MASTERS TRACK & FIELD NEWS MONDAY, NOVEMBER 18th EDITION


Sprinter makes the run of a century
By Kalani Simpson, The Honolulu Star-Bulletin, Sunday, November 17, 2002

THE morning is cloudy and cold. It is windy, with rain looming. The = crowd is sparse for the Hawaii Senior Olympics. At Kaiser High School, = there are 25 people in the stands. But they will see history. They will = see magic. Erwin Jaskulski is 100 years old. One hundred and two months, as he = would tell you. He's here to run. He's here to break the world record. Jaskulski is all smile and bright eyes and white, wispy beard. He's = grown his hair long, the way old men sometimes do. It blows behind him = in the wind. He's a sprinter. He's a sprinter, and you've come to watch him run. Then, an ambulance. That's a bad sign. Is it for our man? After all, = he is 100 years old. It is for him. He hadn't seen some starting blocks = sitting on the track, and he tripped over them, and he fell. And he was = bleeding. "If they let him run, we're going to do this," the Hawaii Senior = Olympics' Mark Zeug says. "He's determined to run." He is. The paramedic beams. His day has been made. If most = 100-year-olds fall, they go to the hospital. They get operations. They = break hips. This guy gets wrapped up and he's going to run the 100 = meters. The other age groups line up and take off. Jaskulski starts to warm = up, one arm out stiffly, like a bird. Then, he and his heat walk down = the track. Those going for age-group records must run against the wind. = The volunteers set up the electronic timing system to make everything = official. They test and test again. It begins to rain. Jaskulski waits it out in the timers' tent. Someone offers him a = jacket. Everyone is gathered around him, ready to soak up anything he = might have to offer on this special day. You perch under the stadium, in a storage dugout, with a running = enthusiast who had the idea first. He tells you he has come to watch the = 100-year-old man run for the record. You too, you tell him. "This buggah," he says, "he's tough. He's a real runner." He thinks Wheaties should hear about this guy. THE EQUIPMENT IS ready at last. The record chasers take their mark. = Raindrops fall on the soaked track. But they will run. The gunshot jars them to life. They run, and the applause grows. = There are whoops, "Woo! Go Erwin!" The record for 100-year-olds is 43 = seconds. Here he comes. He runs, his eyes squinted, his mouth wide open. A picture of pure = joy. You walk along with him for a second, and then he passes you. You = find yourself jogging, then, along with a handful of other spectators = who can't help but run for the finish with him. A throng meets him there. All the competitors and all the volunteers = and all the younger runners in his heat who beat him across the line. = Everyone is around him. The hand-held timers yell out unofficial times. = He'd done it. The men who had run with him gather for a picture. = Everyone is around him. Everyone feels great. Everyone smiles. "Thirty-six-two," someone says. "Not bad. World record."
Go to: http://st= arbulletin.com/2002/11/17/sports/simpson.html=20 for the rest of the article

Karen races to fifth Masters title
FROM: The Belfast Telegraph

KAREN Marshall covered herself in glory by winning the W45 section of = the British and Irish Masters cross-country international at Ballymena = for the fifth year in a row. The St Anne's runner finished fifth overall in the race, which was won = by Ann Keenan-Buckley. The Irish champion came in over a minute in front of team-mate Noleen = Porter, with England's Michelle Wannell in third. Sharon Hatch finished sixth and placed fourth in the W35 group. She led the Northern Ireland team of Bridgeen Moore, Geraldine Finnegan = and Hannah Shields to bronze medals. In the men's event Dion McNeilly was top local finisher in fifth in a = race which was dominated by the English side, who had a clean sweep. Jimmy Reid of Springwell took the silver medal in the M65 category. Eighty-year old John McKeag was ninth in the M70s. England took most of the team prizes although Ireland came through in = the W40 section. Men: 1, J Critchlow (England) 31.52; 2, J Convery (England) 32.11; 3, R = Hand (England) 32.17; 4, D Neill (England) 32.28; 5, D McNeilly = (Northern Ireland) 32.38; 6, C Donnelly (Scotland) 32.29; 7, D Bonner = (Ireland) 32.48; 8, D Walmsley (England) 33.02; 9, T O'Connor (Ireland) = 33.10; 10, S Tobin (Wales) 33.15. Ladies: 1, A Keenan-Buckley (Ireland) 16.42; 2, N Porter (Ireland) = 18.08; 3, M Wannell (England) 18.15; 4, A Hirst (England) 18.18; 5, K = Marshall (Northern Ireland) 18.20; 6, S Hatch (Northern Ireland) 18.29; = 7, A Sexton-Moran (Ireland) 18.30; 8, M Greenan (Ireland) 18.32; 9, J = Clarke (Eng-land) 18.34; 10, S Allen (England) 18.35.

Rain can't dampen race for the winners
By Steve Nearman, THE WASHINGTON TIMES

The official name of the 26.2-mile race through Montgomery County is the = Marathon in the Parks. Yesterday, it turned out to be more like a = marathon in the swamps Torrential rains Saturday and yesterday left puddles the size of lakes. = Those who tried to avoid the water by going off trail onto the muddy = grass fared even worse, experiencing the quicksand effect. The fallen leaves didn't help matters, either, making for a slippery and = dangerous route in many areas. The hazards translated into slower times for many of the 860 starters = and 838 finishers. And who could fault many of those 1,330 entrants = (more than 2,000 registered last year) who, when they awoke yesterday = morning to a dark, chilly and rainy November day, had a moment of = clarity and opted to go back to bed? In the end, however, David Spiller of Harrisonburg, Va., and Denise = Knickman of Baltimore persevered and walked away cold and soaked but = $1,000 richer. Spiller finished his second marathon in 2:33:11, 1=BD = minutes faster than his debut at Richmond last year, while Knickman ran = her sixth marathon and first triumph in 2:59:18.
http://www= .washtimes.com/sports/20021118-52291732.htm

THE JAKE PORTER STORY

I am sure that many of you have already seen or read something about Jake Porter. His story has been in the papers, on national TV and on the Web. Following is part of a story that was published in the Huntington, West Virginia Herald-Dispatch: Act of kindness speaks volumes about football's spirit By JAMES WALKER - Thursday quarterback In an age when arrogance and "Sharpie" pens steal the national spotlight, it is often the smallest, most unnoticed acts of kindness that remind us that football is merely a game. The story, which is destined to become legendary in Southern Ohio circles, starts in Waverly. Northwest football coach Dave Frantz and Tigers' coach Derek DeWitt shared a conversation the week leading up to the game. But the two coaches weren't discussing strategy, instead they were talking about a mentally-disabled Northwest player by the name of Jake Porter. Porter, a senior, has a disorder called "Chromosomal Fragile-X," which is the most common cause of inherited mental retardation. Porter still shows up on time for practice every day and dresses in full gear during games, but he has yet to take an official snap in a football game. Frantz wanted that streak to end last Friday. "I told them (Waverly) ahead of time that he can't take a hit or anything," Frantz said. "If the game's not at stake on the last play, I wanted him to come in and take a knee." Yet a week after their conversation, with Waverly leading 42-0 with five seconds remaining, coach DeWitt offered Frantz one better. "During the timeout, he met me in the middle of the field and said 'We'll let him score,'" Frantz explained. "(Initially) I said 'Nah.' Then we talked about it with the referees, and they said 'Hey coach, we understand." What soon followed will forever go down in Southern Ohio football lore. Go to http://www.herald-dispatch.com/jakeporter/JakePorter.htm to read more about Jake Porter and the rest of this story. The page also includes a video of "what soon followed". It is the same video that has been shown on the national TV programs.

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