2003 Synopsis

Wow! Can you believe more than 670 new entries to the Honor Roll in 2003. That's the highest since 1994. And this despite getting results from only 83 of the 94 known certified races during the year; actually it wasn’t as bad as it looks, because 5 races had results that were invalidated because of course control errors. With all these quality times, you would have expected a "slew” of new records. But it didn’t happen. Only 26 new age group records hit the book with another five Resident Records either broken or tied. But there were some excellent times that just missed being records by mere seconds.

Ann Marie Schwabe of Colorado showed up at the Kansas City Thanksgiving Sprint 5k last fall and literally made it a “sprint", clocking a 16:32, just six seconds off the all-time female OPEN best. That same race, by the way, was won by a 19 year- old Missourian Adam Perkins in 15.12, which knocked 23 seconds off the record for that age group. Last spring former Kansan Alysun Deckert, now of Seattle, ran the Wichita 15 K event and clocked within 4 seconds of the all-time female best for that distance.

Only two individuals managed to break more than one record during the year - in contrast to last year when we had that many breaking 4 or 5 marks. Dave Halferty of Topeka moved into the 35-39 age group and wiped out the 10 Mile and Half Marathon records. Dave did not run a Marathon in Kansas this year, but his best Marathon time outside of Kansas would easily be a Kansas Record for his age group. Carolyn Buckner of El Dorado, who took down two marks last year, added two more in 2003 - the 2 mile and 10K, in her age bracket. It should also noted that we added a new age bracket in the 5K to split the [80 & up] into 80-84 and 85 & Up. That split added new records that are not included in the count above.

Thanks to some judicious arranging, the plethora of new entries added only eight pages to the book , but that was really almost too much for the current binding system. The World Masters Athletes organization has been really dragging its feet in getting out new age-grading factors. All they have published so far are the decathlon events. Assuming they do publish running events this year, major changes in Target Times are almost certain to happen. Those changes should bring the book back to a manageable size. Although, as I mentioned last year, all times knocked out of the published book by a new Target Time are still retained in the historical data base and they can be retrieved. Actually there were a few Target Times adjusted in some 5K age brackets this year, that obviously looked out of line.

I didn't have room last year to thank all the people who made this book possible by sending me results from their area, or at least pointing me to a web site where results are published. The problem with web site results is that I have no way to verify if the race was run as certified, times were properly recorded, etc. Several high ''visibility” events had course control mistakes this year, but the web sites made no mention of those errors. Often we are clued in by the runners themselves who attended the race and knew their times were invalid. But I'm sure there are times included in this book that are not valid and are taking up space that belongs to other runners. In the Kansas City area, Ken Beach, Jay Mulligan, Mike Lundgren and Karen Raymer helped provide results and other race info, and Lou Joline and Bill Glauz are always in my sights when I need to identify some certified vs non-certified courses. Then outside of Kansas City in the northeast quadrant, Steve Riley, Brad Rhoden and several Race Directors like John Riley of Linwood always seem to make sure I get results from the races they are involved in. In the Southeast quadrant, Steve Robb is always willing to “birddog" race results in that area, although very few certified courses are still active there. Bob Creighton is still my Atwood contact, despite trying to retire several times. And in Wichita, David Pappas has done an outstanding job loading area race results on the RunWichita web site. On the monetary side, several people paid a little “extra" for their books to help out. And as usual, Paul Heitzman always makes a significant contribution.

In reference to the known races run on certified courses in 2003, I need to remind Race Directors of a rule they may not be familiar with. A certification is now good for only 10 years although it can be renewed. So any certificate dated in 1994 or before, needs to be renewed or a new course certified. There may be more, but I know of three races that may fit this requirement.

Girard                   5K
Kiowa                   5K            (Labor Day)
Hoisington          10 Mile   (White Line Fever)

Larry Richardson of Derby certified all three of these, so these Race Directors may want to contact him at 316-733-2027. Also lola may have used a 1993 course for their Farm-City race this past year.

- Jack Crook, January 2004