Reebok Games - Men's Masters Mile - Does Anyone Care?

riley stops wrote:

Name me another sport that does this?

Golf. The Seniors Tour is an incredibly popular part of the PGA.

Keith Stone wrote:

riley stops wrote:

Name me another sport that does this?

Golf. The Seniors Tour is an incredibly popular part of the PGA.

Way to stay current on the topic keith. While I disagree with the OP, he was talking about showcasing masters in a pro meet not a separate tour.

My earliest memory of track and field is around age 7-8, my father calling me in to watch "some 40 year old guys try to run under 5 minutes for a mile" on wide world of sports. I'm 57 years old now, don't participate in masters track and field, but have a tremendous amount of respect for what they do. I love to see them as a part of the pro circuit. In fact, many of our top masters have been pros.

In addition, I love to see the high school mile. I like to be able to compare what the kids today are doing compared to the "olden days."

You guys with the misinformed view of promotion need to go for a run.

I think it is great they have these Masters Events.

As a person who is about to turn 40, I have a high appreciation for people over 40 who can run sub 5:00, let alone sub 4:10.

These athletes give me inspiration that I could be able to run sub 5:00 and sub 17:00 for 5k when I turn 40. To many of you posting here who might be in your 20's, wait until you get a full time job, married, and children and then you will see just how tough it is to try and stay relatively fast with so many other things becoming a part of your life.

- Philip Passen

MASTERS ,especially over 60,are fun to watch . I SALUTE OUR SENIOR STUDS!

sweathog wrote:

I noticed (and thought it was odd) that they have it listed as 1500-m and 1-mile in the results, as if they were 2 separate races.

That's because they had an official finishing clock at the 1500m mark, so they showed the official electronic split times separately from the mile times. It's useful in case anyone is looking for a particular standard or something (though that's usually more of a concern for outdoor meets).

Yanqui wrote: Gosh kiddies, over-react much? I pointed out that a race was won in 4:29...which it was. Your "list" is irrelevant to the fact that no one assembled broke 4:29 tonight.

Actually, you wrote "I can remember when local masters guys were running 4:11 or so, and you had Larry Almberg doing 4:06." Info man was simply pointing out that you're viewing the past through rose-colored glasses (or, to put it another way, full of crap).

You don't really like running do you?!

Yanqui wrote:

Gosh kiddies, over-react much? I pointed out that a race was won in 4:29...which it was. Your "list" is irrelevant to the fact that no one assembled broke 4:29 tonight.

It was actually won in 4:29. I can remember when local masters guys were running 4:11 or so, and you had Larry Almberg doing 4:06.

I care! I love watching runners race and have great respect for master runners (and not just because I'm one)as well as any other track & field athlete at a track meet.

As a 48 year-old I appreciate and amazed at how fast the top masters men and women run. And if I was at a meet like this I would have no problem with one master race and one juniors race early in the program. With that said, I think the USATF does a huge disservice to the elite open American athletes (and a smaller disservice to other age-groups) by bundling all athletics, no matter the age-group, under one umbrella. The worst example of this is the USATF website which should clearly be broken into two pieces, one to promote open elites that would look similar to the major sport sites such as MLB and the NFL, and another to promote the common runner and other age-groups.

I care - I am 42 and always come away fired up from seeing guys my age running so fast. Inspirational.

7/10

"holdthephone," I remembered the past accurately.

What the hell is wrong with you people? My one and only point is that the things was won in 4:29, which is not even a particularly fast mile for a top masters runner. What the heck...

I'll get blasted for this opinion, but, I'm mid-forties and honestly feel like we should leave the track races to the young folks. Road racing is a different story in my opinion, but I'm honestly a little embarrassed for the old guys racing at any distance under 3000m on the track. It just seems silly.

I'm out there trying to stay as fit as possible like everyone else my age, but really believe that when it comes to showcasing talent at a big meet, the older folks should just take a seat. I feel like my role at this point in life is to try and give something to the next generation of athletes rather than continue to garner attention for myself in an age-group race.

Believe it or not, masters runners are also allowed to have tactical races, just like the open guys, where winning is the objective rather than running a fast time.

Yanqui wrote:

"holdthephone," I remembered the past accurately.

What the hell is wrong with you people? My one and only point is that the things was won in 4:29, which is not even a particularly fast mile for a top masters runner. What the heck...

When you say nobody cares - what you really mean is YOU don't care. Well I do care, a lot. I'd rather see these guy run than any of the prima donna sprinters that run for 6 seconds and think they are the kings of track and field.

By the way Nolan Shaheed recently broke the world record for the mile. He is 60 years old and ran under 5 minutes.

Yanqui wrote:

"holdthephone," I remembered the past accurately.

For the love of God, man, just say "I was wrong." It's really not that hard. You can do it!

There was never a time when local guyS were running 4:11s. If you make a ridiculous statement people aren't over-reacting when they challenge it.

Last year I was extremely lucky to be allowed to run in that masters mile. We all understood quite clearly that the race is really just sort a side-show. We get it that the fastest masters in the country were, for the most part, not there. I certainly have no business running in a meet like that even in a masters mile like that, but I'm local so I can be there.

We all definitely felt privileged and blessed to be to run in the race. Everyone in the field knew quite a few people in the stands so it was a lot of fun.

I guess they do it to help the crowd get into the spirit of things, before the bring out the elites. I don't think they televise it.