OLYMPIC TRIALS HIGHLIGHT MANY WORLD’S FASTEST MEN AND WOMEN 40+ IN SPECIAL 3000 AND 200 METER RACES
THURS. AND SAT. JULY 3 & 5—
DEEPEST FAST FIELDS EVER PROVE LIFETIME FITNESS AND COMPETITION IN TRACK AND FIELD AT HAYWARD FIELD

(Eugene, OR) -- The Olympic Trials will highlight many of the world’s fastest men and women 40+ in special 3000 and 200 Meter races Thursday and Saturday July 3 and 5.  At Eugene Oregon’s Hayward Field, during the Trials, the men’s 3000 takes place Thursday at 7:05 PM, and the women’s 200 Saturday at 12:35 PM.

“The Masters Men's 3,000m field for the Olympic Trial has the makings of the greatest Masters race ever run anywhere in the world—seven of the 16 qualifiers have times under 9 minutes and four others are within 1.71 seconds of it,” says race organizer Mark Cleary. “To give this some perspective, I have only seen three guys ever go under 9 minutes in the 40-44 division at Indoor Nationals, and I think that only four men have ever gone under 9 minutes in the same race at the World Indoor Championships.” Tony Young of Redmond, WA and Club Northwest, qualifying with 8:32.52, leads the field and amazingly is in the 45-49 group – he recently set a world record for men 45+ in the Mile with 4:16.09.  Ken Stone of masterstrack.com reports that Young ran a hand-timed 8:36.0 for 3,000 meters and will be shooting for the listed world record of 8:27.7 by Britain's Nigel Gates in 1998.

Young is followed by under-9:00 qualifiers Kent Lemme of Williamstown MA, the 2007 M40+ USATF Road and X-Country National Champion, Dan Franek of South Portland, ME, the 2007 and 2008 national masters 3000 meter indoor champion, Armando Olivera of NYC, Sean Messiter of Bellingham WA, Chris Mattingly of Orchard Park, NY, and Andrew Duncan of Las Vegas.

“The women’s masters 200 field is solid too,” Cleary reports.  The race may be led by Renee Henderson, 43 of Merchantville, NJ, the 2008 world champion at 60M and 200M and American indoor record holder at 60M and 100M, who qualified at 25.34.  Other top qualifiers are Charmaine Roberts, 41 of Beltsville, MD, the current indoor and outdoor national champion at 400 meters, Donna Lawrence, 40 of Austin TX, a past W35 100M National Champion, and Joy Upshaw-Margerum of Los Altos Hills, CA, the current outdoor world champion in the long jump, American record holder at 60M hurdles and 80M hurdles, and 2006 Indoor World 200M Champion.

Also note, in “open” Trials events: Jeff Hartwig, 40, just qualified 2nd in the pole vault and made the team. Arne Bradstock, 46, is a possible entry in the Trials men's javelin. Atlanta Olympic champion Allen Johnson, 37, is an entry in the Trials 110 hurdles. Sydney Olympic champion Stacy Dragila, 37, is an entry in the Trials pole vault. Olympians Joanne Dow, 44, and Teresa Vaill, 45, are entered in the Trials 20-kilometer race walk. Olympians Philip Dunn, 37, and Tim Seaman, 36, are entered in the Trials 20-kilometer race walk. Three-time Olympian Tisha Waller, 37, is entered in the Trials high jump. Gwen Wentland, 36, is entered in the Trials high jump. (List thanks to Ken Stone).

For additional details on the two Invitational races, see link to the Olympic Trials at www.usatf.org; for additional biographical details contact Bob Weiner at 202-329-1700 or Mark Cleary at 949-606-6888.  For trackside updates or media interviews, contact Cleary.