Maine
event shows fitness possible at any age
(Orono, ME) – In what looms as one of the
largest national masters track and field
championships outside of the West Coast, the
University of Maine eagerly awaits some 1100
competitors (ages 30 to 95) Aug. 2-5
(Thurs.–Sun.) for what should be an
extraordinary demonstration of many of the
world’s best competitors showing that age is no
barrier to lifetime fitness and competition.
Seven Olympians and 34 current world champions
are among the competitors at the 2007 USA
Masters Outdoor Track & Field Championships, to
highlight speed, power, skill, and endurance.
Virtually all the world champions coming will be
attempting top performances in Orono at the
national championship to show their readiness
for next month’s outdoor World Championships in
Riccione, Italy Sept. 4-15. A full listing of
current World Champions coming to Orono, is
included below.
Olympians competing in Orono include:
Franklin "Bud" Held
(1952 Helsinki, 1956 Melbourne javelin) M75, of
Del Mar, CA, will compete in the pole vault,
discus.
James Barrineau (1976 Montreal high jump), M50, Burke, VA., high jump.
Patricia "Trish" Porter
(formerly Trish King), (1988 Seoul high jump)
W40, Albuquerque, NM, high jump.
Bernice Robinson Holland,
W80, Cleveland Heights, OH (1948 London hurdles
and high jump) shot put, discus and javelin.
Jan Merrill-Morin
(1976 Montreal as Jan Merrill) W50, Homdel,
NJ, 5000 and 1500.
Bob Mimm (Rome 1960), M80, Willingboro, NJ, racewalk.
Cherrie Sherrard
(Tokyo 1964), W65, Vallejo, CA, shot and discus.
Among those expected to stand out at the meet is
Philippa Raschker,
2004 Sullivan Award Finalist for America’s top
amateur athlete, who just turned 60 Feb. 21,
opening a likely whole set of potential world
and U.S. records in her new age group. (The
other four Sullivan finalists with Raschker were
basketball star Lebron James, Olympic
speedskater Apolo Anton Ohno, swimmer Michael
Phelps, and University of Connecticut basketball
leader Diana Taurasi.) Raschker is entered in
eleven events. Raschker has set more than 200
U.S. and world track and field records during
her career. In Orono she will compete in the
100, 200, 400, 80H, 300H, HJ, PV, LJ, TJ, Jav,
and pentathlon (another 5 events combined).
Other standouts could include 2006 USATF Masters
Athletes of the Year Noland Shaheed of Pasadena,
CA, 57, a jazz musician who played with Count
Basie and Marvin Gaye but also sets world and
U.S. running records, entered in the M55 400,
800, 1500, and steeplechase; and Alisa Harvey,
41 from Manassas, VA, in the W40 800 and 1500.
Alisa set a new indoor world masters mile record
in January (4:47.26) and an American outdoor
record in the 800 (2:07.57) in March.
The meet director is Rolland Ranson, who said
that the meet “is recognized and respected as
one of the greatest championships in the world.”
The meet announcer will be Peter Taylor of
Fairfax, VA, renowned for his encyclopedic
knowledge of masters athletes, and who together
with Ken Stone (editor of
www.masterstrack.com) provided information
to the Masters Media Committee (chaired by Bob
Weiner) for this release on projected
outstanding performers and meet logistics.
The Meet Schedule and list of athletes entered
are available at the web site of the 2007
Championships,
http://www.usatf.org/events/2007/USAMastersOutdoorTFChampionships/
Also on hand will be Patricia “Trish” Porter,
out of the University of Oregon, who represented
the U.S. in the 1988 Olympics; Trish should win
the W40 high jump with no problem whatsoever
(she is the world record holder for women 40-44
at 5’ 9 ¼”). There will be numerous other
Olympians, but what about Nolan Shaheed (M55) of
Pasadena, California, Alisa Harvey (W40), of
Manassas, Virginia, and Bill Collins (M55) of
Houston, Texas? Nolan, at one time the musical
director for Marvin Gaye, is the 2007 male
masters track and field athlete of the year in
the U.S., and he still runs in open meets.
Alisa Harvey won the comparable award for women
this year, and she remains a major force in open
competition. Already this year the Tennessee
All-American and former top-ranked American
woman in the 1500 has run a national record
(for W40) of 2:07.57 in the 800. Bill Collins
was selected as the male masters track and field
athlete in the world for 2006, and he has
thrilled spectators in countless venues. Last
summer at Charlotte (outdoor nationals) he
blazed an 11.26 in the 100, but the wind was
just a bit too strong for ratification as a
record. Pity.
The 45-49 and 40-44 groups will be loaded with
standouts. Saladin “Sal” Allah (M45), from New
Jersey, is a big-time runner in every respect
-- he runs with that effortless style of a top
collegiate or open competitor and his times
confirm his brilliance (Sal is the world outdoor
record holder in the 800 for 45-49 – a startling
1:54.12). And how about Getulio Echeandia and
Robert Thomas in M40? “Tony” Echeandia, of New
York City and Puerto Rico, finished third in the
Puerto Rican open championships in the 400
intermediate hurdles – not as a young man; he
did it this year !!! Tony won both the 400 and
400 intermediates at last year’s nationals.
Thomas, an emerging superstar, thrilled the fans
at the Penn Relays this past April with a
brilliant anchor leg in the 4 x 400 in which his
squad rang up a 3:21.12 (50.3 per man). In the
2005 worlds, when he was still in M35, Thomas
took the 400 gold in 48.48 (Robert lives in
Indiana).
Also in M40, David Ashford cannot be missed.
David holds the age group record in the 110
hurdles with an otherworldly 13.73; his
opponents can only hope for a miracle. Among
the many standouts in M50 (men 50-54) will be
high jumper Jim Barrineau of Burke, Virginia;
Jim competed in the 1976 Olympics (Montreal) for
the US and managed to beat Dwight Stones 19
years later at the 1995 world masters.
The W55 division (women 55-59) will be headed by
Northport, New York’s Kathy Martin, the first
and only winner of the Bengay award for best
masters track and field athlete. Kathy, who
has set countless marks in the middle and long
distances, has tremendous range and will be
favored in every event she enters.
W60 features Philippa (Phil) Raschker from
Marietta, Georgia, a finalist for the Sullivan
Award in 2004 (along with Lebron James and other
worthies). Phil, who is generally considered to
be the most-accomplished female masters track
athlete in the history of the U.S program (which
has been going on for more than 35 years), has
been tearing the record book apart since she
turned 60 in February of this year. She is a
specialist in the sprints, hurdles, jumps, and
combined events and is not to be missed.
W65 will be headlined by Nadine O’Connor of
Delmar, California, and Professor Marie-Louise
Michelson of the State University of New York at
Stony Brook. Dr. Michelson (a mathematician)
recently tore through 5000 meters in 20:27.08,
an ungodly pace of 6:35 per mile and a world
mark to boot. The fleet and bouncy Nadine can
do everything, sizzling an otherworldly 29.37
in the 200 earlier this year to break Hall of
Famer Irene Obera’s mark by more than a full
second (Nadine was the 2006 female masters t&f
performer in the US but is not yet in the Hall
of Fame).
M70 will showcase the hard-hitting Bob Lida of
Kansas. In the masters indoors this winter Bob
destroyed the American M70 indoor mark in the
400 with a scalding 61.35, and this summer in
Louisville he got the outdoor mark with a
brilliant 61.59.
