Turning 40 in a couple of years, I was just wondering who has been considered the best "Masters" performer of all time. I know of several who run the Road Races quite well, Eddie H., a Russian fellow (?), several Kenyans. But who has demonstrated dominance over all surfaces and distances? Just wondering!
Kevin Moats
since you didn't specify events:
I might have to go with Peyton Jordan.
Let's keep it to running, shall we?
John Cambell. Case closed.
Martin Moondragon (sp?) dominated road races in the US in the mid-90s, or so.
For XC, I have no idea.
What was Campbell's shorter distance times? I know he was a hell of a road racer and 2:11 marathoner in his day.
Coghlan for the mile
Campbell for the marathon
I would lean towards Coghlan overall, but that may be because I was lucky enough to be there when he ran his sub-4 as a masters runner. :-)
What about Jack Foster from NZ?
Amazing what he was able to do at his age.
Regarding Payton Jordan, Duck Racer is right. Mr. Jordan has set the world record in the 100 meter dash in every age group from 55-80. He also has set numerous world records in the 200, running 30.89 at age 80! He has won MANY national championships in the sprints- more than anyone else, I believe.
30.89 at age 80-that is incredible. 80 freaking years old-my grandpa is 84 and it would be rediculous to even imagine him running a full 200 meters at any pace let alone 30 seconds. And I have seen elderly guys doing 18 or 20 seconds for a 100. I can't believe an 80 year old ran a 30 second 200!
Coglan, Campbell, Madrogan (?), Foster, all unbelievable in their day. But was anyone, like a Rod Dixon (younger days) who ran well at everything/discipline as a Masters competitor?
Foster blows Campbell away when you consider that he ran 2:11 to get a silver medal in a major championship at age 44 (Commonwealth Games-back when they meant something), only three minutes off the WR, and that he was a major contender in every world-class mnarathon he ran in the early 70's. Campbell comes along 20 years later and shaves the record by seconds in Boston with a tailwind. No comparison.
Other notables: Ed Whitlock 2:52 at age 69 and 38:09 at 70, Derek Turnbull regularly running 16/34 minutes in his 60's (must be the NZ air- those Kiwis have records all over the Masters distance charts!).
And Yekaterina Podkopayeva w/ 3:59 at age 42 may take the cake, but I always must suspect those ex-Sovietski performances, unfortunately.
Overall Payton takes it though, WR's all through his 60's and 70's- his 14.35 at 80 is even better than his 200!
Yeah, and Campbell ran that 2:11 at age 41. Dude was a freakin' stud. I also do not know his times in shorter distances or even if he ran shorter distances. Anyone? Anyone? Beuhler?
A little more on Payton- currently holds 6 world age group records and 9 national age group records. Is now retired from competition.
For the women one has to go with Phillipa (Phil) Raschker. She has at least 11 world age group world records in events including 100, 200, hurdles, pole vault, long jump, and heptathlon. She holds 23 national records in the above events plus 400 and triple jump. She is somewhere in her mid-to- late 50's, I think.
Priscilla Welch, as a master runner, won the New York Marathon (the open title) in 1987. Also in 1987, she finished 2nd in the London Marathon while setting the world best Masters marathon time of 2:26:51. In addition, Priscilla ran a 32:15 10K.
John Campbell, after turning 50, ran a world's best half marathon in 1:06:49 and ran a 31:02 10K in 1999.
I was honored to compete on a 50+ Hood to Coast team with both of them in 2000.
Flagpole Willy wrote:
Yeah, and Campbell ran that 2:11 at age 41. Dude was a freakin' stud. I also do not know his times in shorter distances or even if he ran shorter distances. Anyone? Anyone? Beuhler?
Campbell, 47:55 Crim 10 mile about a dozen years ago. He almost won the race outright.
All are impressive, so don't take this the wrong way. It is not meant to be negative in any way. I do not think there is enough history or data to know how good most masters+ times are at this point. Only a few 60+ have continued to compete and even 40+ has only had one or two competitive generations pass through the ranks. The current times may be fantastic, or may be average. We do not yet have enough data and history of competitors to know what is average, good, or great. It is much like being amazed by 8 year olds times, but since so few 8 year olds run/race, we don't know if it is good or not. Obviously, when guys are nearly winning, the times must tough, but until we get a little more history, we will not be sure.
I'm with you. I think it's got to be Foster. Silver medal at a major games and track times that are better than Campbell (who I am NOT discounting). JC never broke 29:00 or 14:00. JF did 28:46 and 13:50ish.
However, there is Titus Mamabolo, the only person over fifty to run a sub-2:20 marathon (2:19:29 in 1991) and a Frenchman whose name I cannot recall who had a 28:41 10k and 13:40ish 5k on the track and was running in the World XC meet at 41. Eventually I'll remember his name and post it.
But I'd still give the nod to Jack Foster because of the depth of his performances.