NEWS!
Masters Track Indoor Championships, March 20-22
The country’s top masters track athletes compete in the 2009 USA Masters Indoor Track & Field Championships at Prince George's Sports and Learning Complex in Landover, Md., Friday-Sunday, March 20-22.
Sponsored by the Potomac Valley Track Club under the theme of "Lifetime Fitness," the meet is open to all athletes 30 and up. This event is a great competition for Maryland Senior Olympians training for the National Senior Games this summer in San Francisco.
For entry fees, registration and travel information, check out this entry form and data sheet.
Nearly 1,000 of the country's best athletes are expected in the meet, including two-time Sullivan Award Finalist Philippa Raschker, 62, of Marietta, Ga. Raschker last year won 10 gold medals at the outdoor World Masters Championships in Italy and was voted the outstanding competitor. This year she won USATF’s Outstanding Masters Athlete award.
The Maryland-Washington, D.C.,-Virginia area is home to an unusually large number of masters athletes. Among local national stars in the meet are five-time Olympic trials qualifier (800 meters) Alisa Harvey, 43, of Manassas; 1976 Olympian Jim Barrineau, 53, of Burke, in the high jump; lifetime 20-world sprint titles holder Larry Colbert, 71, of Bowie, also coach of the Glenarden Track Club; and U.S. high jump record-holder Bruce McBarnette, 51, of Sterling.
Other top entrants include two Canadians: 1988 Olympian Renee Belanger, 46 (6th at 800 meters in Seoul), and Earl Fee, who has set records in every age group he enters and has announced he will attempt a new world 800-meter record in his new M80 division.
Other stars already entered: 1984 Olympian John Tuttle of Atlanta, 50, who run the meet’s opening final, the 3,000-metter, as will Kathryn Martin, 57, of Northport, N,Y,, Bengay’s Outstanding Masters Athlete; USATF 2008 age-group masters track & field athletes of the year Christel Donley, 74, of Colorado Springs, Colo., and Oneithea Lewis, 48, of Oakland Gardens, N.Y.
The meet also includes top competitors from Brazil, Great Britain, and Mexico.
Past participants included world record holders and Olympians Bill Rodgers, Frank Shorter and Joan Benoit Samuelson.
Oldest competitor entered so far: Leland McPhie, 95, of San Diego, in seven events—60-meters, high jump, long jump, shot put, weight, super weight, and triple jump. Oldest D.C. area competitor entered to date is Charles Boyle, 85 of Annapolis in the 3,000-meter racewalk.
Prince George's Sports and Learning Complex is next to FedEx Field, home of the Washington Redskins. The host hotels are the Radisson and Holiday Inn Express in Largo, Md.
Eleven of the past 12 Masters championships were held in Boston. The Potomac Valley Track Club, which won the bid for this year’s nationals, is directing the meet, with support from USA Track & Field's Potomac Valley Association.
For detailed information on entrants and schedule, visit USATF’s meet home page.
Event Schedule
Individual event finals begin 3 p.m. Friday, and 9 a.m. Saturday and Sunday.
Friday, March 20
Indoor pentathlon (multi-event), 3,000-meter run, weight throw.
Saturday, March 21
60-meter dash, 60-meter hurdles, 400-m dash, 1-mile run, 4x800-meter relay, long jump, shot put, pole vault, high jump (men), weight throw (women).
Sunday, March 22
High jump (women), 200-meter dash, 800-meter run, 3,000-meter race walk, 4x400-meter relay, triple jump, weight throw (men), superweight throw.
