In his new biography, Earl Fee said his goal, after turning 90, was to raise his world records count to 60. He had 56 age-group WRs when he wrote that. Don’t look now, but he’s at 59. After setting M90 indoor WRs in March in the 400 and 800, he crushed the listed M90 WR in the outdoor 800 on Sunday at the site of 2019 WMA regionals and 2020 worlds.

On Facebook, Earl said: “Had some good fortune today at the Ontario Masters Championships at Varsity Stadium today, lowering the outdoor world record 800m in age group 90-94 by over 4 seconds to 3:34.93– age graded 104.59%. The latter age graded is equivalent to about 5 seconds lower open record, they say. The high temperature 25 C (77F) didn’t bother me. My 800m recent training was based on a 3:36 pace. I have found I can achieve in a race very close to the pace I trained for, but the targets are reasonable. Two Canadian female athletes were telling me that I finished this race by walking across the finish line. Thank you. So I learned something valuable for 2 further meets this summer.”

Earl’s race results — showing him beating a 79-year-old kid.

Event 8 Men 800 Meter Run Masters
===================================
Name Age Team Finals Age-Grading Points
===================================
Section 1
1 Clarke, John M67 Unattached Ontario 2:48.41 2:10.96 77.21%
2 Williams, David M68 Unattached 2:57.61 2:18.11 73.21%
3 Mackie, Chris M78 Unattached Ontario 3:03.95 2:07.37 79.39%
4 Taivassalo, Keijo M80 Uni. Toronto TC 3:24.06 2:08.18 78.89% 10
5 Stoyan, Tom M68 York Uni. T.F.C. 3:34.53 2:46.82 60.61% 10
6 Fee, Earl M90 Unattached Ontario 3:34.93 1:36.68104.59%
7 Goodstadt, Michael M79 Uni. Toronto TC 4:34.20 3:09.86 53.26% 10
8 Gill, Vattan M92 Unattached Ontario 6:00.26 2:42.05 62.40%

Across the pond, Anne Gilshinan lowered her own recent W55 WR at 1500, clocking 4:41.46 Saturday at the Mary Peters track Saturday at the Belfast Irish Milers meet. (Results will be here eventually.) It’s her third WR this season. She also ran an 800 record a few weeks back. Among her cheering fans is former M55 mile WR man Rich Burns. (In 2010, Rich ran 4:36.94 to beat one of the oldest age-group world records on the books: 4:40.4 by Australia’s Jack Ryan in 1977.) In fact, he’s been advising Anne.

Rich, who turns 65 in January and hopes to target some more records, says he started running with Anne, when he moved with his wife, Heather, to Ireland. “We became really good friends and battled through injuries and runs together,” he tells me. “After a while, I ended up advising her on her running. That’s about where it stands as of now though we’ve been back in the States for almost 1 1/2 years.” Rich says he writes to Anne almost daily and talk nearly weekly. “Anyway she’s doing wonderfully with her racing!”

Also, the Eurovets site notes a week-old pole vault WR by W50 Irie Hill of Britain. She soared 3.41 meters (11-2 1/4) in Waiblingen on June 15. (See results here.) “Irie improved the world record set by Australian Dawn Hartigan in 2007 by one centimeter,” the Eurovets said. “Only in March at the WMACI in Torun she won W50 gold thanks to a 3.51 world record vault. She currently holds the indoor and outdoor world records W45 and W50 in the vault.” She took only three jumps to get the record — clearing 3.21 on second try, passing 3.31 and nailing 3.41 on her first try. (She missed three times at 3.51, 11-6 1/4.)

Finally, another shout-out to Santa Monica’s Gunnar Linde, who claimed an M90 American record in the 1500. At the USATF Western Regional Masters Championships in Los Angeles, he ran 8:59.83 to beat the listed AR of 9:25.2 by Paul Spangler way back in 1989. (The listed WR is 7:37.08 by Toshio Kamehama of Japan.)

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