbel have also reviewed this writing and have encouraged us to submit it for your consideration. Other interested parties have also reviewed it, and provided many improvements and strong encouragement. You may recall that we mentioned that this is really an additional means of responding to Pat Rico's and your talks at the Wednesday Opening session. Both of you identified the fact that our sport has a greater level of participation with the entire US population - youth, elite and recreational adult/master - than any other sport. Both of you challenged us to find means to build on the existing state of affairs to restore Athletics to its rightful place among the many other national sports. Our sport has long been proud of the fact that only we can claim that our sport is " ... for all, for life." This simple fact should be the foundation of our ascendancy. We are borrowing from well-proven concepts of European track clubs and a few successful versions here in the US. You have created the "Track in a Box" as a template-starting package for new programs. We propose an extension to that idea -- "Track Club in a Box". We feel that this structure should apply to a number of associations in the country. Of course, we would like to try it in the Southern California Association, but this shouldn't keep others from trying it as well. We have discussed these ideas with some other associations, and they have expressed interest and may want to move forward as well -- if a consensus can be reached. Once a consensus on the concept is reached, a promotional program that taps into the broad-based (i.e., combined youth, elite and adult), larger population could be crafted. This broad-based promotional program might be attractive to sponsors who are less interested in the elite program alone. Our experience with the existing sponsorship for the Senior Sports programs has shown that
t-and-f: Masters milestone at Kezar Stadium
Y ask Y: Once upon a time, around 1965, a middle-aged San Diego lawyer named David Pain thought it would be cool if folks his age could have track meets of their own. He tested the waters by nagging meet directors to include a "masters mile" for men over 40. By 1969, he'd organized the first USA national masters championships, and after a milestone tour of Europe (with his wife, Helen, as tour director), the movement took hold in Europe and sparked the creation of the World Association of Veteran Athletes. On Sunday, October 29, the movement comes full circle with perhaps the strongest mile field in masters history getting ready to run for prize money at the I think it's safe to say that this upcoming masters invitational mile at Kezar Stadium in San Francisco on October 29 will be the most competitive masters mile race in history. Here are the competitors, vying for $1000, $500 $300 in prize money in each race: Men's Masters: Paul Fragua Steve Scott Kevin Ostenberg Dave Reed Jamin Aasum Johnny Gray Steve Haase Dave Clingan Anselm LeBourne Nolan Shaheed Brian Davis Women's Masters: Rose Monday Nancy Tinari Diane Hiel Debbie Barazza Sabrina Peters-Robinson Mary Trujillo Vicky Bigelow Champions Run For Children Elite Open Masters Mile (track mile $ prizes) Kezar Stadium San Francisco, CA
t-and-f: Finished version: Masters milestone
Sent previous message prematurely. My apologies. Y ask Y: Once upon a time, around 1965, a middle-aged San Diego lawyer named David Pain thought it would be cool if folks his age could have track meets of their own. He tested the waters by nagging meet directors to include a "masters mile" for men over 40. By 1969, he'd organized the first USA national masters championships, and after a milestone tour of Europe (with his wife, Helen, as tour director), the movement took hold in Europe and sparked the creation of the World Association of Veteran Athletes. On Sunday, October 29, the movement comes full circle with perhaps the strongest mile field in masters history getting ready to run for prize money at the Champions Run For Children Open Masters Mile at Kezar Stadium in San Francisco. Competitors are vying for $1000, $500 $300 in prize money in each race. The masters mile field features: Steve Scott, American mile recordholder for life Johnny Gray, American 800 recordholder for life Anselm LeBourne, 1999 World WAVA M40 1500 champion Nolan Shaheed, world's best 50-and-over middle-distance runner And a cast of other outstanding runners over 40: Paul Fragua, Kevin Ostenberg , Dave Reed, Jamin Aasum, Steve Haase, Dave Clingan and Brian Davis The women's mile race is also packed, with Rose Monday, Nancy Tinari, Diane Hiel, Debbie Barazza, Sabrina Peters-Robinson, Mary Trujillo and Vicky Bigelow. (Only the addition of Mary Slaney and Ruth Wysocki would make this field as good as the men's.) The highlight, of course, is the showdown between Johnny Gray and Anselm LeBourne, both of whom skipped the Eugene masters nationals this past summer. Steve Scott will be hard pressed to keep up with these slightly younger runners. This appears to be the mile debut of Gray, who missed an opportunity to shatter the M40 world record in the 800 (1:51.25 by Peter Browne) at the USA Olympic Trials in Sacramento. (The world record was subsequently lowered to 1:50.69 by Ireland's Colm Rothery at Stretford, England, on Sept. 5, 2000) The masters outdoor world mile record is 4:02.53 by David Moorcroft of Britain. Gray has the best shot at that, if he's serious in training. We'll report results as soon as we get them. Ken Stone http://www.masterstrack.com
t-and-f: USATF Masters chair candidates interviewed
Greetings, all: The first of potentially four interviews with candidates for chairman of the USATF Masters Committee is now posted at: http://www.masterstrack.com/USATFdoug.html This QA is with Doug Schneebeck, a lawyer and M40 hurdler from Albuquerque, New Mexico -- coincidentally the site of the USATF national meeting this November/December. I'll post interviews with other chair candidates as soon as I get them. Thanks for your interest. Ken Stone http://www.masterstrack.com
t-and-f: Why so expensive to attend USATF meeting?
Y ask Y: The current issue of Athletics Weekly talks about the second annual UKA Congress, a meeting of athletes, coaches, officials and track fans in United Kingdom that takes place Dec. 2-3 at Birmingham. What jumped out at me was the entry fee: 12 pounds a day, or 17 for both. (That's $17.46 a day or $24.74 U.S. at today's exchange rate.) UKA is the British equivalent of USA Track and Field. But USATF is charging delegates to its annual convention in Albuquerque an onerous $145 until November 3 and $195 for late registration. Since many of the USATF attendees will be voting on important matters, these outrageous fees constitute a poll tax of sorts. The Supreme Court ruled these unconstitutional decades ago, when they were used to limit participation of blacks in Southern states (but didn't apply them to private or public organizations). But when USATF delegates vote for a new president (and chairmen of various committees), only paid registrants will have a voice in the future of USATF and its leadership. Why can't USATF emulate UKA and drop the cost of registration down to a reasonable, more democratic figure? And if the issue is exorbitant convention space rentals, why not try a less-expensive hotel? Or up the cost of space rental for the trade show? For more info on USATF meeting, see: http://www.usatf.org/usatf/2000AnnualMeeting.html Seems USATF should be encouraging more participation at its annual meeting rather than discouraging it with such high registration fees. Any explanation, Indy? Ken Stone http://www.masterstrack.com
t-and-f: Masters records for 200, 400, 800, mile
Y ask Y:
When I posted a note to the Masterstf egroups list that Johnny Gray had made
it his goal to break all masters WRs from 200 to mile, the response was
nearly universal scoffing. These folks have a lot of respect for the current
set of records.
Fact is, the WRs for age 40 and over are hard as nails. ("Soft records" in
masters track are pretty rare after a dozen world veterans championships and
countless national and regional masters championships around the world).
Anyway, these are the records for men 40 and over:
200m 21.86 Bill Collins
400m 47.87 Manuel Ulacio
800m 1:50.69 Colm Rothery
1500m 3:44.89 Luiz Jose Gonsalves
Mile 4:02.53 David Moorcroft
3:58.15 (indoors) Eamonn Coghlan
Ken Stone
http://www.masterstrack.com
t-and-f: Louise Tricard's marathon debut
Y ask Y: Please indulge me a moment to call your attention to one masters entrant in this Sunday's New York Marathon. Louise Tricard -- who literally wrote the book on American women in athletics (It's called "American Women's Track Field -- A History, 1895-1980) -- is making her marathon debut at New York. As a member of the NYC Police Athletic League, she represented the USA in the Pan Am Games (1959) in the 200 and set an American indoor record in the 440-yard dash. She managed USA teams from 1978 to 1987. She's competed in masters nationals, and had a big hand in spiking the no-false-starts rule in USATF Masters. Please join me in wishing Louise good luck and godspeed in New York -- yet another versatile sprinter showing that a marathon isn't out of reach for anyone. Louise is at [EMAIL PROTECTED] (ltricard @ aol.com) Go, LT! Ken Stone http://www.masterstrack.com
t-and-f: Masters chair interviews all posted
Greetings, all: All four candidates for USATF Masters TF Committee chairman have responded to my e-mail questionnaire and all four interviews are now posted at: http://www.masterstrack.com/USATFpage.html The last two are from George Mathews and Scott Thornsley. Earlier, I posted interviews from Doug Schneebeck and John Cosgrove. All four responded with thoughtful answers. This online candidates forum is a first for masters track, and I'm happy it's gotten 100 percent participation. But even more important is the involvement of delegate voters at the Albuquerque USATF convention and attention of masters athletes throughout the United States. Please share the interview page URL with your friends at the track and online. And don't be shy about contacting any of the candidates with your own questions. Thanks for your interest! Ken Stone http://www.masterstrack.com
t-and-f: Doug Schneebeck deserves our vote
Greetings, all: This morning I mailed the following letter to the masters chairman of San Diego USATF, my local association. I hope some of you will send a similar letter to YOUR association's masters delegate to the Albuquerque national convention. Mr. Ed Oleata, San Diego USATF Dear Ed: In several weeks, USA Track Field will hold elections of crucial importance to masters track. Ken Weinbel is stepping down as USATF Masters Committee chairman, and at least four candidates are vying to be his successor. I’m writing to recommend one of them -- Doug Schneebeck of Albuquerque, N.M. Doug is a national-class hurdler and pentathlete who recently turned 40. He represents a new generation of masters athletes -- an age group grossly under-represented in the masters leadership. In real life, he’s a lawyer with New Mexico's largest law firm. A longtime participant in submasters events, he's competed in 11 masters national meets. He’s also been a volunteer assistant track coach for two Albuquerque high schools for five seasons. But perhaps his most notable accomplishment has been his work since 1995 as president of a non-profit corporation that provides ski instruction to people with disabilities. He boasts significant experience in grant writing and fund raising for the Adaptive Ski Program -- a key skill for the masters program. In response to a questionnaire, Doug wrote me: “I would recruit a group of experienced (grant) writers who could put together these proposals and follow up on applications.” Doug also promises to seek inside funding from USATF, saying: “Is the masters program receiving adequate bang for its collective membership buck?” And he pledges to improve communication with masters athletes, including a USATF Masters Web site and monthly updates in National Masters News. He also writes: “I would ... create a base of e-mail addresses of our members for regular communication with people who do not participate in the (Internet masters track) egroup but still prefer an e-mail over looking at the Web site. I will also commit to respond to e-mail, phone calls or letters from any individual within 48 hours.” For these and other reasons, I urge you to cast your vote in the chairman election for Doug Schneebeck, whom I believe to be the best person to increase our membership and bring the movement into the 21st century with fresh ideas and new energy. If you aren’t planning to attend the Albuquerque convention, please pass this note along to San Diego USATF’s masters track delegate. Thanks for your attention and consideration Ken Stone, La Mesa, CA San Diego USATF member; [EMAIL PROTECTED]
t-and-f: Chickenfeed for masters track
Y ask Y: For the record, USATF Masters Track Field receives a razor thin budget of $30,000 from USATF -- out of USATF's total annual budget of about $2.7 million. And this despite the fact at least half the dues-paying members of USATF are of masters age (mainly road runners). I'm all in favor of USATF cutting us loose -- along with all our dues-paying members. Ken Stone http://www.masterstrack.com
t-and-f: Correction on USATF budget
Y ask Y: Correction. My source on USATF funding now sez: My figures about Masters funding vs USATF budget were slightly off. I stated that Masters TF receives $30,000 out of USATF's annual budget of $2.7 million budget. That was not correct. The annual budget of USATF is about $12.7 million! Ken Stone http://www.masterstrack.com
t-and-f: Vancouver out for 2005; Kuala Lumpur for 2003?
Greetings, all: The December 2000 issue of National Masters News contains a short but telling column on the Malaysian-hosted World Veterans Athletic Championships by WAVA President Torsten Carlius, who declares at the outset: "I am not happy with the developments in Kuala Lumpur, and especially not by the way some people seem to think they can act
t-and-f: USATF Meeting Report: Mathews elected chair
Greetings, all: George Mathews, a 57-year-old hammer thrower from Seattle, was elected chairman of the USATF Masters Track and Field Committee today (Saturday), beating 40-year-old hurdler Doug Schneebeck of Albuquerque in a run-off vote. Mathews, "a third-generation track and field athlete," succeeds Ken Weinbel, a 70-plus hammer thrower from Seattle recovering from heart-bypass surgery. A 1966 graduate of St. Johns University in New York, he's won several masters national championships in the hammer throw and weight throw. He finished in the top five in WAVA championships in Japan, Buffalo and Gateshead. He is president, founder and owner of Office Furnitureanswers.com and Facility Resource Inc., a 12-ear-old Contract Office Furniture dealership, doing $14 million business per year and employing 60 people. In the first phase of voting, Mathews garnered 28 votes, Schneebeck 12, John Cosgrove of Southern California 11 and Scott Thornsley of Pennsylvania 6. In the run-off, Mathews got 37 votes to Schneebeck's 21. Ken Stone http://www.masterstrack.com
t-and-f: USATF Meeting Report: Sacramento loses WAVA bid
Greetings, all: Sacramento's bid to host the 2005 World Veterans Athletic Championships -- the world WAVA meet -- was nipped in the bud Saturday, Dec. 2, at the USATF national meeting when the USATF Masters TF Committee voted by about a 3-to-1 ratio against supporting the Olympic Trials city as the U.S. candidate. According to those present in Albuquerque, N.M., for the discussions, the national USATF office in Indianapolis failed to inform all 56 USATF member associations of the availability of the 2005 world WAVA meet. In communications with the associations, the Indy office reportedly listed other upcoming championship domestic and foreign meets that associations could bid for -- but not the WAVA meet. As a result, Sacramento's lone bid to host the 2005 meet was considered unfair, since other associations hadn't received official notice that they, too, could seek USATF Masters backing as a bid city. Because of this hypertechnicality, Sacramento (and any other American city interested in bidding to host WAVA) must wait until 2003 for a chance to host the 2007 WAVA meet. Buffalo, N.Y., was the last American city to host the WAVA meet, in 1995. Eugene, Oregon, which hosted the world WAVA meet in 1989, reportedly has no interest in making a bid in the foreseeable future. With Sacramento failing to get USATF Masters backing for WAVA, the 2005 meet appears to be a race between San Sebastian, Spain; San Juan, Puerto Rico; and either Helsinki or Lahti, Finland. Delegates to the 2001 world WAVA meet in Brisbane, Australia, will choose the 2005 meet host from these and perhaps other candidates in July 2001. Ken Stone http://www.masterstrack.com
t-and-f: USATF Meeting Report: Clingan to be USATF Masters webmaster
Greetings, all: Dave Clingan of Portland, Oregon, has been appointed to lead a USATF Masters TF Committee effort to produce an official USATF Masters Web site, based at the national governing body's main Web site -- http://www.usatf.org. Clingan was named to the job by new USATF Masters chairman George Mathews on Saturday, Dec. 2, near the close of the USATF national meeting in Albuquerque, N.M. As webmaster, Clingan will link the USATF Masters site to his voluminous meet calendar already posted at http://www.masterstrack.com/meets.html, where he is co-webmaster. Clingan is a world-class M45 middle-distance runner, who took fourth in the world WAVA meet in Gateshead in 1999 and was second at the 2000 USATF national masters meet in Eugene. He also had produced the most comprehensive world masters ranking lists ever attempted for a given season at: http://www.masterstrack.com/rankings.html. Clingan hopes to post official documents of USATF Masters Track and Field on the site with the help of content providers from the masters ranks. Mathews' decision to base the USATF Masters Track Field Web site at usatf.org apparently means USATF Masters will remove National Masters News (http://www.nationalmastersnews.com) as the de facto official Web site of U.S. masters track. Ken Stone http://www.masterstrack.com
t-and-f: Plot thickens on Sacramento WAVA snafu
Greetings, all: Eddie Seese posted the following on the egroups list for USATF associations: The ball was dropped in many ways as far as bringing the WAVA Meet to Sacramento (Sacto). Up to this point, the Pacific Assn. (PA) decided to not include me (The, PA Masters T F. Chair) in the process of getting the 2005 WAVA Champs in Sacto. Therefore, I felt that there was no reason for me to speak to the Masters T F. Sports Committee on the subject. Then again I have to ask myself why would the Sports Committee not support bringing the Champs to the US. I never try to second guess that group. Sacto also lost a youth National Champs at the convention. There seems to be some really negative feelings toward Sacto since the Olympic Trials. I was a photographer at the trails and I can tell you the Media couldn't wait for the 2001 Champs at Eugene. I listened to all the complaints from those folks the whole time I was there. The Sacto group needs a lot of work before they will get good at hosting big meets. I think we need to continue to support having meets at Sacto because it is a beautiful facility, that is easily accessible, has great weather, and there sure is a lot of stuff to see and do in Northern CA. I feel certain that everything will work out in the long run and those that support bringing meets to Sacto will be glad they did. I hope we of the PA will be able to count on your future support. If you have any suggestions on how we of the PA can improve what we do in Sacto, or any negative comments on what has happened to you in the past, please feel free to forward you comments to me at [EMAIL PROTECTED] Without wax, Eddie Seese, PA Masters T F Chair My thoughts: Perhaps it was all for the good if Sacto was denied WAVA bid status. How could the Sacto team NOT keep the Pacific Association in the loop on the bid? Meets like this need everyone on the same page, and the Sacto group apparently wasn't in the same library, much less book. They had better learn to play the game if they hope to host WAVA -- as Vancouver apparently has learned as well. Ken Stone http://www.masterstrack.com
t-and-f: Sacramento WAVA 2005 bid revived
Greetings, all: Never say never in masters track. A day after the USATF Masters Track Field Committee voted 22-8 to reject Sacramento's request to be the U.S. representative in the bidding battle for the 2005 World Veterans Athletics Championships, the USATF Board of Directors -- including new president Bill Roe and CEO Craig Masback -- voted Sunday, Dec. 3, to revisit the issue of a 2005 bid city. In fact, a two- or three-member USATF Masters delegation is scheduling a visit to Sacramento (perhaps this month) to evaluate the city as a WAVA host. This means that Sacramento is still in the running to host the 2005 world WAVA meet. It also means that any other American city interested in hosting the big vets meet will have an opportunity to state its case to USATF Masters, which has to make a decision before May on which U.S. city will vie for the meet along with ones in Puerto Rico, Spain and Finland. (In July 2001, the WAVA General Assembly in Brisbane, Australia, will make the final choice of the 2005 host site.) The ostensible reason for rejecting Sacramento in the first place was that other cities had not been given official notice by USATF that WAVA 2005 was eligible for bidding. Now it appears that at least two other cities may be interested in bidding for WAVA -- Buffalo, New York (host of the 1995 WAVA meet) and Indianapolis (host of the legendary 1988 Olympic Trials, where FloJo ran her "non-wind-aided" WR in the 100). Eugene, Oregon, has taken itself out of the competition (by Barbara Kousky's lone say-so, apparently) because it can't handle the size of the meet (lack of lodging being a big problem). My source in Sacramento says that the city's reps at Albuquerque were shocked by the original rejection vote, especially since Tom Jordan, executive veep of WAVA, had stipulated a series of steps that Sacto needed to take to become the U.S. bid city -- and Sacto had jumped through all the hoops specified by Jordan. (Pacific Association support was garnered, apparently, despite Eddie Seese's comments to the contrary.) But the latest actions of USATF raises some questions: 1. Under what authority can the USATF Board throw out a decision of USATF Masters? 2. Who initiated Sunday's action to nullify Saturday's vote by USATF Masters? 3. What precisely are the steps for becoming a U.S. bid city for WAVA? Are these steps written down anywhere? And if not, why not? I'm still looking for answers. If y'all have any insights, please feel free to share them with me or this forum. This is a good test of our new leadership. Will the new Masters TF Executive Committee share its plans with the membership or continue conducting much of its business in private -- out of earshot from people in a position to add valuable wisdom? Ken Stone http://www.masterstrack.com
t-and-f: Official statement on 2005 WAVA bid
Greetings, all: Give George Mathews credit. He's pretty quick off the mark for a hammer thrower. Here's his rundown on the status of the USA bid for the 2005 World Veterans Athletic Championships: STATUS REPORT ON THE PRESENTATION SACRAMENTO WAVA CHAMPIONSHIPS FOR 2005 BY: GEORGE MATHEWS 12/4/00 At the Albuquerque USATF convention the Sacramento Sports Commission and the USATF Pacific Association made a presentation to a joint meeting of the Masters Track Field and The Masters LDR Committees. No action was taken by either committee at that meeting. At a later meeting of the LDR Committee, a motion to support Sacramento's intended bid for the 2005 WAVA Championships was unanimously approved. At a later meeting of the Masters Track Field Committee, Charles DesJardins was given extensive time to make a case for the committee to support the Sacramento bid presentation. After much pro and con discussion, a motion was made to not support this bid at this time for the following reasons: The committee generally felt that this proposal did not follow the process the committee developed for the last WAVA Championship bid made by the US; the 1995 Buffalo WAVA Championship bid. These procedures included: 1. Solicitation of bids. 2. Site visits to 5 different venues by a special purpose subcommittee. 3. Analysis of the bids from the technical and financial aspect. 4. Presentation of the analyzed bids to the Masters Track Field Committee. Other objections included the fact that work and expense would be required in a short period of time, which would be very difficult. Also, there was concern that since the WAVA Championships in Kuala Lumpur might be moved to Puerto Rico, the bid might be futile, as WAVA may not want to return to the same area of the World in successive Championships. Those supporting the proposal felt the opportunity to bring this championship to the US was so great that we would be injudicious not to make this bid. The benefits to US Track Field would be tremendous. They believed that Sacramento could comply with the bid requirements and had the internationally recognized venue to put on this championship. The motion not to support the Sacramento bid at this time carried 20 to 8. The Masters Committee would consider an effort to bring the WAVA Championship to the US in 2007 or at some later time. Later, at the USATF Board of Directors meeting, a motion was proposed to submit a letter of intent for the US to host the 2005 WAVA World TF Championships. Newly elected Masters Track Field Chairman George Mathews orally presented the activity of the Masters TF Committee on the proposed Sacramento bid. The Board reviewed the USATF regulations on international bids and recognized: 1. A completed bid was not in hand. 2. A technical analysis of the Sacramento's proposed venues had not been done. 3. A financial analysis had not been done. The Board was particularly concerned about the financial liability that may be assumed by the NGB. 4. The USATF Masters Track Field Committee had not yet recommended the Sacramento bid and, in fact, had rejected it. 5. A solicitation of potential bidders had not been performed After considering all this information, the Board generally felt the missing elements possibly could be accomplished in time and that bringing this meet to the US was too great an opportunity to not explore further. The Board voted unanimously to submit a letter of intent to WAVA for the US to host the 2005 WAVA TF Championship. ACTION ITEMS 1. The Sacramento Sports Commission the Pacific Association of USATF will furnish financial and technical plans ASAP. 2. George Mathews to provide Pat Rico with the financial WAVA Championship bid documents. 3. The Masters TF Committee is to provide qualified personnel to do a technical evaluation of the proposed Sacramento venue and any other venue that expresses interest and appears feasible interest in hosting this Championship in 2005. George Mathews and Rex Harvey will form the core of this evaluation subcommittee and sufficient funds must be identified for this activity. 4. The USATF National Office will put out a National solicitation to cities and other organizations that might be interested in hosting this championship. 5. George Mathews will keep the Board apprised of the situation and will make a summary verbal report to the January 21 Board of Directors conference call meeting. 6. If a proper and viable bid is completed and selected, the Masters TF Chairman will immediately seek approval of the Masters TF committee so that a timely submittal can be made to WAVA. Respectfully submitted by George Mathews USATF Masters TF Chair Copy-and-pasted by Ken Stone http://www.masterstrack.com
t-and-f: USATF errs on Masters Athlete of the Year
Y ask Y: An extremely knowledgeable source has informed me that USATF's posted list of award winners erred on a significant honor: Male Masters Athlete of the Year. The USATF Web site reports at http://www.usatf.org/news/awardbrekkie.html that Johnny Gray (along with Phil Raschker) are winners of the Gwilym Brown Award (Outstanding Masters male and female track field athletes). Raschker, a many-times winner of the award, is correct. But Gray isn't. The actual winner, as voted Nov. 29 by the USATF Masters Awards subcommittee, is M70 sprinter/hurdler Jim Stookey (who also won this award around 1996). Somehow the wrong honoree was recorded by USATF. The mistake is repeated by Runner's World Online. (See its archive for the News of Tuesday, December 5, 2000). Stookey won the short and long hurdles at the Eugene masters nationals, took second in the 100 and 200 and picked up gold or silver medals in the long jump, triple jump and high jump. He made a similar killing at the Boston indoor nationals in March. He traveled far from his home in Dickerson, Maryland, setting records even on the West Coast. In San Diego in September, Stookey, 70, set an age group American record in the triple jump with his 10.26m (33-8), beating the 9.56 (31-4 1/2) by Tom Patsalis in 1992. Stookey also broke the AR for M70 in the 300 hurdles, going 50.22 to crush the old record of 53.84 by Dan Bulkley in 1987. Someone in USATF Masters or USATF press office needs to make a correction -- and an apology to Jim Stookey. Sometimes even the "best sources" make mistakes. Ken Stone http://www.masterstrack.com
t-and-f: Omissions in USATF meet calendar
Y ask Y: USATF's meet calendar for 2001 at http://www.usatf.org/00cal/2001.html includes a lot of interesting (and obscure) meets -- from the South American Race Walking Champs in Cochabamba, Bolivia (March 17-18) to the European Youth Games in Murcia, Spain (July 23-26). But this otherwise exhaustive listing of major track meets fails to list a single masters event. Not the USATF masters indoor nationals in Boston (March 23-25). Not the USATF masters outdoor nationals in Baton Rouge (July 25-28). Not even a meet that may attract 6,000 athletes from around the world -- the WAVA world veterans championships in Brisbane, Australia (July 4-14). What gives? USATF (aka "A Sport for Life as Long as You Die at 39") has perpetually ignored or marginalized its large masters segment. Its TV commercials of last season showed rugrats in road races and elites like Marion Jones. But no over-40 athletes. Last year, the USATF rulebook failed to reflect updates of WAVA rules voted in mid-1999 at Gateshead, confusing meet directors around the country. This year, will the book get current WAVA rules right? New president Bill Roe has promised to listen to membership. He's proved that already by taking precious time from his packed schedule to reply to my queries regarding the Sacramento bid for WAVA. I was impressed. Other masters observers were impressed. Let's hope Prez Roe's attitude rubs off on the national staff at Indy. They can start by including masters events in their online meet calendar. Where to go to get the information? Check out: http://www.masterstrack.com/intl/intl.html for international meets, http://www.masterstrack.com/natl/natl.html for national meets and http://www.masterstrack.com/meets.html for masters 2001 meets by region. USATF, maybe you can learn something from your elders. Ken Stone http://www.masterstrack.com
t-and-f: Gray gaffe explained
Y ask Y: Don Austin, the USATF Masters TF Awards chairman, has fessed up to being responsible for Johnny Gray being listed by USATF as Masters Male Athlete of the Year. Don writes at http://www.egroups.com/message/masterstf/5130 that "I read my notes incorrectly at the awards breakfast." Don also is U.S. team manager for the World Veterans Athletic Championships in Brisbane next year, speaking of which: I erred in saying the USATF online events calendar overlooked the WAVA meet. In fact, as a Lister graciously pointed out: "WAVA Stadia Championships Brisbane, Australia" is noted. However, the date is not "July 5" (a single-day meet?) but July 4-14. Worth correcting. Also, my apologies for referring to certain foreign youth and racewalking events as "obscure." My own age-ism was showing. Thanks also to Marty Post at Runner's World Online, who dutifully (and trustingly) corrected the Johnny Gray error on his Web site today (Dec. 7), a day which will live in infamy. Ken Stone http://www.masterstrack.com
t-and-f: SoBe it: USATF toasts creatine drink
Y ask Y: The Dec. 8, 2000, edition of Running USA Wire (from the USATF Road Running Information Center in Santa Barbara, Calif.) shares some odd news: USATF SIGNS SoBe AS OFFICIAL SPORTS BEVERAGE ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. - SoBe Sports System will be the official performance beverage of USA Track Field, USTAF President Patricia Rico announced on Thursday. The announcement was made during the Opening General Session at USATF's 22nd Annual Meeting. The four-year deal between USATF and South Beach Beverage Company will make the SoBe Sports System available to a wide range of USATF athletes. The product will be provided at USATF's youth and junior championships for athletes 19 years old and younger, and to America's elite track and field athletes at all the events on USATF's Golden Spike Tour, as well as USA vs. THE WORLD competitions. "It gives me special pleasure to announce the signing of a new, multi-year agreement with the great beverage company, SoBe Sports System, to help develop our sport," said Rico. "We welcome SoBe as a key member of our sponsor family." "We're thrilled that SoBe Sports System will provide its fine products to our elite athletes, as well as our future young stars in our youth programs," said USATF CEO Craig Masback. "As the World's #1 Track and Field team, our athletes deserve the very best. We're confident that SoBe Sports System will provide the finest in performance beverages at our events." "We're excited about the SoBe Sports System becoming the official performance beverage of USA Track Field," said Billy Bishop, SoBe's vice president of marketing. "This association will allow us to demonstrate the benefits of the SoBe Sports System at all levels of competition in a sport that requires speed, strength and endurance to excel." SoBe's products are distributed in the U.S., Canada, Bermuda, Puerto Rico, the United Kingdom and the Caribbean. The company is headquartered in Norwalk, Connecticut. -- What the news release DOESN'T say: 1. SoBe's line of fruit-flavored, herb-spiked drinks includes ones with creatine as an ingredient. Children, can you say "Nandrolone positive"? 2. One SoBe drink features St. John's wort, an antidepressant sometimes called "nature's Prozac." 3. SoBe this year signed as a commercial spokesman the famous drunk John Daly, a blimpo golfer who prides himself on his smoking habit and is quoted in one article as boasting: "You won't catch me working out." See http://www.golf.com/news/gol/pga/2000/03/01/951958578265.html 4. SoBe's main claim to fame in the endorsement game is signing up Extreme sports stars --like skateboarders. See http://sobebev.com/healthyrefreshment/news_shok.htm 5. The USATF release doesn't say how much SoBe is paying for its ties to the world's No. 1 track team. At the least, I hope the drinks are provided at deep discount. Each bottle goes for a buck to $1.50. Bottled water would seem safer and cheaper. I've never tried a SoBe (pronounced so-bee) drink, but I have my doubts that it's some elixir of champions. Wonder what USATF membership thinks of this. Ken Stone http://www.masterstrack.com
t-and-f: Anselm Lebourne not U.S. citizen?
Greetings, all: Among the many interesting nuggets found in Suzy Hess' minutes of the USATF Masters TF meetings in Albuquerque: Suzy writes: "(Records czar) Pete Mundle advised that the records in the annual report were amended to include new marks, misspellings, changes in dates. Mundle reported that Anselm LaBourne is possibly a Haitian citizen." This is weird. Anselm competed for the United States at the 1999 world WAVA meet in Gateshead and won the M40 1500. He also won a USATF Masters Runner of the Year award in 1999 for his age-group. At no time before, during or immediately after the meet (or during the honors committee meeting) did I hear anyone challenge Anselm's official nationality. Why now? Suzy also writes: "Graeme Shirley proposed, and the committee agreed, to adopt all WAVA standards for USA competitions, including the 27" hurdle standard, and the 500-700 gm javelin." This is interesting. I noted a year ago (see http://www.egroups.com/message/masterstf/1429) how the USATF Masters TF Committee balked at going along with the lower hurdle heights for older age groups for a variety of reasons, mostly the cost to meet directors of buying a complete set of hurdles that go lower than 30 inches (widely available in Europe but not so easily found in USA). So what caused the turn-around? More important, will USATF be informed of the new hurdle heights (and spacings) so the next USATF rulebook doesn't leave out important information as it has in the past? Suzy writes: "The executive committee approved establishing a committee on the drug issue. This group will be chaired by Rose Monday. Kathy Jager volunteered to be on the committee." This is curious, since Suzy earlier wrote: " (Ken) Weinbel stated that USATF is not in the drug testing business for masters. USATF addressed the problem of our positive drug test and forwarded the problem to the IAAF, and IAAF passed it to WAVA. We will establish a small committee to lobby with WAVA. Rose Monday will act as drug-policy liaison with WAVA and will chair this committee." This means that Kathy Jager will sit on a committee lobbying WAVA over Kathy Jager -- presumably her attempt to receive early reinstatement from her 2-year drug ban after testing positive for a minute amount of syntehtic testosterone that was part of her doctor-prescribed hormone-replacement therapy for symptoms of menopause. Kathy certainly should be able to give input on the general issue of masters and doping rules, but she shouldn't be on an official committee that deals with her own case. Just doesn't appear kosher, from a conflict-of-interest standpoint. Ken Stone http://www.masterstrack.com
t-and-f: Need info on new masters world records
Y ask Y: In updating my Web site's records section, I queried Peter Matthews in Britain, the legendary trackstat nut. In addition to confirming world veterans records for Regina Javobs, Merlene Ottey and Heike Drechsler -- well-known and publicized performances -- Peter sent me first word of these other sensational records: M 40 110m hurdles14.16 Carlos Sala (20.3.60) ESP Castellón 16 Aug 2000 M 40 400m hurdles52.62Antônio Eusébio Dias Ferreira (2.3.60)BRA Rio de Janeiro23 Jul 2000 W 40 400 m hurdles58.88Maria José dos Santos (12.9.59)BRA Americana3 Jun 2000 I could use more information on each of these. Anyone in Spain or Brazil have a contact e-mail address for these athletes, their clubs or national associations? I'm especially interested in learning whether 1996 Olympian Sala's high hurdle mark was made with 42-inch hurdles (as used in Olympics) or 39-inch hurdles (masters height). If the 14.16 was made over international barriers, it represents a breakth rough as significant as the first M40 7-foot high jump or sub-4 mile. In fact, it would shatter probably the oldest veterans mark on the books -- a 14.4 hand-timed 120-yard high hurdles mark by Britain's Don Finlay in 1949. I'm also curious about whether these athletes even know they've set world over-40 records. Are their performances written up anywhere? Amazing that they've only just now come to my attention. Thanks for YOUR attention. Ken Stone http://www.masterstrack.com
t-and-f: Sala shatters legendary hurdles record
Greetings, all: Of all the masters world records on the books, the oldest seemed the most otherworldly -- the 14.4 hand-timed mark for 120-yard high hurdles by Don Finlay of Britain set back in 1949. The mark was set over Olympic-style 42-inch barriers. And since over-40 athletes rarely compete at 42 inches (the WAVA/USATF standard is 39 inches), Finlay's record was considered good for eternity. Now comes word from Peter Matthews of Britain that a five-time Olympian, Carlos Sala of Spain, has shattered this hallowed time with a 14.16 automatic performance on August 16, 2000, at Castellón. Sala was born March 20, 1960, and his M40 mark (set with 0.7 mps legal wind) also was good enough to demolish Stan Druckrey's world masters record for 110m (39-inch) hurdles as well! Druckrey, a Wisconsin resident who once competed in the USA Olympic Trials, ran 14.24 on July 30, 1989. In fact, Sala broke the old Finlay record three times in 2000, adding: 14.29 +0.4 4 Gavá May 28, 2000 14.21 0.0 6 Majadahonda June 28, 2000 Later, he also ran 14.19 and 14.13 (windy?) at Castellón on August 23, reports Matthews. Sala was fifth in the Spanish (open) Champs with 14.22 into a 0.4 mps wind. Matthews, editor of International Athletics Annual, shared his profile of Sala, who has a 13.44 all-time PR from 1987: Carlos SALA Molera b. 20 Mar 1960 Barcelona 1.87m 76kg Larios. At 110mh: OG: ¹80- sf, ¹84- 7, ¹88- sf, ¹92- qf, ¹96- h; WCh: ¹87- 6, ¹91- h, ¹95- h; EC: ¹86- 3, ¹90- sf; EJ: ¹79- 5; ECp: ¹89- 6, ¹91- 1B, ¹93- 8. Spanish champion 1986, 1988-93. At 60mh: EI: ¹88- 3. Three World veterans 110mh records 2000. Progression at 110mh: 1978- 14.7, 1979- 14.23/13.8w, 1980- 13.84, 1981- 13.90, 1982- 13.93, 1983- 13.64/13.55w, 1984- 13.56, 1985- 13.62/13.4, 1986- 13.50, 1987- 13.44, 1988- 13.67w/13.69, 1989- 13.61/13.5, 1990- 13.61, 1991- 13.64, 1992- 13.62, 1993- 13.91, 1994- 14.14, 1995- 13.81, 1996- 13.73A/13.75, 1997- 14.18/14.01w, 1998- 13.98/13.88w, 2000- 14.16. pbs: 200m 21.43 ¹85, 60mh 7.66i ¹88, 200mh 22.96 ¹87. "He is a case of a good athlete who has continued to compete into veterans years - no doubt vets marks will be smashed as and when more do so," Matthews writes. But wait! The news continues. World M40 and W40 records also were set in the 400-meter hurdles this past year, Peter writes: Antônio Eusébio Dias Ferreira of Brazil (born March 2, 1960) ran the long hurdles in 52.62 at Rio de Janeiro on July 23, 2000, lowering the previous over-40 best of 52.76 by American James King in Eugene on 8/3/89. And Maria José dos Santos (born September 12, 1959) of Brazil became the first women over 40 to crack 60 seconds in the 400-meter hurdles with her 58.88 at Americana on June 3, 2000. That mark demolished the previous record of 62.08 by Spain's Maria Sangous (born Jan 8, 1955) at Pontevedra on June 22, 1995. Other vets records set in 2000 were far better known, coming at the Olympics or meets leading up to them: W35: 5000m 14:45.35 Regina Jacobs (8/28/63) USA Sacramento 7/21/00 W35: 20km walk 1:25:59 Tamara Kovalenko (4/25/64) RUS Moscow 5/19/00 W35: Long jump 6.99 (22-9) Heike Daute-Drechsler (12/16/64) GER Sydney 9/29/00 W35: Shot put 21.46 (70-4 3/4) Larisa Peleshenko (2/29/64) RUS Moscow 8/26/00 W40: 100m 10.99 Merlene Ottey (5/10/60) JAM Thessaloniki 8/30/00 (Merlene did not run a 200m in 2000.) Matthews commented on my amazement that I hadn't heard of these fantastic performances, writing me: "Just shows that most top over-40 marks do not get onto the 'Masters/Veterans' news circuit. Because of course they are done in meetings open to all ages." In a year where most observers thought Olympian Johnny Gray would finally stun the 800m record (but didn't), these lesser-known European and South American stars shined far greater in the vets firmament. I have no idea whether they're even aware that they've set world veterans records. I urge the World Association of Veteran Athletes to consider these marks for official WAVA records -- and give these athletes the recognition that they are due. Ken Stone http://www.masterstrack.com
t-and-f: Monique Henderson going to UCLA
Y ask Y: Monique Henderson of Morse High School in San Diego will follow in Gail Devers' footspikes, reports The San Diego Union-Tribune. Monique, who spent the first month of her senior year watching Sydney Olympic track, announced an oral commitment to attend UCLA. The 2000 national girls high school track Athlete of the Year also took recruiting trips to USC, Stanford and South Carolina. "I liked the coaches, the team and the campus," Henderson said of UCLA. "It was a gut feeling. They are all good schools. The USC coach asked me why I picked UCLA, and I really couldn't tell him. I just felt better at UCLA on my recruiting trip." UCLA coach Jeanette Bolden, a 1984 Olympic 400-meter relay gold medalist, is in her ninth year at the school. Henderson set a national high school record in the 400 meters with a time of 50.74 seconds when she won her third straight CIF state title in June. The fast time prompted Henderson to reverse an earlier decision and compete in the Olympic Trials, where she finished eighth. Monique enters the masters ranks in 2018. Ken Stone http://www.masterstrack.com
t-and-f: Masters track loses friend: Alan Cranston
Greetings, all: Former U.S. Sen. Alan Cranston, a dear friend of track and field, died earlier today (Sunday) at his home in Los Altos Hills of as-yet-unknown causes. I met him only once -- as a member of the TAFNOT tour to the Atlanta Games. But I saw him run in several masters sprints. He also was instrumental -- back in the early 1970s -- of getting the AAU and IAAF off the back of masters, who wanted to compete during ITA meets but were threatened with the contamination rule. From the Web: Cranston lettered twice in track at Stanford, and was on its mile relay teamthe fastest in the nationin 1935. His undergraduate best time in his regular event, the quarter mile, was 48.0. His best time in the 100-yard dash was 9.9. Cranston resumed running in organized track meets in the early 1960s. "Track and Field News" records his having set the world record for 55-year-olds with a time of 12.6 in the 100-yard dash at the Masters Meet in San Diego, July 4, 1969. The record is now held by another runner. Cranstons best time in the senior 100-yard dash is 12.4 which he set at the Penn Relays in 1972. He has since run in senior events in the AAU-sanctioned Sunkist International, Los Angeles; the San Francisco Examiner Invitational; the Sports Arena Indoor Games, San Diego; and the AAU Masters, Randalls Island, New York He also ran on the U.S. Masters International Track Team in Helsinki and London in 1972. Cranston is an artist as well as an athlete; three of his oils hung in his Senate office. Me again: If you have any personal remembrances of Cranston as Athlete, please e-mail them to me. I'm planning to write a newspaper tribute (for the sports section). Ken Stone http://www.masterstrack.com
t-and-f: Another obit in masters track: Alphonse Juilland
Greetings, all: In the course of researching Alan Cranston as senior sprinter, I learned that another esteemed masters star died this year -- Stanford Professor Alphonse Juilland. Juilland's greatest fame in masters track may have been the fact he was pictured on the cover of one of the original Age Records booklets published by Track Field News. Later, the youth records were split from the old-age records, and Pete Mundle took over the Masters Age Records portion. Obituaries on Juilland: http://www.stanford.edu/dept/news/report/news/july12/Juilland-712.html http://daily.stanford.edu/Daily99-00/07-13-2000/news/NEWlinguist13.html Ken Stone http://www.masterstrack.com (Please inform me if you die, since otherwise I may not know until I do a Web search.)
t-and-f: Lincoln's kidney bean track
Y ask Y: Phil W's description of the high-tech indoor track at Nebraska prompts a memory of a slightly less modern Cornhusker facility. I ran a 600-yard race at Nebraska's indoor track around 1973 as part of a dual or triangular meet involving my Kansas Jayhawks (where I was a walk-on hurdler). The track -- following the curve of the stands beneath the football stadium -- was the shape of a kidney bean! I kid you not. You had to run tangents, and not hug the curb. I have no idea how any lap-race mark made on the track could be considered genuine. Never seen a track like before or since. Now I expect someone to recall a track that ran all uphill. Any Nebraskans out there who can confirm my story? Ken Stone http://www.weirdtracks.com
t-and-f: Marty Glickman story as told in 1999
Y ask Y: On July 4,1999, a column by Tom Cushman of The San Diego Union-Tribune recounted the Marty Glickman story. Here's what Cushman wrote: One day before he was to compete in the 400-meter relay and possibly win an Olympic gold medal, Marty Glickman was summoned to a meeting of the seven sprinters on the 1936 U.S. track and field team. In a move that resonates with bigotry 63 years later, coach Dean Cromwell informed Glickman and Sam Stoller they were being removed from the competition. The reason: "We were told there were strong rumors that the Germans were hiding their best sprinters -- saving them for the relay," says Glickman, who was in San Diego this week for the opening of "The Nazi Olympics" display at the Hall of Champions. "I was a brash 18-year-old kid, so I asked, `How do you hide a world-class sprinter?' " You don't, of course. And, Glickman recalls Jesse Owens saying to Cromwell, "I've won my three gold medals (100 meters, 200 meters, long jump). I'm tired. Let Marty and Sam run." Instead, Owens and Ralph Metcalfe would run the legs that belonged to Glickman and Stoller, who thus became the only two non-injured members of a U.S. Olympic track and field team not to compete. They also were the only two Jewish members of that team. During the years since, Glickman has pieced together details that have Josef Goebbels -- Adolf Hitler's Minister of Propaganda -- explaining to USOC president Avery Brundage that it would be embarrassing for the Fuehrer to have Jews on the victory stand. If Brundage -- who'd been sympathetic to the Nazi regime -- influenced Cromwell's decision, that's an American embarrassment, but not the only one inflicted on Marty Glickman and Sam Stoller. "To young fellows like us, Germany wasn't any different than the Eastern United States," Glickman says. "There were residential areas where we couldn't live. We weren't welcome in some restaurants. Even after I made the team, I couldn't train at certain clubs in New York City." Glickman tells of meeting an American in Berlin -- one who was attending medical school there. "Colleges in the States wouldn't admit me," the student said. Why would a German University accept him? "They don't know I'm Jewish," he explained. Glickman's shattered Olympic dream was replaced by a life of extraordinary success. As a single-wing tailback at Syracuse University, Glickman on an autumn afternoon in 1937 had a career game against Cornell (don't scoff; Cornell defeated Ohio State that year). So dominant was Glickman's performance, a local haberdasher -- hoping to profit from Glickman's popularity -- offered to sponsor a sports broadcast, for which Marty would earn $50 a week. "I was, of course, terrible," Glickman says, "but I learned." Station managers, and network executives, would notice. Glickman's voice eventually may have been the most familiar in New York City. He worked the football Giants. He did the Knicks. He was the first to broadcast college basketball from Madison Square Garden. "I even did the marble-shooting championships for Channel 4 TV," Glickman says. "I did the vocal description of a circus for 400 blind people." Glickman says maturity and success have mellowed him, but not detached him from the Nazi Games. It was a frightening time, and about to become desperate for millions. On an afternoon during those Olympics, American miler Lou Zamperini shinnied up a pole, detached a German flag and slid down -- into the arms of the Gestapo. It was regarded as an anti-Nazi protest, and that's how it played in headlines back home. Years later North County resident Don Colson met Zamperini in Los Angeles -- at an organizational meeting for former prisoners of war. Colson had weighed 187 when interned, and 93 pounds when Allied forces finally pried open the gates at Dachau. The Nazis already were operating concentration camps in 1936 -- one (Sachsenhausen) was being constructed outside Berlin even as the Games progressed -- but Zamperini's POW experience would come later. "Zamperini told me he finally persuaded the Gestapo that all he was after was a souvenir," Colson said recently. "Afterward, they introduced him to Hitler, who autographed a new flag and gave it to him." Glickman knew Zamperini -- remembers him as a wonderful guy with green eyes, which were filled with pending mischief. "And, he got to participate," Glickman says. "From an athletic standpoint, there was no reason why Sam and I should have been denied that chance. "I never defeated Jesse in a race, but we were as fast as the others. Frank Wykoff was one of the four, and I beat him in a post-Olympics meet. "Plus, we'd been practicing baton exchanges for days. Wykoff later was quoted as saying the original group probably would have run faster." With replacements in the blocks, the U.S. set a world record (39.8 seconds) that would stand for 20 years. "But, I have no gold medal to show my grandchildren and
t-and-f: Event schedule at Long Beach State?
Y ask Y: Coach Andy Sythe at Long Beach State (in SoCal) informs me that his annual winter all-comers meet series begins January 6, and continues Jan. 20, Feb. 3. I haven't gotten a reply yet from him on the schedule of events, and when they start. Anyone out there able to help? Ken Stone http://www.masterstrack.com
t-and-f: Puerto Rico replaces Malaysia for 2003 WAVA
Greetings, all: My farflung masters moles have shared an e-mail message from WAVA President Torsten Carlius to his underlings to the effect that Kuala Lumpur has pulled out as host of the 2003 World Veterans Athletics Championships and been replaced by Puerto Rico. Here's the note Prez Carlius sent to various officials: Coming home I find continued correspondence re our WAVA World Veterans Championships in 2003. I must say that I am surprised as I was of the opinion that we had clearly explained the WAVA position the last weekend saying that we have started serious discussions with Puerto Rico to take over the Championships following their need to have an answer no later than January 7 for negotiations with their potential sponsors. It means as I have also informed you that we have pulled out of Kuala Lumpur and plan for and with Puerto Rico for 2003. I must remind you that the deadline December 22, which was also extended over the Christmas and New Year Holidays, passed without any reactions and not even the letter you say you sent by courier reached me. I can only refer to my previous mails and repeat that we now plan with Puerto Rico for the 2003 WAVA World Veterans Championships. Kuala Lumpur is unfortunately cancelled and any further correspondence will not help. Me again: Still unanswered is the big question: Why? We've heard rumors that Malaysian royalty has been hard to work with. Switch from KL to PR still won't help heat-sensitive athletes, but at least it won't take quite as much money to get roasted in 2003. Ken Stone http://www.masterstrack.com
t-and-f: No coverage=no trackies
Brother Garry writes: People in that age group who play basketball, softball, soccer? Dozens/hundreds/thousands. Meet 'em every day. But no trackies. At the risk of beating the dead horse that TFN is at the moment, I will quote from an editor's note (apparently by the late Alphonse Juilland) that accompanied a debut column called "Seniors, 30 Up" on page 20 of Track Field News in November 1970: "As is apparent from the title, this column will transcend the normal 40 and up limitation for seniors to include those in their thirties -- the objective of which is to facilitate continuous participation in athletic activities after competition in regular meets is no longer practical. The new 30-39 category will help fill a gap between regular and senior competition, thus encouraging athletes to continue practice without having to wait until they have reached 40." Just so that there's no misunderstanding -- USATF masters meets of any size are open to athletes 30-39 (who are called submasters). This includes the USATF national masters indoor and outdoor championships. The bottom line: The 12.0 sprinter who can't cut it in postcollegiate elite meets is welcome with open arms by the masters movement. The reason you don't see more of these folks is you haven't ASKED them -- or even informed them. An interesting phenomenon is worth noting, too: Until I had my hernia surgery in late 1997, I didn't know a single person in my workplace who'd been through it. After I returned to work, I learned that quite a few men had undergone hernia operations. Same thing happens in masters track. Just last week, I went for a workout at Cuyamaca College east of San Diego and saw a very muscled man with two teen-age daughters practicing block starts. Turns out he's a former semipro football player (San Diego Jaguars), who is training for sprints at age 36. He competed in meets last year in his age group. I can cite a dozen instances of running into masters or submasters in training in my area. Garry has probably walked past hundreds of them at meets on the way to the buffet table. He's just never stopped to ask or notice. On the flip side, I've come across equal numbers of older distance runners who haven't a clue that masters track exists. Sites like mine and Runner's World Online are making a dent, though. In fact, one of the queries put to Marcus O'Sullivan recently in an online interview is whether he thinks he has a shot at a sub-4 mile as a master. He turns 40 at the end of 2001. Five years ago, "masters" rarely came up in mainstream coverage. Now it's becoming almost a given when talking to older or near-retirement elites. But TFN persists in the damaging delusion that masters track is of interest only to sons, daughters and spouses of participants. TFN was on the right track in 1970 but got off it somehow. How the heck are nonelite thirty-somethings going to see themselves as track athletes if the Bible of the Sport commands that they not? Ken Stone http://www.masterstrack.com
t-and-f: Taking this thread to logical extreme
Y ask Y: For those who say high-schoolers are being cheated by not running 400H, all I can say is: Yeah, sure. And make the kidlets run 42-inch hurdles in the highs. And throw the 16-pound shot. And use 16-foot Pacer poles in the vault. Why deprive them? Nothing wrong with running 300 hurdles as a transition. BTW, in the old days of California track (pre-1974) that gh (and I) recall so fondly, we had varsity, B's and C's (based on a system of "exponents"). C's were mainly skinny freshmen and sophomores. B's were mainly sophomores and juniors. In those days, B's and C's also ran 180-yard dash insted of 220, 660-yard run insted of 880, and 1320 instead of mile. My favorite event of all time: the 120-yard low hurdles (five 30-inch hurdles 20 yards apart). Ken Stone Valencia High School Recordholder for Eternity, C 120 lows -- 13.7 in 1970.
Re: t-and-f: Taking this thread to logical extreme
DG, Yeah, I get the point on 300s not being quite the challenge as 400s, but you do learn such things as step pattern and running the curve. My old coach at Valencia was crestfallen when I told him, near the end of my junior year, that my family was moving to Omaha. He said: "You can't do that!" And I said, "Why?" And he replied: "I haven't given you permission." He said he had planned to train me for the 400 to help get me into 400 hurdles shape (knowing the 180s meant zip). My dream of running for Jim Bush evaporated, but I eventually finagled my way onto the KU track team as a walk-on under assistant Coach Thad Talley (who had been Tom Hill's coach at Arkansas). I went to KU, competed for two years (training with the infamous, never-realizing-his-potential Bob Bornkessel) and 1976 Olympians Mark Lutz, Terry Porter and Sam Colson) and then got kicked off the team for mediocrity. Maybe 400s would have done me good. Ken Stone (56.1 PR twice in 400H) Stone
t-and-f: Official word on 2003 WAVA meet status
Confirming my earlier posts, Rex Harvey reports on the WAVA Web site: January 18, 2001: WAVA President Torsten Carlius reports that the rights to conduct the 2003 WAVA World Championship have been withdrawn from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. He states that last March, when some question arose, he and several others of the WAVA Council visited Kuala Lumpur to specifically investigate the local organizing committee (LOC) organization and its plans to conduct the Championships. They were favorably impressed with the facilities and the level and ability of the LOC personnel in place at that time. Therefore, they recommended that the Championships go on as planned. However, since that time, the composition of the LOC has changed considerably and some of the most influential members have left or have been forced out. All of this has occurred without notification or consultation with WAVA. President Carlius visited again last fall and carefully set clear minimum objectives for the LOC and a clear deadline of the 22nd of December for achieving those objectives. That deadline, and a generous grace period, passed without any positive action and lead directly to the withdrawal of the Championships by WAVA. He further states that the 2003 Championship is currently being offered to Puerto Rico, who was the runner-up in the competitive bid held at the 1999 WAVA General Assembly in Gateshead, England. Puerto Rico is now checking facility and housing availability, and public and private support and sponsorship. They are also considering their ability to put together an effective LOC to organize, fund, staff, and prepare for the Championships in the two and one-half years remaining. Stay tuned. Ken Stone http://www.masterstrack.com
t-and-f: Bridget Cushen: WAVA women's rep for life?
Greetings, all The WAVA Web site informs us that Bridget Cushen of Britain is running again for the office of WAVA women's representative. See posting at: http://www.wava.org/latest%20news/Bridget%20Cushen%20Announcement.htm Given that Cushen has apparently done nothing on behalf of Kathy Jager's appeal for a medical waiver to end her 2-year drug ban, I'm wondering how she can consider herself a women's rep. She's been more of a rubber-stamp. Can anyone tell me what Cushen has done to advance women's interests in WAVA -- or why she deserves another term of office? Anyone out there willing to step up to challenge her at the Brisbane General Assembly and commit to REAL and VISIBLE progress for women? Also: I find the wording of WAVA's Cushen announcement highly inappropriate -- amounting to a campaign blurb. (WAVA sez: "She is a seasoned veteran of that office having served five two year terms from 1985 to 1995 and a four year term from 1997 to 2001.") Can we expect wava.org to hype the re-election of President Carlius as well? Ken Stone http://www.masterstrack.com
t-and-f: Johnny Gray vs USOC?
Y ask Y: Kirby Lee of the Los Angeles Daily News has written one of the strangest pieces on track I've ever seen. It's an advance story on the L.A. Invitational, but it makes a truly bizarre claim. Kirby writes: LOS ANGELES - Johnny Gray announced his retirement at age 40 when he came up short in his bid for an unprecedented fifth Olympic berth in July. However, the American 800-meter record-holder isn't ready to put it in writing - even if the U.S. Olympic Committee behaves as if it can't wait to get rid of him The USOC forced his hand -- and he wasn't ready to play it. The organization requested that he sign a document to make his retirement official, which would've barred him from participating in a USA Track Field-sanctioned event for four years. He wouldn't do it. "That was kind of strange for me," Gray said. "I represent a country for over two decades and I decide I want to quit. Now I have to sign a legal document? But I didn't have to sign that legal document to start. Why should I have to sign a document to quit?" Another letter, to notify Gray that his partnership with the Olympic Job Opportunity Program was being terminated, added to his discontent. He had been under the impression he would receive support for at least a year following his retirement. "That was another stab in the back," Gray said. "We have so many U.S. athletes who sweat blood for their country but don't reap the benefits. It looks good because (when) you see the Michael Johnsons and the Marion Joneses, you think that Johnny Gray is making money out there. But the truth is, it is only a few."... Gray, who turns 41 in June, doesn't believe he can approach his American (800) record but is confident he can run in the 1:44 range after cracking 1:45 for 14 years, from 1984 through 1997 Gray attributed his subpar performance last season to a coaching change when Merle McGee, his coach since high school, retired. This season, he has reunited with McGee, who provides workouts by telephone. "If I can run 4:13 (mile) out of shape, I still have some talent," Gray said. "My age might say that I am a Master, but age is nothing but a number. I am still going because I enjoy the sport. I really don't see an end because I don't try to look toward the end. I just look toward the present and enjoy the present." Me again: First off, when will reporters quit saying he retired at the Trials? He made it clear he would compete in masters. He was merely stepping back from elite competition -- not hanging up his spikes for good. Second, what's up with this USOC crap? Utter nonsense! If he's a card-carrying member of USATF, he can compete anywhere he meets the age or performance standard. Johnnym will run the 600m at L.A. and might not be at his prime, but I don't get this stuff about signing a document to make his "retirement official." Somebody needs to straighten someone out. God forbid we should have to put retirement in writing. Ken Stone http://www.masterstrack.com
t-and-f: Grayman delivers speedy 600
Y ask Y: JG had little trouble winning the 600-yard run Saturday night at the Los Angeles Invitational at the Sports Arena, beating a kid about 20 years younger by 2.6 seconds. Gray's pace was 52.9 for a quarter-mile -- which would have gotten fourth at last year's masters indoor nationals. JG probably could have won the 800. 600 YARDS 1. Johnny Gray, Santa Monica TC 1:12.21 2. Darrell Tozier, UC Irvine1:14.82 800 METERS 1. Michael Stember, Unat. 1:49.60 2. Milton Browne, Barbados 1:50.94 3. Mahmoud Al-Khirah, Santa Monica TC (Syria) 1:52.39 4. Kevin Elliott, USC 1:54.07 5. Rob Mitchell, Nike Farm 1:54.24 6. Jeremy Huffman, Nike Farm1:55.82 More results at http://www.frankenenterprises.com/lai01results.htm Ken Stone http://www.masterstrack.com
t-and-f: Thom Hunt's reaction to HS sub-4 indoors
Y ask Y: Writer Tom Shanahan got the former prep mile record-holder on the horn for this piece in The San Diego Union-Tribune: http://www.uniontrib.com/sports/20010121-_1s21mile.html Ken Stone http://www.masterstrack.com
t-and-f: Kathy Jager case: WAVA rejects early reinstatement
Greetings, all WAVA has spoken, and it's bad news for Kathy Jager and her cause. WAVA President Torsten Carlius has informed Carl and Kathy Jager that her request for early reinstatement from a two-year drug ban (ending this coming fall) has been rejected by the WAVA Council. This means she can't compete in the World Veterans Athletic Championships in Brisbane, and she'll barred from USATF-sanctioned domestic meets until then as well. Carlius wrote the Jagers thusly: "Kathy's case was discussed at the IAAF Council meeting in August with the decision to submit the matter to WAVA. As I have previously told you, the Olympic Games month was lost as most people were involved in Sydney and I promised you to try to have our WAVA answer ready by end of November. It took two more weeks and I am sorry for the delay. "However, the Council studied the rules and after considering these the WAVA Council could not find any exceptional circumstances in the case and the decision was consequently to reject the appeal -- a decision that was also sent to IAAF to forward to you. "I hope this clarifies what has happened and been done from our side. The decision not to approve of the early reinstatement is final and will not be reopened as the Council has found no exceptional circumstances. I am sorry for this but from our standpoint it is so. "However, I am aware that we owe you an answer on the request for exemption of the two medicines (hormone replacement therapy diuretic) and this I will answer the next week after having talked to my Council Members - will be away again some days." In light of this decision, Kathy's husband, Carl, has prepared a summary of this case. I share this with the List and egroups in hopes it prompts some enterprising Web site or publication to pursue this matter and ask some hard questions of the IAAF and WAVA -- including: If it's OK to grant early reinstatement for Javier Sotomayor and Merlene Ottey (among others), why is a 56-year-old woman given such a hard time in her request? An Athlete and Her Medicine --- A New Perspective SOME BACKGROUND Kathy Jager is a world class Masters (over age 40) track and field athlete. Her specialty is the 100M and 200M, but she also holds records in the pole vault, high jump and long jump, as well as the field events shot put, javelin, and discus. In Gateshead, England, during an international meet in August of 1999, she broke the world 100 M record for her age group. Kathy began her track career at age 50, entering an Arizona state-level meet---the annual Grand Canyon State Games. Subsequently she competed in several dozens of local, regional, and state competitions. She has also competed regularly in the biennial National Senior Olympic meets and annual National Masters meets. While she was competing at the international Masters WAVA (World Association of Veteran Athletes) meet at Gateshead, she was one of the athletes selected---presumably at random---for drug testing. After the meet, and after she had returned home to the United States, she received a letter from USATF (United States Track and Field---the governing body for both Olympic and Masters athletes from the United States) informing her that she had tested positive for the banned drug methyltestosterone. The letter, citing an originating query from an international regulator, the International Amateur Athletic Federation (IAAF), requested an explanation for the positive test. Unknown to her at the time, this synthetic testosterone is found, in trace amounts, in the hormone replacement medicine called Estratest---a medicine effective in alleviating severe cases of post menopausal distress and prescribed for Kathy by her physician. Also unknown to her, since she had received no information on the subject, was the fact that this medicine is banned for athletes. After receiving the letter Kathy submitted a complete file of information on her personal medical requirements, and also outlined a number of mitigating circumstances relative to the test. Nevertheless, the IAAF rejected her explanation and she was suspended---pending hearings---from competition for two years. In addition, the medals which she had won in England were voided from the record books. What has followed has been an international, hard-fought, and unusually bewildering struggle to gain early reinstatement and exemption for her medicine. The entire battle has been waged within the often arcane and lengthy procedures of three different regulatory bodies. The battle was first waged with USATF who administers sanctions on the IAAF’s behalf. Over the course of nine months of constant communication, two hearings were finally held, both of which recommended Kathy’s early reinstatement. These actions culminated with a USATF recommendation for reinstatement, pending IAAF approval of exemption for her medicine. The next phase lasted another three months
t-and-f: Staples track meet spiked
Y ask Y: The Associated Press reports out of Los Angeles: A disagreement over sponsorship funding has forced the cancellation of the Powerade indoor track and field meet, organizers said Wednesday. The meet, which was scheduled for Feb. 11, was to be the first track competition held at Staples Center. Eleven medalists from the Sydney Olympics had committed to compete. Ken Stone But the Los Angeles Track Field Organizing Committee said a disagreement over the amount and payment schedule could not be resolved with the title sponsor. Coca-Cola is the parent company of the Powerade brand.
t-and-f: Details on Staples meet cancellation
Y ask Y: Check out differing accounts on Powerade snafu at: http://www.latimes.com/sports/times/20010201/t09584.html http://www.dailynews.com/sports/articles/0201/01/spo04.asp Ken Stone http://www.masterstrack.com
t-and-f: The Long Run movie info
Marty et al: Check out: http://www.upcomingmovies.com/longrun.html Ken Stone
t-and-f: Gray wins Millrose in masters record
Y ask Y: The Associated Press reports from Millrose Games: Johnny Gray won his fifth Millrose Games title in a stirring finish with unheralded Daniel Caulfield of Ireland. Gray led all the way in his first major comeback race, finishing in 1 minute, 50.4 seconds, smashing the Masters indoor record by four seconds. Caulfield, the 800 winner at Boston last weekend, was only one-hundreth of a second behind. "It's a pleasure to come out and perform well at 40," Gray said. "When I run, I'm 21." Gray, a noted front-runner, seized the lead quickly and had a two-meter advantage coming off the final turn. Then Caulfield made a strong bid to overtake the aging Gray, but his stretch run fell just short. Ken Stone http://www.masterstrack.com
t-and-f: Complete results of Millrose 800
Y ask Y: Johnny Gray also ran the fatest masters 800 in history, indoors or outdoors, breaking the M40 outdoor record of 1:50.69 set 9/2/2000 by Colm Rothery of Ireland. Gray's winning time is worth 1:43.65 on the WAVA Age-Graded Tables -- which are undergoing revision studies as we speak. It's a 98.14 percent age-graded performance. 1 Johnny Gray Santa Monica Track Club 1:50.40 2 Daniel Caulfield Westchester Puma T.C./Ireland 1:50.41 3 David Kiptoo Puma/Kenya 1:50.79 4 Derrick Peterson Adidas 1:50.87 5 Rich Kenah Asics 1:51.61 6 Trinity Gray Nike 1:51.89 Official results can be found at: http://www.millrosegames.com/results.html Ken Stone http://www.gojohnnygo.com
t-and-f: Geezer Glory! Ottey wins Millrose 60
Y ask Y: And to top it all off, 40-year-old Merlene Ottey wins the Millrose 60 meters in 7.20. That crushes the listed WAVA world W40 indoor 60 record of 8.01 by American Denise Foreman on 3/22/97. The 7.20 works out to an Age-Graded 6.816! AP sez: "Ottey . . . burst out front quickly in the 60 and won in 7.20 seconds, leaving five other Olympic relay medalists in her wake. This was Ottey's first Millrose victory and her first appearance since finishing third in 1986. "It's never too late," she said, referring to her age. "I love what I'm doing." What's the matter with the KIDS these days? Ken Stone http://www.gomerlenego.com
t-and-f: Tyree burns 400 at all-comers
Y ask Y: While waiting to time a friend at the 200 mark of 400 at the Long Beach State (Calif.) all-comers meet Saturday (2/3/2001), I read off splits for runners in the first heat. I was shocked to find myself saying: "21, 22, ..." as one guy flashed by. Mystery was soon resolved. PA lady announced that Tyree Washington was in that heat. I heard two times for him: 45.9 and 45.0 (all races were hand-timed.) Not bad for early February. Many thanks to Coach Andy Sythe for the latest in his series of three-meet Winter All-Comers. For $5, he lets you enter all the events you want to. Red-coated USATF officials do a great job in all venues, and HS, college, youth (as young as 4 or 5) and masters all get to run. (It's the one time a year I get to beat high school kids.) And the blocks this year were all new Newtons, the ones with the handles on top that retail for about $250 apiece. Ken Stone http://www.goninersgo.com
t-and-f: Two Eurovets banned for two years
Y ask Y: Kathy Jager has company. The IAAF has identified an M50 Czech Republic javelin thrower and a W50 Italian sprinter/jumper as having been sanctioned by their national federations after testing positive for banned substances. Like Jager -- the WAVA world-champion W55 sprinter from Arizona who received a two-year suspension for having tested positive for methyltestosterone in her menopause medicine -- the Czech and the Italian have been banned for competition for two years. The news appeared on Page 5 of the IAAF newsletter No. 46, published Dec. 15, 2000, and available on the IAAF Web site at http://www.iaaf.org/News/newsletter/index.html. But since the two masters were among 20 athletes listed for doping violations, little attention was paid. In fact, both the official WAVA and European Veteran Athletic Association Web sites are silent on the subject. Not so Annette’s Seite, a German veterans track site maintained by WAVA world champion Annette Koop and her lawyer husband, Robert. On February 5, 2001, the Koops reported: Frantisek Dráp ist bei den Masters-Europameisterschaften im vergangenen Sommer im finnischen Jyvaeskylae positiv getestet worden. Der 50jährige Tscheche wurde inzwischen für zwei Jahre gesperrt. Er hatte im Speerwurf der M 50 mit 62.27m die Silbermedaille errungen, die ihm jetzt durch die EVAA aberkannt wurde. Der bisherige Meisterschaftsdritte Erkki Porri (FIN) erhält jetzt Silber, der 51jährige Pole Jan Dec gewinnt Bronze. Gleichzeitig wurde auch ein Masters-Dopingfall aus Italien bekannt. Bei den italienischen Senioren- und Mastermeisterschaften 2000 am 20. Februar vor einem Jahr in Neapel war die W45-Sprinterin Tania Ciuciula positiv getestet worden. Auch sie wurde inzwischen von der IAAF für zwei Jahre gesperrt. I don’t sprechen zie Deutsch, but the Koops’ post led me to the IAAF revelation. The banned Czech, whom the IAAF identified as Frantisek Drab, tested positive July 18, 2000, at the European Veterans Outdoor Champs in Jyväskylä, Finland, where had won the silver medal in the javelin with a throw of 62.27m -- a little over 204 feet. That also was the No. 2 mark in his age group worldwide in 2000. Drab (or Drap) also took second in the 1998 Nike World Masters Games in Eugene, Oregon, where he threw 57.54 (188-9) in the M45 age group. The banned Italian is Tania Ciuciula, who tested positive for a banned substance at the Italian Indoor Veterans championships in Naples, Italy, on February 20, 2000. However, she continued to compete that spring and summer, including a long jump competition April 25 in Rome and the Italian vets outdoor championships in June in Milan. There she won gold in the long jump and bronze in the 100m (15.65). She ranked 12th in the world in her age group in 2000, having gone 4.26 (just short of 14 feet). Apparently, she was barred from competing a month later in the European veterans championships in mid-July in Finland. The Eurovets meet Web site shows Ciuciula among the entrants at http://www.jkl.fi/Evaco2000/events/w/50/lj.htm, but the results at http://www.jkl.fi/Evaco2000/results/w/50/lj.htm do not show her as having competed. However, a report by the EAA Circular Letter of late July 2000 identified Ciuciula as having tested positive as a high jumper at the Italian Indoor Veterans Championships on Feb. 20, 2000. (See http://eaa-athletics.ch/letters/letter0008.htm) The IAAF earlier had announced in its newsletter: “In the matter of the application for the early reinstatement of Kathy Jager, a 56-year old athlete of the USA, Council adopted the position that the IAAF should not exercise any jurisdiction over doping matters relating to Veteran athletes competing in events that are limited to Veterans. Such matters should be dealt with by WAVA.” Given this stance, it can be asked: Why has WAVA not taken public responsibility for the Drab and Ciuciula cases? Why have their two-year suspensions not been made public via masters/veterans media? And why -- if IAAF shouldn’t handle veterans doping matters -- did the IAAF suspend two veterans for doping infractions? Other questions I’m seeking answers to: 1. What banned substances were involved in the European cases? 2. Have the banned athletes admitted or denied their drug positives? 3. Have the banned Eurovets appealed their suspension, or sought early reinstatement? 4. Are WAVA and EVAA officials withholding names of any other athletes who have tested positive in veterans meets lately? I’m also curious about the banned athletes themselves. Do they have histories of success as open athletes in the 1970s or 1980s? How can these athletes be reached? Thanks for your attention. Ken Stone http://www.masterstrack.com
t-and-f: AP agate errs on pole valut
Y ask Y: Speaking of track results agate, here's what The Associated Press sent at 1:06 p.m. Pacific time Friday, Sept. 23, 2001: BC-RUN-Flanders Indoor Results,0387 Flanders Indoor Results By The Associated Press At Ghent, Belgium Pole vault -- 1, Rodion Gataullin, Russia, 25-3 1/4 2, Romain Mesnil, France, 24-11 1/4. 3, Adam Ptacek, Czech Republic, 24-11 1/4 5, Tye Harvey, United States, 24-7 1/4. Around 5:15 p.m., I called New York AP Sports Agate Desk, and five minutes later, a correction was sent (but note the typo in the explainer line) BC-RUN-Flanders Indoor Results, 1st Ld-Writethru,0396 Eds: CORRECTS Pole valut distances. Flanders Indoor Results By The Associated Press At Ghent, Belgium Pole vault -- 1, Rodion Gataullin, Russia, 18-8 1/2. 2, Romain Mesnil, France, 18-4 1/2. 3, Adam Ptacek, Czech Republic, 18-4 1/2. 5, Tye Harvey, United States, 18- 1/2. It'll be interesting to see how many newspapers run the wrong agate in Saturday morning editions. Ken Stone http://www.mastersnitpicker.com
t-and-f: Can anyone report on Leeper?
Y ask Y: Just heard from a friend that Nathan Leeper lept on Letterman on Friday night. Anyone see it? I'm told Letterman made a joke about the top winter sports -- and segued into the high jumping segment. Ken Stone
t-and-f: Elite masters mile fields at Atlanta nationals
Greetings, all Count on records burning at the Atlanta USATF indoor national championships -- but not from the Dragilas and Trammels alone. A milestone masters race Saturday, March 3, will pit world and American record holders and champions at the Georgia Dome. These elite men's and women's mile races will include runners aged 40 and up. Featured runners include Olympians Graeme Fell and Sam Ngatia, world WAVA or USATF masters champions Anselm LeBourne, Jamin Aasum, Noland Shaheed, Tim McMullen, Dave Clingan, Rose Monday, Patti Ford and Carolyn Smith-Hanna and numerous masters U.S. and world age-group record holders. Several age-group indoor mile records are expected to be broken. For more information, contact Mark Cleary at [EMAIL PROTECTED] or 949-589-0242 ATLANTA MASTER'S INDOOR MILE - Men's Entries World Record: Eamonn Coghlan (Ireland) 1994, 3:58.13 American Record: Bill Stuart (Michigan) 1983, 4:11 Name Club Affiliation---State of Residence 1) Anselm LeBourne Team United---New Jersey 2) Graeme Fell UNA---British Columbia, Canada 3) Sam Ngatia SoCal TrackClub---Colorado 4) Jamin Aasum SoCal Track Club ---Oregon 5) John Tuttle Atlanta Track Club---Georgia 6) Tom Dalton Adirondack Track Club---New York 7) Nolan Shaheed SoCal Track Club---California 8) Steve Nearman Team United---Washington D.C. 9) Tim McMullen Genessee Valley Harriers---New York 10) Stuart Galloway Niagara Olympic Club---Ontario, Canada 11) Dave Clingan Portland Masters T.C.-Oregon 12) Dave Van Houten Byrn Mawr Running Club---Pennsylvania ATLANTA MASTER'S INDOOR MILE - Women's Entries World Record: Patty Blanchard (Canada) 1999, 4:57.71 American Record: Madelyn Noe (New Jersey) 2001, 4:59.9 Name Club Affiliation---State of Residence *1) Madelyn NoeAsics Club East---New Jersey 2) Christine Gregorek UNA---Massachusetts 3) Rose Monday Fila Track West---Texas 4) Patty Ford Syracuse Chargers---New York 5) Kellie Eyre Atlanta Track Club---Georgia 6) Carolyn Smith-Hanna Genessee Valley Harriers ---New York * Current American record holder Ken Stone http://www.masterstrack.com
t-and-f: How to get rich: Be a dope scientist
Y ask Y: The Associated Press reports from Colorado Springs, Colo: The U.S. Anti-Doping Agency has established a $2 million research program in efforts to eliminate the use of performance-enhancing drugs in sports "Prior to our annual $2 million commitment in anti-doping research, the most research dollars available in this country was $200,000," said Larry Bowers, the agency's senior managing director for technical and information resources. He said the World Anti-Doping Agency has earmarked $5 million for research this year. Back to me: Now that's sweet. $2 million will go to catch a few cheaters while $30,000 goes to USATF Masters Track and Field. (Yes, I know they aren't from the same source.) But still -- what a skewed set of priorities. Spending megabucks on aberrants vs. spending peanuts to encourage people to compete. Ken Stone http://www.masterstrack.com
t-and-f: Atlanta masters mile results
Y ask Y: Whether it's a high schooler named Webb or middle-agers named Shaheed or Smith-Hanna, the middle of the fields of recent miles have provided the most startling results. This morning in Atlanta, Nolan Shaheed of Southern California demolished his own world indoor record in the M50 age-group, running 4:27.14 -- more than eight seconds faster that his previous M50 best of 4:35.51set March 25, 2000. The men's mile went out in a relatively slow 66-67 seconds and picked up speed after that, I'm told. In the women's mile at the Georgia Dome, Carolyn Smith-Hanna finished "last" in a huge W50 world record of 5:22.92 -- smashing a nearly 20-year-old record of 5:40.1by America'sMila Kania on March 20, 1983. In late December, Smith-Hanna showed her fitness by lowering the American record in the indoor 1500 to 5:05.01. The W50 world record for 1500 is 4:51.8 by Britain's Pat Gallagher set in February 1998. The age-graded conversions of Shaheed's and Smith-Hanna's times are impresive as well, with Smith-Hanna's time considered the equivalent of a 4:37 open mile and Shaheed's a 3:53. I think both are age 51. Event 46 Men's 1 Mile Run Masters Results - Final - Saturday 03/03/01 RANK COMP# ATHLETE NAMETEAM TIME - 1 112 Graeme Fell Unattached4:18.43 2 210 Anselm LeBourne Unattached4:19.22 390 Tom DaltonAdirondack TC4:23.31 4 279 Sam NgatiaSo Cal TC 4:26.29 5 337 Nolan Shaheed, 51 So Cal TC 4:27.14 611 Jamin Aasum So Cal TC 4:29.02 7 252 Tim McMullen Genessee Valley Harriers 4:32.32 8 121 Stuart Galloway Niagara Oly. Club 4:35.06 9 378 Dave Van Houten Byrn Mawr RC 4:36.14 10 275 Steve Nearman, 41 Team United 4:36.55 11 129 Dave Clingan, 46 Portland Masters 4:40.56 - 377 John Tuttle Atlanta TCDNS (Unsure of other ages in this race) Event 47 Women's 1 Mile Run Masters Results - Final - Saturday 03/03/01 RANK COMP# ATHLETE NAMETEAM TIME - 1 281 Madelyn Noe, 40 or 41 Asics Club East 5:10.24 2 109 Kellie Eyre Atlanta TC5:16.80 3 346 Carolyn Smith-Hanna, 51 Genessee Valley Harriers 5:22.92 - 138 Christine Gregorek, UnattachedDNF - 117 Patty FordSyracuse Chargers DNS - 263 Rose Monday Fila Club WestDNS Ken Stone http://www.masterstrack.com
t-and-f: Gray slows in USATF finals
Greetings, all Johnny Gray isn't superhuman after all. Back-to-back masters world records weren't in the cards as he took seventh in the USATF indoor nationals 800 today at the Georgia Dome (in a time most masters would kill for). Still awaiting to hear from eyewitnesses on Gray race. Also, I notice in new issue of National Masters News that Carolyn Smith-Hanna, 50, ran a 5:27.33 W50 WR on Jan. 20 at the Hartshorne Memorial masters miles in Ithaca, New York. So her time yesterday was merely a lowering of her own PR -- and world indoor age-group record. Also, check out the British veterans indoor championships results from two weeks ago at http://www.bvaf.org.uk/ (Click on RESULTS). Much good stuff there. Event 24 Men's 800 Meter Run Results - Final - Saturday 03/03/01 wWorld: 1:42.67 Wilson Kipketer, DEN 1997 a American: 1:45.00 Johnny Gray (SMTC) 1987 RANK COMP# ATHLETE NAME TEAM TIME PTS --- 1 134 Trinity Gray Nike 1:47.10 5.0 2 125 Elliot GaskinsUnattached1:47.25 3.0 3 315 Khadevis Robinson Santa Monica TC 1:47.31 2.0 4 204 Bryce Knight Idaho State 1:48.27 1.0 5 302 Eric Potter Unattached1:50.95 6 296 Derrick Peterson adidas1:51.14 7 133 Johnny Gray Santa Monica TC 1:56.61 - 206 David KrummenackeradidasDNS Ken Stone http://www.meadewasdaman.com
t-and-f: Masters disaster: No results from Boston
Y ask Y: It's 4:50 p.m. Pacific time as I write this. If the Boston time schedule has been adhered to, the USATF national masters indoor meet ended at least 4 hours ago. Yet no results are posted to http://www.tracs.net/ as promised on the site. This is utter nonsense. This also is a huge marketing disaster for masters. Meet results MUST be available ASAP after events are finished on the DAY of the event -- not AFTER the entire meet. Newspapers treat day-old meet results like month-old fish -- not fit for consumption. I don't care how meets do it, but if they can't deliver LIVE results they don't deserve to host the meet. If "technical difficulties" are involved, then it's a simple matter to e-mail results to Keith Lively at USATF for posting on that site or to anyone with egroups or T-and-F List access for posting on those sites. Many people other than friends and relatives are interested in the masters nationals results. At my newspaper, agate space is available for top finishers from my area. If a local sets a record, we might even run a short story. But masters results will NOT be in my newspaper to the same extent if results aren't posted in next few hours. Name ANY sport, and you're likely to see real-time results available on the Web. The Eugene outdoor masters nationals had this, but Boston is falling flat on its face. Masters leaders are seriously underestimating the importance of immediate results if they allow this atrocious condition to continue! Ken Stone http://www.masterstrack.com
t-and-f: Men's highlights of USATF masters indoor nationals
Greetings, all: Bill Collins of Missouri City, Texas, pushed the envelope of his age-group's sprint records and perhaps his own body's limits March 23-25 at the USATF National Masters Indoor Championships on in Boston -- setting one world indoor record and barely missing a second. Collins, 50, set the M50 record in the 60 with his 7.23-second effort, crushing the old best of 7.34 by American James E. St.-Cyr on Jan. 16, 2000. Collins' mark age-grades out to 99.17 percent, worth 6.47 in open competition. In the 400, Collins outlegged 53-year-old Charles Allie of Pittsburgh, Pa., 52.78 to 52.87 as both just missed the M50 world indoor record of 52.72 set by Canada's Harold Morioka in 1995. But Collins apparently hurt himself in the 200, where he recorded the fastest preliminary time of 23.85 but didn't appear in results of the final, won by Allie in 23.72. At the 1999 World Veterans Athletic Championships in Gateshead, England, a similar scenario unfolded as Collins beat Britain's Stephen Peters in the 100 but quit midway through the 200-meter final, which Peters won in a world record for M45 of 22.21. My photo of that world WAVA race shows Collins at the exact moment he felt a strain as Peters sprinted past for gold. So it's not a case of Maurice Greene feigning pain in the Olympic Trials 200. See my photo at http://www.masterstrack.com/photos/WAVAbillhurt.jpg Ted Hatlen of Santa Barbara, Calif., wouldn't let Collins have all the fun as he set an M90 world indoor record in the 60 of 11.84, demolishing the previous record of 13.64 held by Canadian legend Karl Trei in 1999. In M80, Jim Manno of Ordell, N.J., ran the 200 in 32.85 to shave the old world indoor best of 32.9 by fellow American Barry Ivers in 1991. Nolan Shaheed, who exploded world records almost every time he stepped on the track last year at age 50, hasn't slowed down at age 51. The Pasadena runner crushed his own world record in the 800 by running 2:02.88 to win his timed final heat by almost 10 seconds. But in the other 800 heat of the M50 final, Alston Brown of Mt. Vernon, N.Y., ran 2:03.19, also smashing Shaheed's old WR of 2:03.55 set a year ago. Had Brown and Shaheed gone head-to-head, there's no telling how low they could go. Shame on meet management for separating them (if Web depictions of heat assignments are to be trusted). Shaheed also could have used a push in the 3,000, which he won by about 50 seconds in an amazing 8:54.73. He broke the old WR for M50 in that event by four seconds. The old best: 8:58.8 by Briton Les Presland in 1990. Off the track, two pole vault indoor WRs were set as well in the men's competition. Gary Hunter, 45, of Fort Wayne, Indiana, jumped 4.78m (15-8.25) to break the previous listed best of 4.77 by Germany's Wolfgang Ritte, a gold medalist at Gateshead. And Daniel Borrey of Villa Park, Calif., celebrated his entering the M55 age group by topping the old WR for his age -- also by a centimeter. Borrey jumped 4.06 (13-03.75) to top the old best of 4.05 done by Sweden's Hans Lagerqvist in 1999. Borrey won the M45 vault at the 1995 world WAVA meet in Buffalo, N.Y., but has been hampered by injuries in intervening years. Other top men's performances at the Reggie Lewis Center in Boston included: -- Ray Blackwell's heart-stopping 49.62 in the M40 400-meter dash. Blackwell, 42, is a thoracic surgeon living in Newark, Delaware. -- Anselm LeBourne's 4:22.70 mile in the M40 group. He's 41 and lives in Maplewood, N.J. -- Dennis Phillips' 4.20 (13-9.25) vault in M50 was within spitting distance of the world record of 4.29. Phillips, 54, lives in Philomath, Oregon. Complete results are at http://www.lancertiming.com/results/mas-01-m.htm Ken Stone http://www.masterstrack.com
t-and-f: Brisbane WAVA entries falling short
Greetings, all: Brisbane organizers of the 14th World Veterans Athletic Championships are outwardly optimistic but privately nervous about entries for the biennial masters meet July 4-14, 2001, in northeast coastal Australia. The event even risks falling short of the size of the 1987 WAVA meet in Melbourne. Meet officials have pushed back the entry deadline from March 1 to April 20 (with the U.S. deadline being April 15). Other evidence for a shortfall of competitors comes from Germany, a traditional WAVA power, where masters webmaster Robert Koop reports: "My last information about the German entries is a number of 350/400 masters (registered to attend). This is 20 percent less than the (1997) Durban or (1999) Gateshead entries from Germany." In the United States, WAVA team manager Don Austin says he has 384 masters athletes registered -- a 30 percent drop from the 540 who went to Gateshead two years ago and far less than the 600 expected this year. "With the extension, I don't expect too many more entries," Austin reports. He thinks the lower numbers are a result of several factors, including the expense of an Australian trip, the current shaky status of the U.S. economy, "no challenge of qualifying standards" and competition from three major U.S. masters meets (the just-concluded Boston indoor nationals plus two national meets this summer in Baton Rouge, Louisiana). Austin also suspects that some athletes are waiting until the last minute to see if they are healthy enough -- and are waiting for meet rosters to be posted online to see who's entered -- and if they have a chance of winning. The world WAVA meet has been held every off-numbered year since 1975, when Toronto hosted 1,408 athletes -- almost all paying their own way to a meet with five-year age groups starting at 35 for women and 40 for men. The progression since then: 1977 Gothenberg, Sweden, 2,750 1979 Hannover, Germany, 3,126 1981 Christchurch, New Zealand, 2,400 1983 San Juan, Puerto Rico, 1,935 1985 Rome 4,330 1987 Melbourne 4,817 1989 Eugene, Oregon, USA 4,754 1991 Turku, Finland, 4,802 1993 Miyazaki, Japan, 12,178 (the number was inflated by the huge number of Japan entries in the marathon) 1995 Buffalo, New York, USA,5,335 1997 Durban, South Africa, 5,788 1999 Gateshead, Great Britain, 5,804 Meanwhile, no word has arrived yet on the fate of the 2003 world WAVA meet. Originally awarded to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, based on a vote by the WAVA General Assembly in 1999 at Gateshead, the Malaysian meet was yanked by the WAVA Council in January 2001. WAVA's official statement by President Torsten Carlius of Sweden has not been updated since its posting on the WAVA Web site (http://www.wava.org) in mid-January: It said: "(Carlius) states that last March, when some question arose, he and several others of the WAVA Council visited Kuala Lumpur to specifically investigate the local organizing committee (LOC) organization and its plans to conduct the Championships. "They were favorably impressed with the facilities and the level and ability of the LOC personnel in place at that time. Therefore, they recommended that the Championships go on as planned. "However, since that time, the composition of the LOC has changed considerably and some of the most influential members have left or have been forced out. All of this has occurred without notification or consultation with WAVA. "President Carlius visited again last fall and carefully set clear minimum objectives for the LOC and a clear deadline of the 22nd of December for achieving those objectives. That deadline, and a generous grace period, passed without any positive action and lead directly to the withdrawal of the Championships by WAVA. He further states that the 2003 Championship is currently being offered to Puerto Rico, who was the runner-up in the competitive bid held at the 1999 WAVA General Assembly in Gateshead, England. "Puerto Rico is now checking facility and housing availability, and public and private support and sponsorship. They are also considering their ability to put together an effective LOC to organize, fund, staff, and prepare for the Championships in the two and one-half years remaining." The last time I checked -- in the past week -- no verdict had been rendered on Puerto Rico hosting the 2003 WAVA meet. Why? Carlius was on vacation. Meanwhile, the slate of candidates to host the 2005 WAVA meet firmed up, with USATF Masters Committee choosing Sacramento, California, as America's bid city. This comes three months after USATF Masters voted against supporting Sacramento's bid since other cities weren't invited to submit their own bids. USATF Masters TF Chairman George Mathews has reported: "Since that time, site visits have been made to Sacramento and solicitation to other cities has been made. Sacramento did very well on the site visits. Baton Rouge showed interest in holding the event
t-and-f: Masterstrack.com Photos posted
Greetings, all Nearly 200 photos on masters track are now available for viewing at http://www.masterstrack.com/photos.html I'm planning to write captions for each, but the file names in the Photo index give U some information. EU stands for Eugene 2000, OR stands for Orono 1998, and SJ stands for San Jose 1997 -- all outdoor national meets. I have more than 50 photos from the 1999 world WAVA meet in Gateshead -- the most photos of this meet the Web has ever seen. (They are all slugged WAVA.) I haven't copyrighted these photos. They are yours for the plucking. But if you pirate these shots for a Web site or a printed publication, be a polite pirate and give credit to masterstrack.com. This Photo section has been a longtime goal of mine. But I hope to continue building this gallery and welcome all submissions, digital or otherwise. One of my favorite shots on the site is a tiny photo (enlarged via the magic of Photoshop 5.5) that James Barrineau sent me shortly after the 1997 world vets meet in Durban, South Africa. It shows him standing with the high jump god of my youth -- Russian Valery Brumel. Brumel was entered at the 1999 Gateshead WAVA meet but failed to show. I was told he enountered visa problems. I look forward to hearing your comments. Ken Stone http://www.masterstrack.com
t-and-f: WAVA posts Eurovets drug news
Greetings, all: Almost two months after I detailed the cases, the WAVA Web site has finally posted a bare-bones announcement on the two Eurovets suspended after testing positive for drugs. (See my original posts at http://www.masterstrack.com/news2001/news2001feb7.html and http://www.masterstrack.com/news2001/news2001feb23.html) Dated March 28, 2001, the post at www.wava.org says: VETERANS SUSPENDED FOR DRUG ABUSE At all WAVA and EVAA Championships as well as at some National Championships in Europe, drug testing is nowadays standard. This is well known to the athletes and so it is with great sorrow we now have two more positive cases in Europe with 2 years' suspension as result. The 2 athletes are: Tania Ciuciula, ITA Italian Indoor Championships, Napoli, Italy 20.02.2000 Frantisek Drab, CZE European Championships, Jyvskyl, Finland 18.07.2000 It is obvious that drug testing is necessary also among veterans to keep a clean sport and this issue will no doubt be discussed in Brisbane. There is a new bureau set up for drug testing, WADA, and it might possible to have them to carry out also the drug tests on veterans. However, it is our hope that the above 2 athletes will be the last cases we will have in veterans' athletics. Torsten Carlius WAVA President Me again: Still unanswered are the specific circumstances surrounding these cases. And I still haven't learned what Tania tested positive for. Ken Stone http://www.masterstrack.com
t-and-f: Marion shooting for WR in 300 at Mt. SAC?
Y ask Y: Sunday's edition of The San Diego Union-Tribune carries this provocative preview of the Mt. SAC Relays: Monique Henderson just happened to be in the coaches' office when the meet director for the Mt. SAC Relays called. "He said that Marion Jones was going for the world record in the 300 meters and asked if I would run," said Henderson. "Let's see, she gets thousands of dollars to run and probably thousands more if she breaks the record. I get zero for humiliation. She's trying to break the world record while I'm trying to break 54 seconds (this season) in the 400. I declined. Maybe in a few more years." Ken Stone http://www.masterstrack.com
t-and-f: Marion shooting for WR in 300 at Mt. SAC?
Y ask Y: Sunday's edition of The San Diego Union-Tribune carries this provocative preview of the Mt. SAC Relays: Monique Henderson just happened to be in the coaches' office when the meet director for the Mt. SAC Relays called. "He said that Marion Jones was going for the world record in the 300 meters and asked if I would run," said Henderson. "Let's see, she gets thousands of dollars to run and probably thousands more if she breaks the record. I get zero for humiliation. She's trying to break the world record while I'm trying to break 54 seconds (this season) in the 400. I declined. Maybe in a few more years." Ken Stone http://www.masterstrack.com
t-and-f: Clueless R Us
In a message dated 4/1/01 4:02:46 PM, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: Ken Stone is not just a random list member who reads the San Diego Union-Tribune. He is a copy editor for the paper and often writes track and field articles. Well, yes and no. I'm a rimrat at the U-T, but I rarely write more than headlines and photo captions. (An exception is an occasional "Staff Voice," such as Sunday's piece mocking Von Jacobsen the basketball-obssessed father.) I can count on the fingers of one hand the track-related pieces I've written for the U-T. Also, I was merely passing along the quote from a Steve Brand-bylined article on Monique -- not commenting on the money situation at all. (I was just excited about Marion's 300 record attempt.) Monique Henderson cannot be expected to know that this is untrue, but Ken Stone should know better. The truth is: I really DON'T know better. I am completely clueless on the inner financial workings of elite invitationals. I had NO IDEA on whether MJ was getting paid -- and by whom. But as our astute racewalker friend points out, MJ may get money from her sponsors for breaking records. I'd be surprised if she isn't. Something we outta keep in mind about this List and the Net in general -- it's Rumor Central, not The New York Times. We share information and opinions across the Web as you would talking to a neighbor across the fence. And though our conversations become "permanent" and globally disseminated, they can be as substance-less as the packets of light they travel on. Also, the Net has a self-correcting feature. It's called BS detection. And anyone who's full of it will get reamed royally. So posting BS rightfully leads to humiliating consequences. My U-T colleague Steve Brand is a veteran track writer (heck, he was at Echo Summit in 1968!), and I have little reason to question or challenge the bulk of his reporting. I just wanted to pass along an interesting tidbit is all! I'm sorry Scott took offense. I've been a passing acquaintance of his since the late 1970s, when I covered events for TFN as a free-lancer. Scott's been through a lot of personal-health misery the past few years, and I'd be very upset to think I added to his burden. Ken Stone www.meaculpas.com
t-and-f: WAVA elections uncontested in 2001
Greetings, all I've learned that only one elective office will be contested at the Brisbane General Assembly -- the biennial meeting of voting delegates during the World Veterans Athletic Championships in July. So far, the only race is for vice president (stadia) between incumbent Jim Blair of New Zealand and WAVA Web site webmaster Rex Harvey of the United States. (Rex also holds a regional WAVA post, some committee assignments as well as positions in USATF Masters.) This means that WAVA President Torsten Carlius, Executive Vice-President Tom Jordan, General Secretary Monty Hacker, Vice President (Non-Stadia) Ron Bell, Treasurer Giuseppe Galfetti and women's representative Bridget Cushen are going unopposed in an organization nominally devoted to robust competition. This must mean that everything's hunky-dory in Mastersland. Or maybe not. Perhaps word hasn't circulated far enough that WAVA's election will be more of a coronation. But time is short for any would-be candidates. Under WAVA rules, nominations for Council candidates have to be in the hands of the WAVA secretary at least 90 days before the General Assembly, which this year appears to be July 11, 2001 -- a rest day in the WAVA meet program. (Nominations from the floor are technically possible, but they appear to be at the discretion of the presiding officer.) This means that the deadline for anyone wanting to run for WAVA office at Brisbane is April 14 -- about 10 days from now. Elections are held every four years, and no officer can hold the same office for more than two terms. Any affiliate of WAVA can submit a nomination for office. (An affiliate is a national governing body -- USATF in the case of America.) WAVA shouldn't be an IAAF-like oligarchy, but without some competitive races, it appears the Old Boys Club continues to rule WAVAland. I'm not saying any of the current crop of officers has done a poor job (although I have my doubts on certain issues), but the legitimacy of an organization is proportional to its willingness to foster debate and encourage new blood. Right now, I see little of this in WAVA. Also, FYI: WAVA webmaster Harvey has just posted the minutes of the September 2000 meeting of the WAVA Stadia Committee -- the group in charge of the nuts and bolts of the world vets meet in Brisbane. These minutes are posted at: http://www.wava.org/committees/stadia%20committee/00stadia%20committee%20minut es.htm And they are QUITE revealing. Sprinters, jumpers and throwers all have something to chew on. Please review these minutes and keep yourself informed on what WAVA is doing for and to masters athletes. It's the governing body of OUR sport. Might as well know what it's up to. Ken Stone http://www.masterstrack.com
t-and-f: Fwd: WR attempt-4x1500/1600/mile
Greetings, all Emil Magallanes writes that he needs a meet for masters 4xMile record attempt. Anyone out there able to accommodate him? Thanks for your attention. Ken Stone Emil writes: The Reebok Aggie Masters would like to make an attempt at the WR/AR in the 4x1500/1600/mile. The obvious problem is that there are no meets that offer this event. Would it be possible to lobby meet directors to offer this event and advertise the attempt to lure some of the premier masters clubs to participate? We feel we have the guns to give both records a good run; other clubs with a shot would be Boulder, CNW, BAA, Whirlaway, Jamul Toads, WVTC. Would appreciate your feedback on this and any suggestions you might have on how to pull off this attempt/advertise it to the masses. The Aggies have enough bod's to put 2 teams together now, with a meet director willing to have a 4xmile at a high school meet on 4/27. Not quite enough time to pull a quality field together, but an opportunity none the less.A good representation from the other masters powers would be welcome. Can you help? Regards, Emil Magallanes Reebok Aggies Masters
t-and-f: Rey Brown back in the HJ hunt
Greetings, all: The one SoCal masters meet I decide to skip produces some HUGE news: Reynaldo Brown is back. Jason Meisler, a 7-2ish jumper in his UCLA days and now a masters straddler, reports that Rey Brown, the 1968 Olympian as a Compton HS jumper, competed this past Sunday (4/8/01) at the John Ward Masters Games at Santa Ana (Calif.) College. Jay writes: "(Brown) is now 50 and easily cleared 6 feet. He did not take any more jumps as the runway was a bit uphill and muddy for straddlers. I think he is capable of 2 meters this year." That would be impressive -- since the all-time best age-50 jump is 2 meters (6-6 3/4) by German Thomas Zaharias indoors in 1997. The best American M50 age-group jump on record is 6-2 by Herm Wyatt in 1983. Rey was a 7-4 jumper for Cal Poly San Luis Obispo in 1973 and won about six straight Mt. SAC HJs ending in 1976 (which got him in the Mt SAC Relays Hall of Fame in 1980). I don't think he finished well at Mexico City, but interesingly, the silver medalist behind Fosbury, ed Caruthers, is a coaching assistant at Santa Ana College and likely officiated in the event where his old teammate went 6. Anyone know where Rey Brown lives or works? Have an e-mail address for him? What a kick! Rey Brown was a HS hero to us in the early 1970s. Ken Stone http://www.masterstrack.com
t-and-f: Syedikh, Farmer-Patrick record attempts?
Y ask Y: Kansas Relays reports: LAWRENCE, Kan. -- Yuriy Syedikh (Yur-ee Sid-yeak), the world record holder in the men's hammer throw with a mark of 284-7 will compete at the 2001 Kansas Relays, "An Olympic Return." Syedikh, a former Track and Field News athlete of the year, has had over 204 documented throws over 80 meters. Syedikh is a veteran of multiple Olympic teams for the Soviet Union. The Bill Penny hammer throw takes place on April 19 at 5 pm just outside Memorial Stadium. "As far as athletes go and as far as the hammer throw goes this guy is an absolute legend," Kansas Relays meet director Tim Weaver said. "I've seen studies done that have marked consistency over time and this guy ranks above Michael Johnson as far as athletic excellence. They don't get much bigger then Yuriy and I hope that we have enough field to contain his throws." Me again: It's not likely that YS will throw 80 meters at Kansas, but if he's in good shape he'll have a good shot at the world age-group record for me 45-49. (He was born June 11, 1955.) The current M45 WAVA record is 64.70 (212-3) by American Dave McKenzie on 6- 4-95. YS already holds the M40 record at 75.66 (248-3) on 6-29-95. In addition, Sanda Farmer Patrick is set to run the 400 hurdles at Kansas. She's 38, having been born August 8, 1962. The single-age world record for 38 is 62.82 by Leonie Louwrens of South Africa on 7-19-97. That's a soft record. WAVA records in that event: W35 52.94 Marina Stepanova(URS) 36 9/17/86 W40 62.08 Maria Sangous Espina(ESP) 40 6/22/95 Ken Stone http://www.masterstrack.com
t-and-f: Mt SAC 2001 photos (including Marion)
Greetings, all: Just uploaded some shots I got this past Sunday at Mt. SAC Relays, including a set of Marion Jones -- winning the 300, catching her breath, getting congratulations from Mo Greene and chatting with meet director Scott Davis. Rest are mostly shots from the masters men's and women's 100 and 800. Also have some candids of Johnny Gray (just a spectator this year) and Mike Powell (who led kids in a jog around the track during Sunday's opening ceremonies). Check out directory of Mt. SAC photos at: http://www.masterstrack.com/mtsac2001 Bon appetit! Ken Stone http://www.masterstrack.com
t-and-f: M45 record for 100 falls at Penn?
Greetings, all: Pending confirmation of wind speed, Neville Hodge of Baltimore and Sprint Force America has established a world age-group record for the 100 in M45, becoming the first man 45 or over to break 11 seconds. Results from the Penn Relays in Philly show: Event 131, Friday, 2:47 pm Masters 100m Dash (45 and older) 1 10.96 Neville Hodge Sprint Force America 2 11.36 Thomas Jones Maryland Masters 3 11.52 Edward James Garden State AC 4 11.78 Robert Bowen Sprint Force America 5 12.08 John Brooks unattached 6 12.16 Neil Steinberg Boston Masters Sprint Force 7 14.26 Johnnie Brown unattached No Time: Billy Johnson Speed Dynamics False Start: Tony Natale Philadelphia Masters This would break the listed WAVA M45 record of 11.0 by Olympian Thane Baker, 48, in 1980. The FlashResults.com site http://www.cyberscoreboard.com/results.php?id=35610 This indicates a negative wind speed of 2.6 meters/second (5.82 mph), which seems bizarre, since most races today had aiding winds. Neville was the M40 national masters champion at Eugene last year, so apparently he's just turned 45. Even with an aiding wind (over the allowable for record purposes), a 10.96 is fabulous for this age group. Neville would have won the M40 race at Penn. Ken Stone http://www.masterstrack.com
t-and-f: Tommie Smith talks to LA Times
Check out bittersweet profile of Tommie Smith by LA Times writer Bill Plashcke, which suggests he won't get anywhere near his requested $50,000 for 1968 medal but wants to start a youth foundation with the money. I'm still hoping Tommie comes out for masters track, as he's intimated in the past. Story currently posted at: http://www.latimes.com/sports/times/20010429/t36263.html Ken Stone http://www.masterstrack.com
t-and-f: Wide World of Sports track snippets
Y ask Y: For the five or six people left on the List who haven't fallen on their swords or threatened to do so: ABC's Wide World of Sports had a two-hour special Sunday celebrating its 40th anniversary. Track was featured in all of 2.5 minutes, including the opening shot of Jim McKay on the first episode, reporting from the Penn Relays (and promising coverage of Drake as well). The longest segment was of the 1961 USA vs USSR meet at Lenin Stadium in Moscow, which shown more for ABC's accomplishment of being able to bring twenty tons of TV gear to the Evil Empire's Inner Sanctum than for the track meet itself. But at least we see Wilma Rudolph win the 100 and Valery Brumel set a WR of 7-4 1/4 (apparently in the rain). Later, we see Jim Beatty's 3:58 mile at the LA Times meet -- the first sub-4 indoors, and we see FloJo's Indy WR (but the camera was shooting toward the infield, so I couldn't watch for wind indication in flags or banners. But I did see at least two people sitting beside the wind guage.) A few other track snippets and that's it. But if you're an Evel Knievel or Muhammad Ali fan, wow -- what a show. Ken Stone http://www.fastforwardthroughboringstuff.com
t-and-f: Just revealed: W40 record in 5000
Greetings, all Runner's World Online posted on May Day: Fantastic 5000: The British track and field newsletter Athletics International reports in its latest edition that a remarkable women's masters track record went unspotted last summer. Romanian Elena Fidatov (born July 24, 1960) ran the 5000 meters in 15:20.59 in Bucharest on August 7, obliterating the previous masters WR of 15:51.7 by Nicole Leveque in 1994. Me again: That's sub-5-minute mile pace for 3.1 miles. Incredible. Perhaps as amazing is the fact that this didn't come to light until now -- nine months after the fact. Quite a gestation period for a mark worth 14:37 when age-graded to compare with open (elite) competition. (The outdoor women's WR for 5000 is 14:28.09.) What are the odds of WAVA recognizing Fidatov's 5K as the masters record? About as good as my becoming president of WAVA. Also amazing: EF's PR at 5000 is listed as 15:12.58 on Peter Larsson's Web site. And she did THAT at age 35 in Göteborg in 1995. A late bloomer, I gue ss. Unmentioned by Runner's World Online was the fact that Fidatov five months before her record run was sprung from a doping ban. Reuters reported in March 2000: BUCHAREST, March 16 (Reuters) - Romanian Elena Fidatov, banned two years ago for failing a drug test, has been given the green light by the International Amateur Athletic Federation (IAAF) to compete at the world cross-country championships in Portugal, an official said. Nicolae Marasescu, general secretary of the body governing Romanian athletics, said Fidatov, had been picked for this weekend's race in Vilamoura after testing negative in three doping tests over the past two months. Fidatov did not stop training during her suspension, Marasescu said. She is in top form as a Romanian cross country squad member. Fidatov, 39, had been banned for illegal use of nandrolone. She will now join Constantina Dita, Iulia Olteanu, Denisa Costescu, Cristina Grosu and Casandra Iloc on a strong Romanian team. Ken Nakamura -- this is YOUR turf. How did this mark escape your notice? Ken Stone http://www.masterstrack.com
t-and-f: Interviews with WAVA candidates Harvey, Blair
Greetings, all Incumbent Jim Blair and challenger Rex Harvey are the only announced candidates for the office of vice president (stadia) in the World Association of Veteran Athletes. The election is July 11, 2001, at the World Veterans Athletic Championships in Brisbane, Australia. The Blair-Harvey race is the only contested election on the General Assembly's agenda, since all other WAVA Council members, including WAVA President Torsten Carlius, are running unopposed for this, their second and final term for office. In early April, I sent e-mail questionaires to both Blair and Harvey, saying in part: As the overseer of the World Veterans Athletic Championships, the vice president is crucial to the meet’s success. This may be the most important office in WAVA after the presidency. Thus I think it’s important for veteran athletes -- and especially the WAVA delegates who will vote -- to know about the stands and plans of the candidates. . . . As webmaster of the Masters Track and Field Home Page, I try to inform a worldwide masters viewership, and your contest seems worthy of attention and exploration. . . . This also is a good way to educate people about WAVA. So I’m submitting some questions to both of you -- with the intention of posting your answers on my Web site. Jim Blair responded with this: http://www.masterstrack.com/news2001/WAVAblair.html Rex Harvey responded with this: http://www.masterstrack.com/news2001/WAVAharvey.html Judge for yourself. Your comments are always welcome. Ken Stone http://www.masterstrack.com
t-and-f: Neville Hodge 10.96 M45 called legit
Y ask Y: Phil Felton, a trackside witness to the masters sprints at Penn, reports that the negative wind reading and time for Neville Hodge in the M45 100 was legitimate -- and that paperwork is being filed for a WR in his age group: 10.96. That's a 10.1 on the Age-Graded Tables (for sake of theoretical comparison, and not to make David Honea go ballistic). This makes Neville the oldest man to break 11 in the century. Ken Stone http://www.masterstrack.com
t-and-f: Who dropped the ball on Meb's 10 record?
Y ask Y: It's close to 1 a.m. Saturday, Pacific time. More than two and half hours ago, Stanford's Web site posted news of Meb's American record in the 10,000 at the Cardinal Invitational. But unless your local newspaper is on the West Coast and has a VERY quick-off-the-mark sports copy desk, you won't read about this until Sunday, if then. Only one story about Meb's 10K moved before 1 a.m. -- a short Knight Ridder News Service (San Jose Mercury News) account by former LA Timesman Elliott Almond that came over at 11:06 p.m. and began: STANFORD, Calif. Abraham Chebii of Kenya simply wanted to help an American break a 10,000-meters national record Friday night at the Cardinal Invitational. Maybe 27:10 or 27:15, he said of his projected time. Instead, the Kenyan did much, much more. Not only did he help lead Meb Keflezighi of UCLA to the U.S. record, but Chebii ran the fastest 10,000 on American soil on a cool, windless night at Stanford. In a stunning race paced by six Kenyans, Chebii outsprinted teammate Ben Maiyo to finish in 27:04.20, breaking Ethiopian Haile Gebrselassie's 1996 Olympic victory time by three seconds. Keflezighi, who moved to San Diego from Eritrea as a youth, finished fourth in 27:13.98, smashing Mark Nenow's 15-year-old mark by almost seven seconds. Me again: Thankfully, I knew the meet schedule and set my watch to go off at 10 p.m. No sign of 10K results. I re-set my watch to go off at 10:30 p.m. Bingo! The Stanford site at http://gostanford.fansonly.com/sports/m-track/spec-rel/050401aab.html reports: American Record Set In 10,000 Meters; Fastest 10,000 Meters Run Ever On 'American Soil' By Kenyan; Mebrahtom Keflezighi set the 10,000 meter American Record With a first-edition deadline of 11:10 p.m., I quickly cobbled together this for The San Diego Union-Tribune sports section from a combination of sources: San Diego's Meb Keflezighi, who became an American citizen in July 1998, set an American record in the 10,000-meter run last night at the Cardinal Invitational at Stanford's Cobb Track. The San Diego High alum who as a youngster moved with his family here from Eritrea in East Africa ran the 6.2 miles in 27 minutes, 13.98 seconds, smashing Mark Nenow's record of 27:20.56 set in 1986. Keflezighi, who turns 26 today, was fourth in the race as Kenya's Abraham Chebii recorded the fastest 10K ever run on U.S. soil a 27:04.20. That beat the time of Haile Gebrselassie in winning the Atlanta Olympic 10,000 in 27:07.34. Based at the ARCO Training Center in Chula Vista, Keflezighi was 12th at the Sydney Olympics in the 10,000 meters. Now I gotta ask a dumb question: Where is The Associated Press story -- the crucial source of most track news for most American newspapers? USATF and other news outlets, including Runner's World Online, had telegraphed this event for days. Anyone with half a brain should have anticipated a record. Yet it's now 1 a.m. Saturday, and AP hasn't moved even a two-graf story! (But if you're a fight fan, you'll be pleased to know that -- according to AP -- Thomas Tate, Houston, outpointed Fernando Zuniga, Downey, Calif., to capture the NABF interim super middleweight title. Geez, who's minding the freakin' store!? This is a HUGE development for American distance running, and except for my little backwater by the border and perhaps others, relatively few people will read about Meb's great performance until Sunday. Ken Stone http://www.masterstrack.com
t-and-f: If only we had a human exacta
Y ask Y: It's now 6:15 p.m. Pacific time, coming up on first-edition deadlines for some East Coast USA newspapers. Still no peep from AP on Meb's AR and the Kenyan running the fastest 10K ever on U.S. soil. To their credit, both Jill Geer at USATF and Steve Rider at Running USA wire have churned out press releases describing Meb's 40-second PR breakthrough. But I also got a private note (cc'd to Ryan Lamppa) from an official with the USATF Road Running Information Center that said, in part: We were obviously anticipating a record and had a reporter and photographer on site but with such a late start didn't think that anyone would use a story on Friday night. Uhmm, bad call. Many West Coast papers can accommodate results from sports events that end after 10 p.m. Ever heard of Major League Baseball? And final editions at many papers aren't put to bed until midnight or later. So there was AMPLE time to get Meb's mark into many papers. And here's another thought to ponder: If the wire services don't move a story in the first few hours after an event, they'll shine it completely. Such appears to be the case with AP -- now that it's close to 20 hours since the historic Stanford 10K. But maybe we're blaming humans when we should be blaming horses. Here's what's keeping AP busy tonight: BC-RAC-Kentucky Derby, Advisory,0106 Editors: The following has moved on the Kentucky Derby: BC-RAC-Kentucky Derby. By Racing Writer Ed Schuyler Jr. BC-RAC-Jim Litke. By Jim Litke. BC-RAC-Derby-Runner-up. By Richard Rosenblatt. BC-RAC-Derby-Winning Connections. By Beth Harris. BC-RAC-Derby-Jockey. By Steve Bailey. BC-RAC-Derby Undercard. By Mark Chellgren. BC-RAC-Derby Notebook. By Chris Duncan. BC-RAC-Derby-Delay. BC-RAC-Derby Quotebox. BC-RAC-Kentucky Derby Chart. BC-RAC-Derby Fastest Times. BC-RAC-Kentucky Derby Winners. AP Sports Obviously, a sub-2 at Churchill Downs is a helluva lot more significant than a sub 27:10 at The Farm. Ken Stone http://www.masterstrack.com
t-and-f: Shaheed still rolling at 51
Greetings At 51, Nolan Shaheed doesn't know how to go slow. In a busy month of 800s, which included an exhibition win at the Mt. SAC Relays and a 2:00.11 at Drake, Shaheed on Sunday (May 5) ran another quick two laps at the Steve Scott Invitational at UC Irvine in California. Results of his section: Section 4 1 George ArtopeMen of Troy 1:56.99 2 Jake Oker Berg Pomona-Pitz 1:59.67 3 Ethan Friend CS Fullerton 2:00.71 4 Brain BaurleyUnattached2:00.76 5 Paul Rigali Men of Troy 2:01.29 6 Nolan ShaheedSoCal TC 2:01.34 But that was just Nolan's warmup (or warmdown; I'm not sure of race order). In the 1500, Nolan missed the world M50 record by a second. The listed WAVA M50 best is 4:05.2 by Australian Tom Roberts in 1984. Nolan also is just short of the American M50 record of 4:05.8 by Ray Hattonof Oregon in 1982. Here's how Nolan did against the whippersnappers: Section 2 1 Thomas BeckumFila Track West 4:02.05 2 Steve MoralesCS LA 4:03.56 3 Danny Martinez Fila Track West 4:03.57 4 David Gomez CP Pomona 4:05.54 5 Nolan ShaheedSoCal TC 4:06.36 6 Vikram Mahan CS Fullerton 4:06.57 7 Blane Hunt Claremont MS 4:06.74 8 Jose Gomez Claremont MS 4:06.87 9 Chris Monachelli CS Fullerton 4:07.64 10 Pat McGrail Claremont MS 4:09.46 11 Nick McMurrayCS Fullerton 4:09.92 12 Bryan KinkaidLong Beach4:10.28 13 Alex Mendez CS LA 4:12.39 14 Rob EvansUC Irvine 4:13.50 15 Humberto Hernandez UC Irvine 4:21.54 Ken Stone http://www.masterstrack.com
t-and-f: $100,000 sub-4 bid for Johnny Gray?
Greetings, all Details are sketchy, but it looks as if the USATF Outdoor Open Nationals this June in Eugene, Oregon, will include two masters miles -- one for men and one for women. And the men's race will feature Johnny Gray going for the first sub-4 outdoors by an M40. Organizers have talked about seeking a sponsor to pay a premium on a Lloyds of London-like insurance policy that would pay a sub-4 masters miler $100,000. Gray is said to be in excellent shape for the attempt, which would be at 1:40 p.m. June 23, a Saturday. USATF officials have given the go-ahead for the masters exhibitions, but the $100,000 sub-4 inducement is still in the talking stages, according to my sources. These sources also indicate Steve Scott would be in the race, but others entrants have not been identified. Indeed, I think organizers are scrambling to find good masters milers -- and a way to pay their expenses. In any case, it looks good for a masters outdoor AR at the least. Officially, the American outdoor mile record for M40 is 4:12.24 by Larry Almberg, 43, in 1990. But Steve Scott, who has just turned 40, ran a 4:10.42 at the Prefontaine Classic in May 1996. Only one master had ever run a sub-4-minute mile -- Eamonn Coughlan ran 3:58.15 at age 41 on Harvard's indoor track in 1994. David Moorcroft of Britain ran 4:02.53 for the world WAVA record outdoors in 1993. Ken Stone http://www.masterstrack.com
t-and-f: $100,000 sub-4 bid for Johnny Gray?
Greetings, all Details are sketchy, but it looks as if the USATF Outdoor Open Nationals this June in Eugene, Oregon, will include two masters miles -- one for men and one for women. And the men's race will feature Johnny Gray going for the first sub-4 outdoors by an M40. Organizers have talked about seeking a sponsor to pay a premium on a Lloyds of London-like insurance policy that would pay a sub-4 masters miler $100,000. Gray is said to be in excellent shape for the attempt, which would be at 1:40 p.m. June 23, a Saturday. USATF officials have given the go-ahead for the masters exhibitions, but the $100,000 sub-4 inducement is still in the talking stages, according to my sources. These sources also indicate Steve Scott would be in the race, but others entrants have not been identified. Indeed, I think organizers are scrambling to find good masters milers -- and a way to pay their expenses. In any case, it looks good for a masters outdoor AR at the least. Officially, the American outdoor mile record for M40 is 4:12.24 by Larry Almberg, 43, in 1990. But Steve Scott, who has just turned 40, ran a 4:10.42 at the Prefontaine Classic in May 1996. Only one master had ever run a sub-4-minute mile -- Eamonn Coughlan ran 3:58.15 at age 41 on Harvard's indoor track in 1994. David Moorcroft of Britain ran 4:02.53 for the world WAVA record outdoors in 1993. Ken Stone http://www.masterstrack.com
t-and-f: Rod Dixon back in the WAVA hunt
Greetings, all: Rod Dixon is a member of the New Zealand Sports Hall of Fame for his exploits on the track and roads, including a bronze medal in the Munich 1500 and a 1983 New York Marathon victory. But unlike most Hall of Famers, he hasn’t hung up his spikes. In 1995, Dixon waged a legendary battle with California’s Nolan Shaheed at the World Veterans Athletic Championships in Buffalo, N.Y., winning the 1500 in the M45 age group by a tiny margin -- 4:01.21 to Shaheed’s silver-medal mark of 4:01.67. Dixon also won the 5000 at Buffalo in 15:12.0 Six years later, Shaheed is in fabulous shape, manifest in a 4:06.36 for 1500 on May 5 at the Steve Scott Invitational in Irvine, California. But he’s not a lock for gold at the Brisbane world WAVA meet in July. Dixon is back. And ready to rumble. The man who ran 3:33.89 at the 1974 Commonwealth Games in Christchurch (Filbert Bayi’s world record race) and clocked his PR mile of 3:53.62 in Stockholm in 1975 says he is training for another go at WAVA gold. In an e-mail message May 8, Dixon wrote me: I competed in Buffalo for the Champs in ‘95, ran the 45+ 1500 and 5000, had fun and thought well maybe go give it a crack this year at 50+. May only run the 1500 this time, however. I'll see how it goes. But he’s not running just for fun. I feel I’m capable of running 4.05-4.10 for 1500 and 14.50-15.00 for 5, he writes from his rural home north of Auckland. Have had some good runs lately in the Sky Tower Vertical Challenge (a 1,082-step climb in which Dixon finished in the top 10 overall) and a couple cross-country races over 8K and 5K. I am always in running shape, carry the same weight 155 as I did in 1972. You know what they say: ‘Can't fatten a thoroughbred or you never see a fat Greyhound.’ Dixon, who turns 51 on July 13, appears to be enjoying life anew as a father, too. Already the parent of two grown daughters from a previous marriage, Dixon is the father of twin 3-year-olds, Hugo and Cecile, with the new love of his life, Kerry, 43, a former flight attendant. In a recent New Zealand magazine profile, the three-time Olympian said there is more to life than winning: Personal achievement, personal pride and not being influenced by others. . . Participating and doing your best should count. If that means beating your previous best time . . . then that should count for something. Dixon signed off his note to me by saying he was off to the Great Wall Marathon May 20. I'll run the half-marathon, so am getting stoked for this experience, he wrote. Then Dixon will turn his attention to Brisbane -- and another shot at Shaheed. I guess I made it through age. I’m always ready to rumble, so if there is some events out there to go head-to-head with the mates -- I’m for it. Ken Stone http://www.masterstrack.com
t-and-f: American WAVA roster revelations
Greetings, all The American roster for the 14th World Veterans Athletic Championships this July in Brisbane has been released -- and it contains several surprises and ironies. See the roster at: http://www.masterstrack.com/USAList.html Not a shock is the steep drop in entrants from the Gateshead WAVA meet in 1999. According to the roster provided by USA Team Manager Don Austin, some 390 American athletes will compete in the mild northeast Australian winter. That's nearly 29 percent fewer than the 547 who jumped the Pond to compete in northeast England in 1999. The list may be incomplete, however, because American entrants were given the option of deleting their names from the public roster. Interestingly, the two strongest advocates of barring public disclosure of the USA lineup are themselves listed in the roster. Roz Katz and former USA Team Manager Sandy Pashkin both allowed their names to be used on the roster made public this week. Katz, in fact, made a motion at the 1999 USATF national convention in Los Angeles to permit athletes to withhold their names from public listings, and Pashkin supported her fellow New Yorker. See my recounting of this matter at: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/masterstf/message/3601 Katz, by the way, is a W55 entered in the discus, hammer, javelin, shot and weight pentathlon. Pashkin is entered in the W55 100, 10K racewalk, 5K racewalk, javelin and discus. If the posted roster is accurate, the oldest male American competing in Brisbane will be Dudley Healy of New Jersey, 87, and the oldest woman Betty Jarvis of Oklahoma, 85. Healy is entered in the 1500, 5000 and 10,000. Jarvis is entered in the discus, hammer, javelin, shot and weight pentathlon. No word on the status of Waldo McBurney, who was M95 at Gateshead, or fellow nonagenarian Everett Hosack, who missed Gateshead but has competed more recently. Also missing from the posted WAVA roster are M40 Johnny Gray, M50 Nolan Shaheed and masters legend Phil Raschker. Shaheed would have provided the biggest competition to Rod Dixon in the 1,500 at Brisbane. I hope to learn soon whether Shaheed is in fact going or not. Four Americans will be competing in their 14th consecutive biennial world WAVA meet -- having been part of the movement since its genesis in the 1970s. They are distance runner Jim O'Neil of San Diego, racewalker Ruth Anderson of California, racewalker Bob Fine of Florida and racewalker Bob Mimm of New Jersey. Returning to action after injury and rehab is National Masters News editor and publisher Al Sheahen, who bravely has entered the 400, 800, 300m hurdles and 100 hurdles at age 69. Also worth cheering is a 50-year-old gent named Bill Roe of Washington. When he's not training for the 8K cross country race, Roe serves as president of USA Track Field. (Next time, he should drag miler Craig Masback along with him.) Another former WAVA standout back in the hunt is long hurdler Mike Pannell of New Mexico, who is entered in the 400 and 400 hurdles at age 47. He missed Gateshead for a variety of reasons. Other notable entrants on the USA squad: -- Lucus Buckley at age 84 will try his hand and feet at the decathlon, 300 hurdles, 800, 80 hurdles, 1500 and 2K steeplechase. He's from Oregon, where fearless runners grow on trees. -- Bill Collins of Texas, new in M50, will tackle the 100, 200 and 400 (and possibly relays at the end). -- Bill Knocke of California, a 1960 Olympic Trials 400 man, is entered in the 100, 400, 300 hurdles, 200 and -- new for him -- the decathlon. -- Anselm LeBourne of New Jersey seeks to defend his 1999 WAVA titles in the M40 800 and 1500, while fellow American middle-distance star Rose Monday of Texas will go after medals in the 400, 800 and 1500 in W40. -- Pete Mundle, the masters records guru, is entered in the M70 1500, 5000 and 8K cross country run. -- Gerry Davidson of Fallbrook, California, has entered a new age group -- W80 -- and four events (400, 800, 1500 and 5000). Her nemesis of recent years, Louise Adams of Colorado, is 79 and stays in the age group behind. -- New Yorker Ed Gonera of the 4x4 world record Sprint Force America team will hope the Force is with him as he tackles the M45 100, 200, 400 -- and decathlon. -- Running author and columnist Hal Higdon will celebrate his entry into the M70 ranks with tries at 1500, 10,000, 2K steeple and a journey known as the marathon. -- After several years' absence from the masters circuit, world record sprinter Stephen Robbins of California is back in the chase, entered in the M55 100, 200 and 400. -- Frequent USATF Masters Athlete of the Year James Stookey of Maryland will stay busy, entered in the M70 100, 200, 300 hurdles, 80 hurdles, high jump, triple jump and long jump. -- Dr. Joan Stratton of Arizona will test NEGATIVE for performance enchancing drugs if she's a factor in her events -- the W45 discus, hammer, javelin, shot and weight
t-and-f: Powell begins road to Athens (and masters)
Greetings, all Mighty Mike has begun his comeback in the long jump with a pretty impressive leap at Modesto -- and although USATF noticed, few others did. LA Times carried only agate of the meet on Sunday (in my edition in San Diego). At least the OC Register paid heed: By LARRY BORTSTEIN The Orange County Register World long jump record-holder Mike Powell, competing for the first time in nearly five years, had one legal attempt at the 60th Modesto Relays on Saturday, but it was enough to win the event. Powell, 37, an assistant track coach at Cal State Fullerton, leaped 26 feet, 5 1/4 inches on his first try and that held up to defeat Canada's Richard Duncan by nearly a foot. Duncan's best jump was 25-6 3/4. Powell, who passed on his second, fifth and sixth jumps and fouled on the third and fourth, said he came close to not competing because of pain in his left (takeoff) calf. I needed a massage last night (Friday) and one this morning, Powell said from Modesto. In my prime I never needed that. Still, to lose only 4 inches in five years, I guess I'm satisfied. The Modesto Relays event was Powell's first competition since July 29, 1996, when he jumped 26-9 to finish fifth in the Atlanta Olympics. He set the world record of 29-4 1/2 on Aug. 30, 1991 at the World Championships in Tokyo. USATF's Tom Surber added: Powell won the event after experiencing a tightened calf muscle earlier in the week. After his winning jump, Powell passed on his second attempt, fouled twice and passed on his final two attempts. He told the Modesto Bee: I could've jumped further, but it's not worth risking right now. I know I'll be jumping 27 feet at the Nationals, (GMC Envoy USA Outdoor Championships in Eugene, Oregon, June 21-24). I just know it. Powell is working on a master's degree in sports psychology at Cal State Fullerton, where he also serves as a volunteer track coach. Me again: Powell told me at Mt. SAC (where he led a jogging parade of kids at the opening ceremonies) that he'd take a shot at masters track after 2004. Athens remains his goal. He'd be 40 all that year. He turns masters age in November 2003. The world record for age 37, BTW, is held by Larry Myricks at 27-0 3/4 (8.25m). The masters WR is 24-10 (7.57) by 41-year-old Hans Schicker of West Germany in 1988. Powell should have a good shot at both. Relax, I won't age-grade MP's 26-5. He's still a submaster. Ken Stone http://www.masterstrack.com
t-and-f: Financial scandal at National Senior Olympics
Greetings, all The Advocate daily newspaper of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, has been reporting dribs and drabs of a potentially far-reaching scandal involving the National Senior Games Association, the folks putting on the National Senior Olympics, which includes a July track meet for over-50s at LSUs Bernie Moore track stadium. The USATF National Masters Outdoor Championships are piggybacking the event a week and a half later at the same venue. Stories online report how, more than a year ago, the associations accountant and her boyfriend allegedly absconded with $190,000 of NSGA funds. An independent review slammed the groups head honcho, David Hull, for a lack of internal controls (that) put out a welcome mat for fraud. Then just three weeks ago, Hull mysteriously and abruptly quit at president and CEO of the NSGA. Reporters for The Advocate were then stonewalled for a week on the precise reasons for his exit only two months before the groups flagship biennial event. But this past Friday, amid reports that the group needed a $100,000 bailout from the state Legislature to stay afloat, The Advocate reported that a third of the staff was laid off as the group copes with a money crunch left by the groups $150,000-a-year former chief executive officer. And details filtered out on Hull's resignation. Reports The Advocate: The national board met May 5, in part to evaluate Hulls job performance, interim CEO Jack Neumann said. There were some red flags there with regard to the fiscal management of the organization, Neumann said. He wasnt meeting the expectations of the board. The board decided it was in his best interests and the boards best interests for him to resign. Neumann said he could not say specifically how much the group was in the hole when Hull left. However, in July, Hull received a raise in his contract amount from $107,000 to $150,000 a year. Anyone out there with more information on this case -- and what it means to masters track and the National Senior Olympics? A CHRONOLOGY OF STORIES: http://www.theadvocate.com/news/story.asp?storyid=11329 http://www.theadvocate.com/news/story.asp?storyid=12436 http://www.theadvocate.com/news/story.asp?storyid=14129 http://www.theadvocate.com/news/story.asp?storyid=21364 http://www.theadvocate.com/news/story.asp?storyid=21454 http://www.theadvocate.com/news/story.asp?storyid=21650 Ken Stone http://www.masterstrack.com
t-and-f: Video available of Penn masters 4x4?
Y ask Y: Dr. Ray Blackwell, anchor of the 4x4 world record M40 relay at Penn this year, wonders if anyone has video of that event (the WR masters relay in which the four Sprint Force America members averaged an incredible 50.2 per leg.) Lemme know, or write directly to Dr. B (a thoracic surgeon on the East Coast) at [EMAIL PROTECTED] Much thanks! Ken Stone http://www.masterstrack.com
t-and-f: Bad news on L.A. all-comers
Greetings, all: Andy Hecker has asked me to post this: http://www.trackinfo.org is compiling a national (worldwide if information becomes available) Open and All-Comers meet listing. Also included are RAcewalk and Cross Country listings. New information is welcome. Please send to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Bad news for Los Angeles track. The L.AU.S.D. All-Comer meets might be cancelled. You might be expecting an announcement with the times and dates on the Los Angeles All-Comer meet series. Good things had been happening, with the new All Weather track at San Pedro High School being added to the plans. Instead this year, the meets have not yet been funded. The accusations are: because the teachers won a raise, the L.A. School Board who funds this through their Youth Services Department has cut out all extra programs that have a public presence--to give the impression they are out of money. Also included in this grouping are the Swimming Lesson programs, whose public safety ramifications are far more serious than our track program. The board steadfastly refuses to let these programs operate on a fee basis, instead insisting on paying for them out of their budget lest some member of the public be unable to pay their admission fee. So in order to protect against one or two people being deprived of service (which I doubt the community oriented people running these programs would do) they have deprived the entire community of these events. I've already started on the path to finding who we can talk to or what we can do to revive the program perhaps with an entry fee, so us participants can pay our own way. I've spoken with the Youth Services Department, they have referred me to call or write to: Roy Romer Office of Superintendant 450 N. Grand Ave. Room A-223 Los Angeles, CA 90012 (213) 625-6251 or FAX (213) 485-0321. [EMAIL PROTECTED] They have referred me to the Chief Financial Officer, Joseph Ceronian (213) 633-8400 to see what can be done. As I make my way through the chain of bureaucracy, I'll give you the correct person to contact. In case you are so inclined, please be part of the wave of public opinion. Otherwise we can hold on to the hope that some independent body might take up the community service and put some meets on--we could possibly create that organization. In the meantime, other local coaches who have hosted meets are reconsidering if their poor turnouts are worth the effort. Stay tuned to http://www.trackinfo.org. The schedule has been posted for the Southern California Association Masters Age-Group Championship Meet and Open Track Meet The meet will be held SATURDAY, AUGUST 4th at LONG BEACH CITY COLLEGE. Confirming the title statement, open competitors are invited to compete. Check: http://www.trackinfo.org/sca.html
t-and-f: Need some data on Alan Webb
Y ask Y: I'm preparing a possible newspaper graphic comparing and contrasting Alen Webb and Gerry Davidson. Gerry shattered the world record for women's 80-84 mile the same day Webb ran at Pre. (Davidson ran 9:00.52 at UC Irvine's Dan Aldrich Memorial.) Can someone please let me know: Webb's height, weight and birthdate? Many thanks! Ken Stone
t-and-f: Sub 4:32 masters milers sought for USATF nationals
Posting this on behalf of Mark: From: Mark Cleary [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Mens Masters elite mile Eugene June 23rd There will be a Men's Masters elite Mile race on June 23rd at the US Open Outdoor Championships in Eugene (race time 1:40pm.) Any interested competitors capable of running 4:32 or better for a mile.Please contact Mark Cleary at [EMAIL PROTECTED] ASAPThank You Ken Stone http://www.masterstrack.com
t-and-f: Gerry Davidson's world W80 mile record
Greetings, all: I wrote about Gerry's WR mile for my paper. Check out: http://www.uniontrib.com/sports/20010601-_1s1fitness.html Thanks for your attention. Ken Stone http://www.masterstrack.com
t-and-f: WAVA Brisbane a drug battleground?
Greetings, all: WAVA President Torsten Carlius of Sweden is running unopposed for his second and final term of office at the Brisbane General Assembly in July. But that doesn't mean he won't face a fight. Carlius has taken a hard stand against doping in masters track, even with evidence that the most prominent case -- American Kathy Jager's -- involved medical necessity and not an attempt to gain advantage. But in his official report to the biennial assembly, Carlius says: If we were to take a soft stand, we might assume that the athletes were unaware of what they were taking. However, I feel that the tough stand is more realistic, i.e. that the forbidden drugs were taken with full awareness that they were forbidden and performance enhancing. Be assured that we will continue to have drug testing at all our WAVA Championships and it is my further hope that our Regions will also have such tests. George Mathews, chairman of USA Track and Field's Masters TF Committee, would beg to differ, however. Interviewed in Fast Forward, the official magazine of USATF, Mathews says his goals as masters chair include (bringing) about changes in our masters anti-doping policies. We must have some exceptions for medications needed by our athletes as they grow older. Asked what role he will play at the 14th World Veterans Athletic Championships, Mathews told Fast Forward: I will lead our WAVA delegation to Brisbane. I plan on being very active in this organization to see that we are dealt with fairly and our interests are represented properly. Mathews, who will compete in the hammer throw and weight pentathlon, may find another rival in Canada, which has proposed even stronger steps to fight doping. Canada contends that, since testing began for masters, 10 athletes have been penalized for breaking IAAF doping rules. One case has been appealed, Canada says, and the basis of that appeal has been that only trace amounts of a listed substance were found, resulting from prescription use related to the age of the competitor. The IAAF knows that trace amounts of known performance-enhancing substances often indicate earlier heavier use. Therefore, the IAAF maintains a zero-tolerance policy except in very rare, accidentally occurring cases. Further, it is clearly understood at the open level that it is the responsibility of the athlete to ensure that no medication or dietary supplement contains a listed substance. Only by firm application of these principles has rampant drug abuse been prevented. Other major sports take the same approach. Even given such well-motivated policies, there is ample evidence at the open level that some individuals and groups still seek to gain unfair advantage. Due to the number of positive tests already occurring at the masters/veterans level, we must assume that the potential for abuse exists also in our own ranks. Some demand that masters should be freed from strict controls, on the grounds that age may result in necessary use of prohibited performance-enhancing drugs. On the other hand, many competitors have expressed dismay at the thought that while they themselves obey the spirit and letter of anti-doping regulations, they may find themselves in competition against others who do not. A dispute may arise from ignorance or carelessness or `prescription.' Nevertheless, the listed drugs are so listed because of known enhancement effect when used improperly, and sadly we cannot place total, unquestioning reliance on the honesty of a competitor. We wish we could! Canada contends that if we are to prevent abuse, we have to agree on the principles we will apply to detection of performance-enhancing drugs. Among other steps, Canada would like WAVA to permit random drug testing before the WAVA World Veterans Athletic Championships. Canada's motion makes no effort to explain how WAVA, with a biennial budget of about $200,000, would pay for out-of-competition drug testing. Canada further wants this Assembly (to affirm) that it is the sole responsibility of the competitor to avoid prohibited methods of performance enhancement. The WAVA General Assembly will meet July 11, 2001, at the Carlton Crest Hotel in Brisbane, Australia. WAVA W55 world sprint champion Jager, meanwhile, is poised to resume competition when her two-year doping ban expires in August. Jager, a nurse from Glendale, Arizona, has fought for a medical waiver -- a request still in limbo -- for more than a year. She seeks permission to take a hormone replacement medication to control symptoms of menopause, a drug called Estratest that contains trace alounts of methyltestosterone, a synthetic testosterone on the IAAF banned list. Ken Stone http://www.masterstrack.com
