Missed your chance at professional track stardom? Not so fast. A series of Southern California meets is offering modest prizes and creative competition this summer. Pete (Mr. 5K) Magill reminds of his SpeedRunner Combine — where age-graded marks will be scored for the best combined efforts in the 40-yard Dash, 20-yard Shuttle, 3-Cone Drill, Vertical Leap, Standing Long Jump and Suicide Run. Details at speedrunnercombine.com. Meets are June 16 in Pasadena, July 14 in Santa Monica and Aug. 5 in Yorba Linda (where I lived as a young teen). Pete writes: “Medals will be awarded in 10 age groups (M/F), and trophies will be given to the top teams in the Youth (age 7-13), High School (age 14-17), and Open (age 22-39) divisions. Over $1,200 in merchandise prizes will be awarded to age group champions. … Masters competition will be in 10-year age groups (40-49, 50-59, etc.). There will be medals for the top 3 podium finishers in each M/F age group, as well as a pair of INOV-8 shoes for each M/F age group champion.” And if you use the promo code COMBINE2018, you get a 10 percent discount on entry fee. On July 7, the Trojan Masters Track Club will host the Vern Wolfe-Trojan Masters Meet at Cerritos College in Norwalk (near L.A.), also the scene of my heartbreaking fourth-place finish in CIF Southern Section semifinals in the “C” 120-yard low hurdles in 1970. (Top three went to title meet.) I’m still not over it. A $50 prize goes to first in a Devil Take the Hindmost Mile. (Used to be contested indoors, when a guy in a devil outfit pulled off the last-place runner after every lap.) Here’s the entry form.

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