MASTERS MILE IN SAN FRANCISCO ON 4/7

This early result just in:

name .................... team ...................................seed................. finish

-Gifted, Chrono.......Geezerstud TC ................... smokin fast........DNS

early resuts have Jeff Mann, 43, the winner in 4:28.39, the fastest US outdoor master's mile to date in 2007...12 under 5:00...details to follow.

MF

12 old guys under 5:00 in ONE RACE! Impossible, I tell you! Get your timing system checked, something went wrong.

Yeah, and check their birth certificates. Maybe Alan Webb shaved his head so he could look like the fast Master milers ;-) Mike - thanks for posting the brief synopsis. I'm looking forward to be part of the sub 5 group next year. Even if I don't break 5, I'm sure I can find some good west coast hoppy beers after the race.

While Robert Allenby was struggling to hold off Tiger Woods at that "other" event in Augusta, GA, 19 old(er)guys toed that line in San Francisco for the "Masters of the Mile"...in the end, some of 2007's top 40+ outdoor performances to date were born out by great competition on a typically pea-soup foggy San Francisco day...overall champion, Jeff Mann of Reno, NV set a nation leading 2007 master's standard with his exceptional 4:28.39, a fully solo effort over the final 600 meters of this inaugural event. In an effort to level the playing field, awards were determined by using the recently revised "Age Graded Scoring Tables". The age graded winner was 55 year-old Tom Bernhard with a sensational time of 4:55.12, the "open" age equivalent of 4:07.75 at 89.85%

MASTERS OF THE MILE

Saturday, April 7, 2007 11:40 a.m.

conditions: foggy, damp, 62 degrees

San Francisco State University

21 starters

1. Jeff Mann, 43 4:28.39 89.76% SILVER

2. Jeff Adkins, 46 4:35.44 89.52

3. Mike Gottardi, 40 4:36.36 85.23

4. Rob Van Cleve, 40 4:41.66 83.62

5. Tim Wallen, 43 4:44.77 84.60

6. Bill Bushnell, 42 4:45.37 83.79

7. Ray Cruz, 42 4:45.92 83.62

8. Vince Ewing, 42 4:48.37 82.91

9. John Foley, 41 4:53.56 80.84

10. Mark Richtman, 52 4:54.38 87.86

11. Tom Bernhard, 55 4:55.12 89.85 GOLD

12. Roy Kissin, 50 4:58.27 85.34

13. Jim Gorman, 58, 5:03.78 89.54 BRONZE

14. Chris Oakes, 48 5:06.24 81.78

15. Tony Fong, 48 5:09.20 81.00

16. Jim Bordoni, 54 5:10.60 84.66

17. Peter Kirk, 43 5:14.86 76.51

18. Scott Schneider 5:20.02 73.06

19. Peter O'Reilly,48 5:28.75 76.18

Damn!

Good job, Mike.

Dang - lost by 0.09%!! Good job, Tom B.

Anyway - thanks Mike (and Tom Lyons) for putting this on. It was a lot of fun.

JM

Reno,

You did indeed come away with the fastest master's mile in the USA to date...pretty cool, no? And, with a little more competitition/later in the season whaddaya think, 4, 7, 9 seconds improvement? Seemed to me that there was plenty more left in the tank...GREAT race, congrats!

MF

My tank wasn't quite empty, but the fuel light was certainly flashing. Maybe if someone was there I coulda squeezed out a second or so, but not much more. I'm pleased, though. Didn't think I had a sub 4:30 in me after 2 years away. Looks like there were some good battles based on the finishing times.

Also, GREAT job announcing. That was really nice during the race. A bunch of us jogged around the lake afterward and many commented about it. Thanks.

J

Jeff M.- way to go! And Jeff A. and Mike G., too! Mike F.- you put on a great race. Wish I could have been there to see it!

RB

Mike Fanelli, you are a great guy and do a lot for other runners. Always have. As always I appreciate your efforts and spirit. Always been friendly and cordial whenever I've talked to you.

Some of these performances are great.

Call them what they are. Throw away the age graded tables. They belittle the fact that these performances stand on their own merits. They don't need to be equivalent to a 4:07. Besides, that's just silly talk. Deep down we all know that and don't need the charity.

I know it might have been tongue in cheek, but wait to call it "Masters of the Mile" when you have Steve Scott, Eamon Coghlan, Jim Spivey, and a soon to be master... Jim Sorenson. See if you can talk Steve Holman into running too. Maybe Cruz and Barbosa still spend time in the US too. And maybe that northwest masters guy who's pretty fast. Or RATkinson, even. That would be the "Masters of the Mile." Very nice that you invited Henry Rono, though.

Also sad to see this apparently get more interest than Arcadia or the Cal-Stanford dual meet, on this board. Two meets rich in tradition, which always feature amazing performances.

Again, great that you put this together. Great spirit. Great marketing. Just need to keep a little perspective here. Keep it up, you are one of the good guys Mike, and you help and encourage a lot of people.

Yo Yawnerr,

I appreciate your kind commentary, thank you very much...re: naming the event "Masters of the Mile", surely I jest...just a last minute spin off on what is taking place in Augusta this weekend..while it surprises even me (and surely dismays my wife), I am almost equally a golf fan as track fan...regardless, its all good...finally, the age grading tables angle isn't at all about the conversion to "open times", its merely a fair way to level a playing field so that a total stud at age 58 (i.e. Jim Gorman) can compete on the same platform with the Jeff Manns of the world...again, I am genuinely thankful for your candid feedback...see you next year?

MF

Cripes, Mike, you must be the nicest guy ever to post on here. I was half-tempted to rip that yawner-r-r bum a new one for having the temerity to try to tear down your race for not having a bunch of guys who haven't put on spikes for at least a decade. I mean, it can't be "Master's of the Mile" without Peter Snell, Roger Bannister, Jack Lovelock and Paavo Nurmi, could it??? Whatsamatta, couldn't you afford Walter George?

It looks like you have a kickbutt regional event going on there, MF. We need more guys like you and Dave Clingan in our sport. Me, I have no patience for this stuff, in case you didn't notice ;)