Australia

International September 1, 2019

Peter Crombie retires at 74 — Aussie legend among top masters sprinters of all time

Peter Crombie, one of the greatest masters champions in history, has retired at age 74. This is the end of a sprinter era. Peter has been a frequent guest entrant at USATF nationals and is a buddy to many Yanks. When I heard from a friend about Peter’s pullout, I was skeptical. Peter is still in his prime! How could this be? So I wrote him. Here’s what I learned: MASTERSTRACK.BLOG: Can you share your status, and reasons for retiring? PETER CROMBIE: Injuries have plagued my athletics career for some 20 years now with knees being the main issue with…

Peter Crombie has won more world medals than anyone in masters history, according to one account.

International January 7, 2019

Peter Crombie, World Masters Athlete of the Millennium? Champion of champions is 74

Sprinter Peter Crombie, born Christmas Day 1944, is Australia’s gift to masters track. I’ve seen him run for decades (especially at USA masters nationals), and yet didn’t really appreciate his massive dominance. And now The Guardian shares a stat new to me: He’s won a medal in every sprint event in which he’s competed since 1987. “He holds an unparalleled 19 indoor and outdoor track records, and has taken home 20 medals from outdoor world titles,” says the profile. “He has won a remarkable 65 medals in world events – more than anyone in masters history. It’s gotten to the…

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…

International May 2, 2018

M85 David Carr’s radical range at Aussie nationals: 200 to 2K steeple

When you get to Malaga for 2018 outdoor worlds, buy a brew for your Aussie rivals. They’ve endured a long season. How long? They held their outdoor nationals last weekend in Perth. Now they have to peak again in five months. I suspect they’ll do fine up over in Spain. They have WMA superstars, of course. Perhaps the top performer in the four-day meet at Venues West in Perth was M85 steepler/sprinter David Carr. Yup, he ran the 200 in 38.84, 400 in 1:21.93 (which age-grades to 45.46), 800, 1500 and the 2K steeple in 11:10.86 (age-graded as a 3K…