Ralph Maxwell sets World Masters Record
Ralph Maxwell of Alamo, Texas doubled the previous world record in the M90 decathlon with his winning score of 7,069 on the second day of competition at the 2011 WMA World Track & Field Field Championships.
After day one, Maxwell’s score of 3,956 had already exceeded the world record of 3,190 points set by Austria’s Vic Younger in 2003.
Maxwell, the solo competitor in his age group for the decathlon, opened up the first day with a 19.69 in the 100m, a long jump of 2.63m/8-7.5, a 6.17m/20-3 throw in the shot put, a clearance of 1.03m/3-4.5 in the high jump and a time of 1:49.24 in the 400m.
On day two, Maxwell ran a 21.62 in the 80m hurdles, threw the discus 13.98m/45-10, vaulted 1.40m/4-7, had a javelin throw of 18.30m/60-0 and finished the event with an 11:30.51 in the 1,500m.
Raschker opens competition with a win
Marietta, Ga. multi-event specialist Philippa Raschker earned her first gold medal of the 2011 WMA World Masters Championship with a win in the W60 heptathlon. She wrapped up day two with the top long jump mark (4.27m/14-0), a throw of 22.01m/72-2 in the javelin and a time of 3:08.45 in the 800m to finish with a final score of 5,694. Raschker’s winning score was 400 points ahead of her closest competitor despite difficulties with an achilles injury.
“Yesterday after the 200m, I didn’t think I would be able to finish at all today or even start the long jump,” she said. “But then I worked on it and iced it and put it up, and after the rest, it helped a lot so I was able to finish. I was fortunate enough that I had enough points ahead that I didn’t have to push, and I could easily finish up my 800.”
As of right now, Raschker still plans on competing in the nine other events she is entered in.
“I’m going to be careful, and no matter what, you take one event at a time,” she said.
Although she is a seasoned veteran on the World Masters scene with 69 gold medals under her belt in the last 28 years, Raschker doesn’t take her victory for granted.
“It’s a lot more difficult when you are at the tail end of your age group,” said Raschker, who at 64 is one of the oldest in the W60 division. “You have a 60 year old coming in, and those four years can make a huge difference. You’re just not that fast, you’re just not that quick, and everything slows down a bit. But it still makes it fun because you still try to come out on top. It’s a great challenge.”
King leads US sweep
In his first ever WMA World Masters competition, Daniel King of Boulder, Colo. led a US sweep of the top three places in the M50 8k cross country race. King crossed the line in 27:48.8, just ahead of US teammates David Cannon and Brian Pilcher.
“I ran a really smart race,” King said. “I didn’t go out too hard, and I kind of stayed contained with the lead runners. I continued to move up, and I was feeling really good and had a strong finish at the end.”
King is no stranger to success, having finished second in his age group at the US Masters Cross Country Championship in February, but the win was still a surprise.
“I’m sort of speechless about it,” he said. “I trained hard, and I was pretty well prepared for this, but I didn’t really have any expectations coming in.”
For King, a former runner at the University of Colorado, just competing at the meet is an honor.
“It’s a great feeling to be able to run in the USA uniform,” he said. “It’s just a really cool experience.”
Other US event winners from today’s competition include:
-Florence Meiler, W75 heptathlon
-Kay Glynn, W55 heptathlon
-Kenneth Thomas, M50 decathlon
-Albert Erickson, M80 decathlon
-Denver Smith, M85 decathlon
-AthanasiaThomas, W85 5,000m race walk
-Elton Richardson, W70 5,000m race walk
-Alan Poisner, M75 5,000m race walk
Day one summary
Elena Shemyakina and Kathryn Martin ran to victories in the 8k cross country events on the first day of the World Masters Association Track & Field Championship.
8k cross-country
Shemyakina of Geneva, Ill. and Joannie Siegler of Davis, Calif. finished one-two in the W50 8k run to lead the United States to victory in their age group. Shemyakina’s time of 31:36.1 led the field by a 45-second margin, with Sigler finishing in 32:19.9.
Martin’s winning performance in the W55 8k run was the key to a US victory for the age division. Martin, a native of Northport, N.Y., crossed the line in 32:52.5 to lead the United States over Australia by one minute in the team totals.
