May 2018

General May 30, 2018

Blessed chance to become a paid model, jump on mini-trampolines

Photographer Meredith Bless writes: “JumpSport (maker of fitness mini-trampolines) is shooting a photo and video project in June in San Diego and is looking for models to participate. It will be fun. Needed: two men and two women, aged 45 to 65. Need to be relatively fit but do not need to be buff. This is targeted toward regular people, not professional athletes. Pay: $100 per person. Each person will be needed for roughly 4 hours.” Selected models will be provided with a fitness trampoline to borrow and asked to practice a few simple routines (provided) prior to shooting. The…

Records May 28, 2018

Latvia’s Valdis Cela crushes M70 decathlon WR with stunning 8142

Valdis Cela is not a masters household name. Perhaps he should be after becoming the first M70 to break 8000 points in the decathlon. On Saturday and Sunday, the Latvian competed in the sixth annual Stendaler Hanse-Cup in Stendal, Germany. His 8142 (corrected from earlier 8143) blew away the listed mark of 7940 by German legend Rolf Geese, also at Stendal, in 2016. (See meet results.) A German masters blog notes that Valdis got pacing help in the 1500-meter run by Timo Ritte — son-in-law of vault god Wolfgang Ritte, who also took part in the weekend dec. (M65 Wolfgang…

Jenn showed smarts as well as skill in her jump strategy at Hayward Field.

Records May 26, 2018

Best vaulter in world at 36? Fersure it’s Jenn after 15-11 Pre win

London Olympic champ Jenn Suhr is sure having fun in her geezerhood. At 36, almost old enough to be a mother to some rivals, she won the Pre Classic vault Saturday with a W35 world record of 4.85 meters (15-11), upping her own listed WR of 4.83 (15-10) from a year ago. Social media didn’t seem to notice the age-group record. But WMA, bless its little heart, called attention to the mark on its coming-of-age Twitter feed. The WMA site breathlessly announced: “Thats (sic) right, breaking news coming out of Eugene at the IAAF diamond league is that Jennifer Suhr…

General May 25, 2018

Will Anthony Famiglietti run sub-4 at 40? Milestone is goal of steeple Olympian

Anthony Famiglietti, a two-time Olympian with a mile PR of 3:55.71 (in 2006), turns 40 in five months. He’s gearing up by training hard, pitching a documentary and letting the world know he’s shooting for a sub-4. It’s a stretch. But you gotta admire the grit. See Martin Fritz Huber’s story in Outside. The former steepler’s “moonshot mile is perhaps an unusual way to confront the beast of senescence, but it makes a crazy kind of sense. When you’ve spent more than half your life constructing your identity around the fact that you can run faster than 99.99 percent of…

Here USADA page that invites folks to finger suspected drug cheats — even in the masters ranks.

Doping May 24, 2018

USATF masters are subject to snitch program — as cyclist, 59, was

Nobody is safe. That’s my takeaway from an exchange of email I had Thursday with Brad Horn, a spokesman for USADA — the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency. I queried him on how 59-year-old cyclist came to be sanctioned for refusing an out-of-competition drug test. I wanted to know where he was when he was solicited. (Brad doesn’t know yet.) But he said: “Ultimately, this case was the result of target testing, based on credible information received through USADA’s Play Clean Tip Line. USADA makes available a number of ways to report the abuse of performance-enhancing drugs in an effort to protect clean…

International May 23, 2018

Kenyan ‘trials’ for Málaga worlds? Chinese report is clueless or confused

China’s Xinhua news agency reports from Nairobi that Kenya will send athletes to Málaga worlds. But something got lost in translation. “Rose Tata-Muya, Masters Athletics Kenya Secretary General, said trials will be held on July 21 and July 22 in Iten, located in the Rift Valley area which is the cradle of Kenyan athletics,” the report said. Trials? Well, maybe that’s their way of saying they’ll use a “qualifying meet” to decide who gets travel subsidies. Because, of course, it’s an all-comers meet open to anyone with the cash to enter. A further clue: “We require 20,000 U.S. dollars to…

USA Cycling appears to be targeting older athlete for out-of-competition testing.

Doping May 22, 2018

Cyclist, 59, suspended for refusing drug test outside race. Are we next?

Two months ago, I wrote about M50 thrower David Burrell in Britain, who is suspended until October 2021 for refusing a drug test, possibly at home. Now comes news that an M55 cyclist — Scott Gross of Orange Park, Florida — has accepted a 4-year suspension for refusing an out-of-competition drug test May 3. This hits close to home. So I wrote USATF national masters chair Rex Harvey whether masters tracksters could get a knock on the door. He replied: “All USATF athletes are liable for testing at any time and any place.” While conceding that MTF has no formal…

University of Malaga's two-tone Mondo track will hos

International May 22, 2018

Mondo in Málaga: Is that your favorite track and field surface?

At WMA worlds in September, sprinters will be pleased to learn, Mondo is the surface of at least one track — at the University of Málaga. But that’s considered a secondary venue. The main one is the City of Málaga’s combined football (soccer) and athletics (track) stadium. Unsure which spikes are recommended for the non-Mondo stadium, but pyramid and Christmas tree spikes (specified for Mondo) may suffice for all. In any case, the 2012 and 2016 Olympics were contested on Mondo — because it’s speed friendly. (I’ve heard that distance runners have a problem with it, but oh well.) What…

Also known as the Masters Bubka, Wolfgag Ritte

Records May 21, 2018

Wolfgang Ritte at 65 becomes oldest man to clear 4.0 (13 feet) in vault

Wolfgang Ritte has a thing for Wipperfuerth, Germany. Five years ago Saturday, he set an M60 WR in the vault at that ancient North Rhine-Westphalia town. Don’t look now. Wipperfuerth was the site Saturday of his M65 WR, where he made first-attempt clearances of 4.0 and 4.05 meters (13 1 1/2 and 13-3 1/2) and screamed with joy on the way down. Haven’t seen results site, but a YouTube video and my source are reliable. (He came close to 4.0 indoors in March.) So by breaking American John Altendorf’s listed WR of 3.89 (12-9), Wolfie becomes the oldest man to…

General May 20, 2018

Damien Leake looms as M65 WR man after 12.40 in 100 on May 6

Results are posted for the Southern California Striders Meet of Champions at Santa Ana College. The top mark was by Damien Leake, who at 65 clocked a legal 12.40 in the 100 — with the listed world record being 12.33 by Bill Collins at the 2017 Penn Relays. On Saturday, Damien responded to some queries. “I am hoping to take a real shot at Bill’s WR,” he said. “I was a little surprised at how close I was this early in the season, as I am a little ‘soft’ because I’ve been doing a lot more coaching than training this…