April 2019

Here's moi videotaping Carl Lewis at the Mt. SAC Relays, where he said nyet to entering masters meets.

Rants April 22, 2019

Masters exhibitions vanish at Mt. SAC Relays, but resurrection possible if Willie Gault commits

Last weekend’s Mt. SAC Relays were the first in more than 20 years not to feature masters. In the late 1990s, when I first started covering geezer exhibitions at Walnut, we had an age-graded 100, flat 200 and age-graded 800s — with National Masters News publisher Al Sheahen calculating distances and starting times (for the 800s). Masters also ran 110 hurdles some years and threw the hammer. But in recent years, especially in the men’s and women’s 800s, few runners showed up. Some races had only two or three entrants. Scratches weren’t a problem for the sprints. But the writing…

International April 11, 2019

World champ British hurdler calls Toruń worlds ‘without doubt the best ever,’ posts long review

Great Britain’s Donald Brown won the M55 hurdles at Toruń worlds, so he took away some good feelings about the 8th WMA indoor world meet. But he went the extra mile by doing a careful critique off the late-March event. Don posted initial comments on Facebook (below) and then composed a formal review called The Masters’ Voice. (He also came up with a nifty acronym — masters standing for “Making A Statement That Ensures Residual Success.”) Unlike 2018 Malaga worlds, where athletes complained about steeple barriers and relay selection, Poland produced little griping (as far as I know.) In any…

Athlete of the Week April 3, 2019

Irene Obera wins her 3rd USATF Athlete of Week award, but (many) outdoor WRs await

For at least the third time since 2014, Hall of Famer Irene Obera has been named USATF Athlete of the Week. The latest honor was announced Wednesday. This removes the egregious stain on her rep at Torun worlds, when she was the lone entrant in the W85 high jump, passed at .80 meters (2-7 1/2) and then had three misses at .83 (2-8 3/4). NM by her name. No gold. But I guess I’ll have to forgive her, since she set three world records in Poland. Indy’s fine summary: “Obera, 85, set world records in the women’s 85 division of…

Records April 2, 2019

At least 9 Americans take home $1,000 in USATF prize money from Torun worlds

Despite the USATF misreading of the Torun medals table (Yanks were fourth, not second in overall medals at worlds), it appears Team USA was ounce-for-ounce the best squad in Poland. “The main goal was to win the most overall medals which, this time, proved to be quite impossible with the home team Poland, and the next door country Germany having over four and nearly three times as many athletes entered as we,” said national masters chair Rex Harvey. “However, Team USATF-Masters did win more gold medals than anyone but Germany in the most successful WMA Indoor Championship ever. We couldn’t…