Rants October 16, 2018

National Masters Chair Rex Harvey: Medals were goal of Malaga relay selections

It goes without saying that the goal of USATF masters is winning as many medals at possible at worlds. But was a decision to move Charlie Allie down from the M70 4×100 to the M65 team in Malaga the most efficient course? I’ll let others debate that. For now, I’ll pass along the first response I’ve gotten from USATF National Masters Chair Rex Harvey since posting the Roger Pierce complaint nearly a week ago. Rex graciously writes: Please make it known to your readers that, while he does more work than any of the rest of us, volunteer Phil Greenwald…

Records October 15, 2018

Marie-Louise Michelsohn claims W75 steeple WR by nearly slimmest margin

Results of the Sept. 30 Club West Masters meet in Santa Barbara show Jeff Davison’s hurdle time and Marie-Louise Michelsohn’s steeple mark next to each other. Not shown: How spectacular they were. At 76, Marie-Louise nipped the listed W75 world record in the 2000-meter steeplechase with her 11:30.52. WMA shows the record as 11:30.55 by China’s Xuhua Chen at 2016 Perth worlds. I wrote Marie-Louise for details on her amazing mark at UC Santa Barbara. She graciously responded: My lap times were 2:07, 4:36, 6:54 9:17 11:30.52 Final time. So splits were 2:07, 2:29, 2:18, 2:23, 2:13. The first lap…

Huntsman is among many Senior Games-style meets that offers the 50-meter dash.

General October 11, 2018

Huntsman World Senior Games boasting Mondo track at 50-plus Utah meet next week

The forecast for St. George, Utah, early next week is highs in the low 70s. Nice. It’s time for the Huntsman World Senior Games — the last major geezer meet in North America. It’s Oct. 15-17 at Snow Canyon High School (“NEW Mondo Track!!”). I don’t have access to the entrants list, but the schedule shows a lot of competition in many of the 50-plus age groups. At least nine gents over 85 are entered in the 100, for example. (And 16 in M75, 22 in M60.) So you’ll have to earn your medals. The popular 50-meter dash and standing…

General October 10, 2018

M70 SoCal TC foursome run 4×800 WR, crashing 11-minute barrier in Wichita

Relay records fall so often that I tend to get jaded. But when an M70 SoCal Track Club foursome ran in Wichita a couple weekends ago, the result was stunning and historic. The team of Gary Patton, Tim Wigger, Salih Talib and Grady Cash clocked 10:51.08 in the 4×800 to crush the listed WR of 11:09.87 by Jim Selby, Alfonse Escobar, Gunnar Linde and Avery Bryant at 1998 Orono nationals. That’s 20 years ago! In July, the team of Fred Lindsley, Grady, Tim and Salih ran a pending WR of 11:03.46 at West Regionals in Culver City, California. (I noted…

Charlie Allie anchors America's gold-medal M65 4x100 relay team at Malaga.

General October 9, 2018

Special Report: Were rules broken for sake of Yanks’ record shot in Malaga 4×100?

I love records and record attempts. But should a chance at a WR trump rules at worlds? That’s a question being raised after Charles Allie dropped down from M70 to M65 at Malaga, causing a domino effect of anger and disappointment that reached into the M80 age group. On Friday, M70 sprinter Roger Pierce contacted me via Facebook to describe what he considered a debacle involving the 4×100 relays. Later I spoke with him on the phone, as well as Charlie. I also wrote George Haywood, another M65 relay member and teammate of Charlie’s. Phil Greenwald, longtime U.S. masters team…

Malaga's official gallery included shots of a bleeding Vern Christensen after slipping on a barrier.

Rants October 8, 2018

Were steeple barriers at Malaga safe to step on? Canadian M75 racer ended up bloodied

American M75 middle-distancer Ev “Doc” Murdock was eighth in the 2K steeple at Malaga, but he sent me photos of the fifth-placer — Vern Christensen of Canada. Vern is shown at the finish holding his bloody forehead. Ouch! What happened? Doc explains: Has anyone mentioned to you that the steeplechase barriers were not coated with the usual nonslip surface? Instead, they were painted with high-gloss paint. As a result, they were amazingly slippery as soon as they got wet. Those of us who normally step on the barriers as part of our technique for jumping over them slipped. Several of…

The nation's Capitol looms in background of Navy Mile, where Sonja set an age-group record.

Athlete of the Week October 7, 2018

USATF Athlete of the Week Sonja Friend-Uhl tells why she skipped shot at Malaga gold

On the final day of Malaga worlds, Courtney Babcock of Canada won the W45 1500 in 4:47.88. That’s the No. 3 time in the world this season, according to mastersrankings.com. No. 1 is the 4:39.15 by American Sonja Friend-Uhl last March. So where was Sonja? At home in Florida, getting ready two weeks later for the Navy Mile on Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington. Her road mile mark of 5:06.33 beat the old course record by more than 10 seconds, and Friday she was named USATF Athlete of the Week. “She finished 11th in the elite women’s race as she added…

Rants October 4, 2018

Nominate masters for USATF awards by Friday — if link comes back from dead

The USATF Masters Awards panel, chaired by W40 Malaga worlds hep champion Rachel Guest, is doing a good thing — using our official USATF masters site to invite nominations for annual awards. But not so good — you can’t nominate someone. The specified page says: “Sorry, this nomination form is not available.” That’s an easy fix (I hope). But the deadline is Friday. “After the October 5th deadline, the USATF Masters Awards Sub-Committee will review all nominations,” the announcement page says. “The committee will review all performance factors prior to voting. All awards winners will be announced at the USATF…

Rants September 30, 2018

Florida M65 thrower rips Malaga facilities in letter to WMA President Margit Jungmann

Guy Dirkin of Florida had a good Malaga. As an M65 thrower, competing for Britain, he won silver in the hammer and was 23 points away from bronze in the throws pentathlon. But he wasn’t happy with the facilities and let the new WMA president know in a letter I obtained. “Dear Margit,” he wrote Germany’s Margit Jungmann, the newly elected leader. “Please find attached a letter to you regarding the WMA’s managerial performance at the recent Malaga World Championships and past Championships. This correspondence has been provoked by multiple participant complaints, primarily around facilities. The scope of this letter restricts coverage to…

International September 29, 2018

Banned Nazi version of German national anthem played 2 days at Malaga medal ceremonies

In Germany, singing “Deutschland, Deutschland über alles” (Germany, Germany above everything) is a Bozo No-No. Although the lyric was written in 1841 by August Heinrich Hoffmann von Fallersleben — and had nothing to do with the Nazis — it was adopted by Hitler and sung at the opening of the 1936 Berlin Olympics. Since 1952, the German national anthem has dropped the “Deutschland über alles” stanza. But WTF. Guess what was played for two days at Malaga medal ceremonies? Yup — the “banned” version. According to the German masters website Lampis.net, the nonkosher version (with the correct 1797 melody by…