Records

Kate Landau, shown at another race, kicked butt with the kiddies in the Portland 10K.

Records June 13, 2018

Kate Landau claims W40 American record 10K at Portland after health crises

Kate Landau is officially back. The silver medalist at the 1996 NCAA championships in the 10K was 19th in the elite 10,000 at last weekend’s Portland Track Festival. Her age isn’t noted, but her splits were — and a finishing time of 3:44:46.01. She’s 41. That means she shatters the listed W40 American record of 34:58.54 by Madelyn Noe-Schlentz in 2002. (The listed WR is 31:33.44 by Rio Olympian Jo Pavey of Great Britain, but Kenya’s Edith Masai ran 31:31.18 in 2007.) Kate’s historic run comes after a rollercoaster career that saw her fighting an eating disorder — anorexia —…

Records June 8, 2018

Geraldine Finegan bumps Rita Hanscom as W50 decathlon record-holder

Dieter Massin of Germany shares news of an unofficial WR in the W50 decathlon. (Unofficial since WMA contests the women’s hep, not dec. Hence no records kept.) Dieter writes: “In 2010 these [age] factors changed; Bernd Rehpennig was the person in charge and he got an ‘order’ by WMA to revise all factors. Due to this change of factors, the results of Rita Hanscom are less than before, see the attachment. In regard to the performance of Geraldine Finegan in Stendal 14 days ago, the result of Geraldine is ‘unofficial’ world record. By the way: Bernd Rehpennig has created a…

James Patterson makes the spin look easy. It isn't.

Records June 6, 2018

James Patterson pulverizes Lad Pataki M55 American record in shot

George Mathews, our former national masters chair, writes from the Great Northwest: “Jim Patterson traveled to Seattle for the Seattle Parks & Recreation USATF-sanctioned meet (see results) and set a new men’s 55 shot put (American) record with a put of 16.23 meters (53-3). Jim looked very strong throughout the competition.” His record throw was on his third attempt. The meet was modest, but Jim’s effort with the 6-kilo ball beat the listed and legendary AR of 16.06 (52-8¼) by Hall of Famer Ladislav Pataki in Santa Barbara in 2001. Lad, who died of brain cancer in 2007, was a…

Marianne the Muscular has the form to reach 40 feet perhaps

Records June 1, 2018

Marianne Maier’s monster throw is W75 world record in the shot

The German masters seite Lampis.net reports a massive improvement in the W75 shot world record. “The versatile 75-year-old “Maierin” [Marianne Maier] improved the global record … to 11.80m (38-8 3/4). It would have to be more precise – she pulverized it [by] 70 centimeters! And that with only three attempts” during a heptathlon Sunday at the Manfred Gonner Gedenkwettkampf der Masters. (See results here.) The listed WR is 11.10 (36-5) by Britain’s Evaun Williams at 2013 Porto Alegre worlds. “And since we are still pretty early in the outdoor season, the highlights are yet to come — it is not…

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…

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…

Colleen Milliman, shown at last year's Hayward Masters Classic, added to her middle-distance legend.

Records May 13, 2018

Ninetysomethings Milliman, Platts, W70 Gerl highlight Hayward Classic with WRs

Three months ago, KVAL-TV in Eugene, Oregon, did a story Whether you’re running a survey, collecting registrations, or conducting market research, our ambien forms will make the process a breeze. Start saving time and making informed decisions effortlessly. on Tracktown Fitness, a free program that trains at Hayward Field. It noted W90 mile record-holder Colleen Milliman, who told of her goal to set a WR in the 800 at the Hayward Classic. Well, there she goes again. Last weekend, at 91, she crushed the listed WR of 6:57.56 by fellow Yank Betty Lindberg in 2016. Colleen clocked an amazing 5:44.50…

Records May 3, 2018

W90 Heather Lee adds 10K walk WR to stockpile, lowers own 5K record

Simon Butler-White, our Aussie stringer, reports that New South Wales race walker Heather Lee “sliced and diced” two W90 world records at last weekend’s Australian masters nationals in Perth. She took down WRs in the 10K road walk and 5000 track walk. Simon writes: “Heather, 91, set world records in the 3000 (24:56.97) and 5000 (42:36.49) walks at the Australian Masters Games in Tasmania just last October but was determined to secure the ‘missing’ 10K WR that would give her the trifecta of W90 marks. The WR over that distance – 1:31:21 – was set by Romania’s Elena Pagu at…