John Altendorf

San Francisco M55 thrower launches unofficial World Masters Games group on Facebook

The World Masters Games in Kansai, Japan, originally set for May 2021, were postponed to 2022. But the 2025 Games have been awarded to “Taipei and New Taipei” (Taiwan) after beating out bids from Paris and Perth. These multisport event, organized by the Swiss-based International Masters Games Association, compete with the World Masters Athletics regional and world meets. But many trackos have a great time at both — if they can afford it. So another Facebook group has emerged to discuss the World Masters Games. It was created recently by John Garvey, a San Francisco-based M55 thrower. Speaking of competition,…


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…