March 2020

International March 31, 2020

Possible WMA world meets if virus vanishes: 2023 Spokane indoors and 2024 Daegu outdoors

Margit Jungmann of Germany, the president of World Masters Athletics, used to do the heptathlon. That’s helpful in her current gig — juggling two dozen jobs. The most important? Protecting lives. Like doctors, nurses and other heroes, Margit and her fellow council members will be making decisions in the coming months on the fate of our health — and sport. Will she permit cities to move forward on world and regional championships amid The Beast, COVID-19? It’s now accepted science that the earlier we adopt strict social-distancing and other steps, the better we have a chance of escaping the worst…

Rio still plans to host the Pan-American Masters Games (open to the world) in September. Buena suerte.

International March 25, 2020

Pan-American Masters Games in Rio unfazed by virus news, still on track for September

Masters athletes with a taste for danger are in luck! They can still compete on a world stage this year — at the Pan-American Masters Games in Rio de Janeiro. The track meet is Sept. 4-13 at the University of the Air Force in Rio (Universidade da Força Aérea). And the price for joining “between 10 and 20 thousand sportspeople” in “24 sports! 49 disciplines! 25 venues!”? “The registration fee is US$ 205, for foreigners. Each registration gives the participant the right to take part in two sports and five competitions in each one of them,” says the site, which…

Mary Roman was a throws specialist who competed at worlds and was a frequent Rob Jerome photo subject.

Obituaries March 24, 2020

COVID-19 claims Mary Roman, 84, who deserved to win throws medals into her 100s

In 2003, Mary Roman suffered a heart attack. Just a speed bump in life. As a high-schooler, she had polio — before the vaccine. (Riding horses strengthened her legs.) A masters athlete since 1991 — after seeing her late husband, Granville, compete in Senior Olympic swimming — she tried the half-marathon, sprints and jumps but made throws her specialty. She set countless American records. At 84, Mary was entered at Baton Rouge. Coronavirus canceled that indoor nationals, and today it also wiped out the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and Toronto world meet, where Mary would have excelled. But in the deepest…

Anne smashed the listed W55 indoor WR at 1500 by 4:50.75 Clare Elm of Great Britain.

Records March 15, 2020

Setting viral WRs while dodging the virus: W55 Anne Gilshinan, M60 Anselm LeBourne

On opposite sides of the Atlantic are mirror image middle-distance legends — W55 Anne Gilshinan of Wexford in southeast Ireland and M60 Anselm LeBourne of West Orange, New Jersey. Both have crushed multiple world records this indoor season and are poised to rewrite outdoor records for the 800, 1500 and mile. But they’re no different from you and me in one respect. We’re all navigating the coronavirus. Every day, the warnings get sterner. Today I watched my governor, California’s Gavin Newsom, say I (being 65 or over) should keep indoors. (I went for a sunset walk in the park with…

LSU's unbanked track would have hosted USATF masters indoor nationals this weekend — until the danged coronavirus showed up.

Rants March 13, 2020

A virus manifesto: Time to show why they call us masters and not slaves

Last Sunday, while waiting to run a slow-speed 100 at a San Diego all-comers meet, one of my friends asked me urgently: Do you think indoor nationals will be canceled? She would turn 70 on Thursday, the day before the meet, and was looking forward to a bunch of medals as the baby of her age group. She considered me in-the-know. So I confidently predicted Baton Rouge nationals would go on. “It’s way too late to cancel,” I said. Everyone knows how that turned out. Since Monday, when the LOC wisely pulled the plug and later announced refunds of entry…

International March 5, 2020

Coronavirus fears force 10-month delay in European masters indoor champs

Coronavirus concerns have led to a long delay in the European masters indoor championships, originally set for March 15-21 in Braga, Portugal. The meet will be pushed back 10 months to January 2021. But organizers of WMA worlds in Toronto say that meet is still on track for July 20-August 1. USATF HQ in Indy issued a statement March 3: “USATF wants to assure you that we take the ​health, safety, and well-being of our membership very seriously…. Currently, all events are proceeding as planned. Please understand, we are following guidance issued by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the…