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…

John H. Clark III of Texas spins the true tale of rediscovering track — his own memoir as a newbie pole vaulter.

General February 22, 2020

M60 Vaulter’s Uplifting Memoir: ‘Finally Fit’ Gives Bubba Sparks a Long-Overdue Boost

Spend an hour with Bubba Sparks and you’re a goner. You’ll become a vaulter. In the case of author John H. Clark III, all it took was a Facebook query to Bubba, his older classmate from Houston’s Scarborough High School. “Do you think I could take up pole vaulting for the first time in my life at 60 years old?” Of course, Bubba said: “Let’s go!” John’s journey from “couch potato” to National Senior Games entrant is movingly told in his latest book — “Finally Fit: It’s Never Too Late to Achieve a Dream.” Published six days after Valentine’s Day,…

Kathy Bergen (shown at a Mt. SAC Relays) now has notched 22 world age-groups records.

Records February 19, 2020

Kathy Bergen, Jenn Suhr lead Americans setting early 2020 world records

The race is on. Who will set more masters world records this year — Americans or Europeans? A month ahead of the Eurovets indoor meet in Braga, Portugal, and USATF indoor nationals at Baton Rouge, the Americans hold a big lead. phentermine is here to help suppress your appetite and boost your energy, making it easier to stick to your weight loss goals. The Yanks boast 13 indoor WRs. Our Europeeps have four. (But some U.S. marks are relays, where many of those WRs are soft or nonexistent because the M65, M75, W85 types are new, being 5-year age groups….

Obituaries December 27, 2019

Iowa services set Feb. 1 for Rex Harvey in his old hometown

Jerry Bookin-Weiner shares news about Rex Harvey services: There is now a link for the official obituary and place to leave condolence messages for Rex Harvey. On the website there is a place to leave condolence messages for the family, who have asked that their personal email addresses not be shared. The funeral will be held on Saturday, February 1, at 10 a.m. Central Time in his hometown of Redfield, Iowa, about 45 minutes from the Des Moines (DSM) Airport. There will be a visitation the previous evening. Full details are in the obituary. A Rex Harvey Memorial Track &…

General December 25, 2019

Kay Glynn is our Christmas elf, but will never put her athletic career on the shelf

Kay Glynn sent me her 13th annual Christmas greeting photo more than a week ago, writing: “I don’t even know what this picture means — but it was challenging and fun.” I know exactly what it means. Kay in her mid-60s has made a terrific comeback from hip replacement and resurfacing surgeries. She is showing how track is the fountain of youth and her flexibility and blond hair signal you can recapture past glories. In fact, masters tracksters likely sense holiday themes in our pursuits. Like Christmas, we see our sport as an athletic savior. Like Hanukkah, we see our…

Obituaries December 22, 2019

Rex Harvey dies at 73; decathlete-turned-official was a beloved leader in masters track

If masters track had a Mount Rushmore, it would includes David Pain, Al Sheahen and Rex Harvey. On Sunday — two weeks after enduring the flu many caught at the USATF annual meeting in Reno — Rex died of a heart attack in Prescott, Arizona, where he was recovering from appendix cancer. He was 73. I don’t know if the flu weakened Rex, but on Dec. 12 he wrote me: “Today I ate for the first time in 5 days but still feeling woozy around the edges.” When I learned of Rex’s passing via Facebook, my heart sank 1,000 miles….

Carroll DeWeese, shown at 2009 Lahti worlds, is our treasurer and newly minted WMA delegate.

General December 8, 2019

New USATF Officials Hall of Famer Carroll DeWeese: ‘Thank you for supporting masters’.

USATF Masters Committee Treasurer Carroll DeWeese is rich in friends and fans, including me. He battled cancer a decade back but seems fine now. This weekend, the Michigan city commissioner joined Doug Allen, Roger Burbage, John Shirey as inductees Saturday into the USATF Officials Hall of Fame — celebrated at the USATF Annual Meeting at the Grand Sierra Resort, Reno, Nevada. “Many people asked to get a text copy of my acceptance talk,” he wrote friends of his 940-word remarks. “I spoke from the heart and did not have a text.” Not surprisingly, he talks of love. That’s the kind…

Doping December 7, 2019

Sandris Linbergs, javelin world champion at Toruń, gets 4-year suspension for doping

Last March, Latvian athletes won 11 gold medals at Toruń indoors worlds in Poland, including an M35 thrower (nearing 39) named Sandris Linbergs. In 2018, he was listed on the World Athletics (formerly IAAF) site as the 1040th best discus thrower in the world. At Torun, however, he tested positive for “a prohibited substance, its metabolites or markers.” And this week World Masters Athletics announced he was given a four-year suspension through March 23, 2023. “As the result of this suspension, there will be a reallocation of the results shot put M35 and the results and medal places in the…

Obituaries November 17, 2019

Orville Rogers, Harrison Dillard and Dave Douglass mourned as track and field heroes

Orville Rogers wasn’t just a centenarian role model. He was a model track athlete, period. His training discipline, fierce will-to-win (see him overtaking Dixon Hemphill at indoor nationals 60) and willingness to share his secrets (through his recent book “The Running Man”) made him a hero to many. A middle-distance specialist who also ran sprints and long races, Orville held 11 world records spanning M90 to M100 when he died Thursday two weeks short of turning 102. INSPIRING 99 year old Orville Rogers faces 92 year old Dixon Hemphill in the Men’s 90 year old division 60 meters at #USATFmasters…