A clinic to help throwers put together their year round training program and to work on core strength Will be held Saturday, August 27 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. in Cranston RI, directed by Tom Petranoff. Held in two sessions, the morning activities will be outdoors and the afternoon session will be indoors. The cost is $30 per person and includes a barbecue.

Please RSVP or contact Tom Petranoff at 401-440-0878 or email turbojav@aol.com.

Emily Levan (BAA) (Photo: Victah Sailer/PhotoRun)

In her first competition as a member of a US team, BAA runner Emily LeVan (Wiscasset ME) placed 35th in the marathon at the IAAF World Championships. In a field that included Olympic and World Champions and current and former World Record Holders, her time of 2:38:32 was a personal best by over a minute. LeVan was the third American behind Turena Johnson-Lane and Jill (Gaitenby) Boaz, as the USA's women's team finished sixth place in the Marathon World Cup team scoring.

Levan was notified only three weeks ago that she would be competing in the August 14 World event after another runner withdrew due to injuries. Already preparing for the Twin Cities Marathon in October, she was able to adjust her training schedule with Coach Jeff Staab and produced excellent results.

Immediately following the race, LeVan said, "It was a great race for me, with a PR by almost a minute and a half. I felt pretty good the whole way. The Finnish crowd was amazing. I am so pleased to be here and represent the USA. I'll take home a lot of experience. This is my first international team, and I will use a lot of the experiences to help me in future races. I'm excited by my time, and feel that I can get even better."

Conditions in Helsinki were ideal for a marathon, with cool temperatures, overcast skies and moderate humidity. The race was won by world record-holder Paula Radcliffe of Great Britan, who led from start to finish; Radcliffe's time of 2:20:57 was a World Championship record.

High school star Arantxa King, with two victories in major international competitions, is the USATF-New England Athlete of the Month for July 2005.

At the IAAF World Youth Championships in Marrakesh, Morocco, the Medford, MA resident beat the best of the globe's age 17 and under athletes in the long jump. Representing her native Bermuda, King bettered her personal best by nearly a foot, spanning 20'11 1/2" on July 17. Closing out the month, she won the Pan American Junior Championship meet Windsor, Ontario, Canada, in the same event, leaping 20'4 1/2" to beat the hemisphere's top age 19 and under competitors.

King, along with all Athletes of the Month from the past year, will be recognized at the USATF-NE Annual Meeting on September 29.

The entire July AOM press release is at the Awards and Honors Page.

The USATF New England 2005 Annual Meeting, to be held at Boston College's Yawkey Athletic Center on Thursday, September 29, will include a recognition of USATF-NE's Athletes of the Month. The Athlete of the Month (AOM) program began in May of 2004 to recognize outstanding performers at all levels of the sport, and award winners since the inception of the program are being invited to the Annual Meeting for a special ceremony to begin at 6:30 pm, prior to the business meeting.

Illustrating the richness and diversity of New England track & field, Athlete of the Month honorees have ranged in age from 12 year old youth cross-country runner Mari Littleton of Nashua NH (November 2004) to 70 year old masters pentathlete Flo Meiler of Shelburne VT (August 2004). Winners have included road racers, a mountain runner, a pair of high school middle distance stars, a javelin thrower, shot putter, a youth long jumper, pole vaulter, a masters sprinter, and a masters marathon team. Some are receiving their first major award while others are well known national orinternational competitors such as Jen Toomey, Amy Rudolph, Laura Gerraughty and Mark Carroll.

For more about our Athletes of the Month, click on the Awards and Honors Page.

Local masters said Aloha to gold medals at the USA Masters National track and field championships held in Hawaii last week.

Most prolific scorers were the Vermont duo of Flo Meiler (Huntington VT) competing in the 70-74 division, and Barbara Jordan (Burlington/GMAA) in the 60-69 division. Meiler won four events - 80 meter hurdles (bettering the US record), pole vault, discus, and pentathlon - and was runner-up in the high jump and long jump. Jordan matched that medal count with gold in the pentathlon, 80 hurdles, 300 meter hurdles and the long jump, and silver in the 100 and 200.

Mary Harada (Liberty AC) ran a race a day, taking the 70-74 gold in the 400 and 1500, along with silver in the 800 and 1500. Barbara Foster (MVS) won the 30-34 pentathlon.

In the men's results, Norm Bouthillier (Whirlaway RT) won the 40-44 steeplechase, and completed a full set of awards with a 10,000 silver and 1500 and 5000 bronze; Warren Graff (MVS) just turned 60 and celebrted with a win in the 300 hurdles, while Carroll Blake (Boston MA) was a narrow victor in the men's 55-59 800 meter.

East coast participation was smaller than usual, due to the long trip and the choice for some New Englanders to attend the upcoming World Masters meet in Spain instead.

The 2006 meet will take place in Charlotte NC; the 2006 Indoor meet returns to Boston.
All results can be accessed at the USATF home page page.

The six race 2005 edition of the USATF New England mountain running circuit wrapped up in North Conway with the 18th annual Mount Cranmore race in New Hampshire on August 7. More than ninety runners from eleven states and Canada raced each other over the multi-loop up/down course which featured stretches of 20% grade; women raced two loops (8.8km), while men took on an additional loop for 13.2 km and 3321' of change. Victories, which ensured the final automatic berths on the USA team for September's World Mountain Trophy race, went to Julie Bryan (Jackson Hole WY) in 52:14, and Eric Blake (Plattsburgh NY/CMS) in 63:46.

The USATF-NE circuit champions were crowned after the event. Many of the age group victories were close, going down to the last race. Paul Low (CMS) took the overall victory with 488.48 points, while Suzy West (CSU) was the women's overall top point scorer as a master with 473.49 points. Other division winners: W-Open:Kathy Hurst; W50:Jacqueline Keith (NMC); W70:Barbara Robinson (MMM); M40:Dave Dunham (CMS); M50:Bob Chasen (TVFR); M60:Peter Orni (CMS); M70:Paul McDermott (NMC).

In the final tally, 21 runners completed all six races to earn the distinction of being dubbed "Mountain Goats". A total of 109 USATF members scored points in the 2005 circuit. Founder Dave Dunham (CMS) leads the career scoring with 3,166.92 points and Donna Smyth leads the women with 1,958.15.

Check out the complete scoring (on Thursday) at the Mountain Running page.

Joanne Dow (Manchester NE/adidas/NEWalkers) scored a solid win at the USA 15Km racewalk hosted by USATF New England in Watertown MA on Sunday. Dow covered the 10 laps in an easy-for-her 1:14:13 and took the lead in the 2005 USA Race Walk Grand Prix. Overall race winner was Mainer Benjamin Shorey out of U.Wisconsin-Parkside. The former multi-time Junior National champion won his first open championship, leading the field 1:11:00; local walker Patrick Collier (Athletics East) was just 47 seconds back, his best ever showing at a National meet.

You can find the summary and race info at the Racewalking page.

The 10th edition of the IAAF World Track & Field Championships opens on August 6 for a week of the best competition in the sport. Returning to the site of the first "Worlds" - Helsinki Finland - the USA women's squad has strong New England representation.

A pair of 5,000 meter runners will be at the starting line, Shalane Flanagan (Marblehead MA / UNC-Chapel Hill) and Amy Rudolph (Providence RI). The Marathon field includes Emily Levan (BAA / Wicasset ME) and recent Boston resident and MVS member Jill (Gaitenby) Boaz (now in Los Osos CA). Recent past New England association resident atheltes on the roster include Bates College alum and past New England collegiate champ Elizabeth Wanless (Gainesville FL) in the shot put, Blake Russell (past Acton MA resident) in the 10,000, and North Middlesex (MA) HS grad Bethany Hart in the hammer. Several athletes who finished in the to 3 at the US Championships missed a berth due to not meeting the qualifying standards.
The sole male with New England connections is two time Olympic shot put medalist and Dartmouth grad Adam Nelson (Athens GA).

As usual, there is minimal network television of this capstone of the sport; PAX network will have a daily one hour review at 4 p.m.

However, for a mere $4.95, one can get unlimited internet access to live and archived coverage of the championships. Of course, it requires high speed access, but will ensure fans can see every event of the championships. The quality is excellent, based on the coverage of the recent Bislett Games. Click to the USATF site to find out how to sign up for this package.

The past weekend was one for the elite youth of the country to shine as two major competitions were held in the midwest and Canada; the Pan American Junior Championships in Windsor, Ontario, Canada showcased the hemisphere's top under-20 athletes over the weekend, while in Indianapolis, the Nationals Junior Olympic brought together age group competitors from age 8 and under to 17-18 for a six day summit.

At the Pan Am meet, Massachusetts State champion Arantxa King (Medford MA) capped her banner season with the hemispheric crown in the long jump representing her native Bermuda.The 16 year old, who earlier in the month won the World Youth (under 17) gold, spanned 20'4 1/2" for the win. Also taking home a medal was John Freeman (E.Greenwich RI), the third in his family to compete for the US internationally in the hammer throw. He pushed his best out to 211'10" with the 6 kilogram ball-and-chain, which earned him the bronze medal. A pair of Ivy Leaguers also wore their national colors, as Harvard freshman-to-be Zac Pollinger finished 8th in the 10,000 meter walk (47:38.81), and King's sister Akilah King ( Medford MA/Brown U) was 16th in the 200 at 24.73

In the Junior Olympic championship held in Indianapolis, New England javelin throwers took center stage, scoring all the local top 3 placings; Leigh Petranoff (Throwing Zone, Cranston RI) won her third straight gold medal in the javelin, her 137'11 toss the best among Intermediate Girls (15-16), while third in the same event and division was Tara Karin ( Byfield MA), 132'10". Two more locals also earned a bronze medal; Lucas Hadden ( Waitsfield VT) with his 165'3" throw in the Intermediate Boys competition, and Erica Vendituoli (Amherst NH) with a 78'0" in the Bantam (10 and under) Girls Turbo-Jav.

Other New Englanders in the top 8 in an event included Chris Stuart (NE Walkers, 4, 3000 m race walk), John Burns (Nitehawks TC, 5, Young Men High Jump), Nich Chace (Chacers TC, 5, YM Hammer), Sid Griffin (No.Kingstown Rec, 6, Youth Boys 3000m), and Abbey Karin (Byfield MA, 8, YG Javelin). Congratulations to the many New England qualifiers and participants. A number of meet and national age group records were set by the more than 6000 competitors. Sorry if anyone was left out in our review of the six days of competition results. Complete results of both meets can be found at usatf.org.

Nearly 150 masters athletes took advantage of the best day of the summer to turn in quality performances at the USATF-NE Masters Track & Field Championships on Sunday.

One US masters record was set, that by Mary Harada (Liberty AC/West Newbury MA) in the 3000 meters, with a clocking of 14:41.60. Flo Meilor (Green Mt.AA/Huntington VT) bettered the existing W70 time in the 80 meter hurdles (18.31), but the wind was above the legal limit. The top "age graded" marks were turned in by 45 year old New Yorker Oneitha Lewis in the hammer, her 179'8" spin in the hammer worth 109.17%, and 69 year old Barbara Jordan (Green Mt.AA) in the 100, dashing 15.93 for a 94.85% mark.

Men's results saw hottest times in the dashes, with Sal Allah of New York just missing the M45 record in the 400, running 50.57 (good for 94.64%), and 60 year old Roger Pierce (Essex MA) running 24.99 (96.04%) in the 200 and 12.43 in the 100.

Results can be found at the track page.

Dartmouth College multi-event talent Mustafa Abdur-Rahim made his debut in a national uniform as part of the USA team competing in the annual dual match against Germany last weekend.

A Brookline MA HS grad, Abdur-Rahim was one of only 2 collegians on the seven man roster, and the only one without prior international experience. The 22 year old finished eighth of 13 competitors with 7453 points for the 10 events. Selection was based on performance at last month's USA Championships in California.

Full results at www.usatf.org.

The USATF-NE Masters Track and Field Championships takes place Saturday, July 23, at Springfield College. Pre-meet entries are due in the office by Thursday at 6 p.m., though entry is allowed on meet day with a late fee. the first event starts at 10:00 a.m. The entry form is at the www.usatfne.org/track page.

Nate Jenkins (Amherst MA/GLRR) and Emily Levan (Wiscasset ME/BAA) handled the high humidity and hot competition to win at the 25th annual Stowe 8 Miler in Stowe VT on Sunday.

Jenkins made it two wins in a row, following his tough run at last month's 10K. Giving chase but falling 9 seconds short (42:10-42:19) was recent Clemson grad Matt Pimental, now back at home in Andover with the Merrimack Valley Striders. Jenkins has a commanding lead over Chris Magill, seventh at Stowe. Veteran runners of the race rated the conditions among the worst in the event's 25 years, with the overcast skies being the only plus. 744 finished the loop.

Masters series leader Dan Verrington (Bradford MA/CMS) won and placed eighth overall, one spot ahead of rival Craig Fram. John Barbour (Gloucester MA/GLRR) continues his dominance of the 50-59 division with his fifth straight win, local John Hackney (GLRR) was the only Vermont based champ of the day, taking 60-69 honors, and Jack Kick (Dunstable MA/GCS) topped the 70+ for the second time.

The Boston Athletic Association controlled the men's open team scoring with their five scoring finishers in the top ten. Other division winners were whirlaway (40+), CMS (50+) and Gate City Striders (60+).

In the women's action, Levan, a sub-2:40 marathoner last year, held off 10K champ Molly Taber for her first title; she became the fourth different BAA runner to win a championship this season (Taber being the only non-unicorn). Nina Caron (Andover MA/MVS) continued her strong running as the 4th overall and first master finisher. Kara Haas, in 7th place and third open runner, remains in the circuit leader, one point ahead of Taber.

Sydney Letendre scored her second New England 50+ crown ahead of teammate Terri Martland, Catherine Farrell (Newtonville MA/CSU) extended her lead in the 60+ division with the win, and Barbara Robinson (Franconia NH/Moose Milers) the sole 70+ competitor.

The BAA only brought 3 runners, but their times in placing 1-5-9 were good enough to match the men's tem performance. Whirlaway held on for a 16 second win over Merrimack Valley Striders for the masters team title and Central Mass Striders were again 50+ winners.

Grand Prix results and standings are updated at www.usatfne.org/gp. The series has not August or September races (head to the Downtown 5k on September 11 the USA National 5K for both men and women), so scoring is on hold until the October 2 Ollie / McCourt Classic 5 Miler. (Note too that the October 30 Cape Cod Marathon is well ahead of last year's entry numbers, so enter early.)

Medford (MA) High School sophomore Arantxa King will have an unmatchable summer vacation story after winning the long jump at the IAAF World Youth Championships in Marakkesh Morocco.

The Massachusetts state champion for 2005 and state record holder set a personal best by 25 centimeters to pull off a huge upset. Jumping for Bermuda, the 15 year old was unranked going into the meet but her jump of 6.39 meters - 20' 11.5"! - had legal wind and surpassed far more seasoned jumpers. It's the fifth best in the world this year for the age group. She backed that with an additional jump of 6.25 meters to win Bermuda's first ever gold in the World Youth Meet (the meet is for athletes age 17 and under (not turning 18 during the calendar year.)

King also leapt beyond 40 feet in the triple jump, but did not qualify for the final. She is the daughter of Tufts University Associate Athletic Director and former track coach Branwen King, a past Olympian herself in the shot put. Full results and stories can be at www.iaaf.org.

Greater Boston TC won a hard fought battle for the overall team title at the USATF National Team Championships held at Icahn Stadium in New York City over the weekend. The women's team finished 2nd to Lemans Track Club (NJ) and the men's team finished 4th overall.

GBTC women won gold in the sprint medley and 4 x 800 relay and had three individual winners; Sherita Williams was the club's leading scorer, winning the triple jump (meet record) and scoring in the high jump, long jump, 100 hurdles, and 4 x 100, while Natalie Grant (hammer) and Kateema Riettie (javelin, meet record) also topped the podium. The only other winner from New England was Joanne Dow in the 5000 meter racewalk, clocking a meet record 22:54.73.

On the men's side, GBTC had 2 victories - Dan Olson who defended his high jump title by clearing 6'10" and Sean Furey who took the javelin in 224'9" (where the club placed 1-2-4. Francis Shen broke the 25 year old club record in the 400 hurdles and became the first club member to ever break 54 seconds in the intermediates, though, as a testament to the quality of the men's meet, Shen's record time landed him just 10th place.

Congratulations to Coach Dave Callum (also a USATF-NE board member) for his hard work in pulling the team together during the season. Full results at www.usatf.org.

The USATF-NE Grand Prix Road Race Series has its fifth stop of the circuit this Sunday at the 25th annual Stowe 8 Miler in Stowe VT. The fourth time championship provides the only New England championship in Vermont this year.Results and entry info are at www.stowe8miler.org page. Two races remain in the series, the Ollie 5 Mile the Cape Cod Marathon, both in October.

Masters Sprinter Roger Pierce was named USATF-NE Athlete of the month for June 2005. The Essex MA resident won three events and set a new meet record in the 400 meter for athletes age 60-64 at the USA Senior Games in Pittsburgh PA. He swept the spint events with wins in the 100 (13.08), 200 (25.69) and 400 in the record 57.19.

A multi-time US National Masters Champion in both the 50-54 and 55-59 divisions, he will be competing in his new age group at the World Masters Meet in Spain in August.

The entire release is at the Awards and Honors Page.