1991-Letters-Agt
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.. ., "'' ...,. f .. 4925 Mimosa Bellaire, Texas 71401 Janwuy 30, 1991 David Hannah, Race Director Houston Marathon Committee, Inc. P.O. Box 56464 Houston, Texas 71027 Dear Mr. Hannah: The Houston Tenneco Marathon has an excellent opportunity to become a national leader in masters running. Its sponsor, Tenneco, has an established reputation as a corporate leader in physical fitness. Physical fitness is important for all ages, and what better role models can we have than masters runners who have maintained their physical fitness beyond the peak of youth. Tenneco can further enhance its leadership in fitness through recognition of excellent masters performances. I would like to suggest that a new position of Masters Division Coordinator be established within the Marathon Committee. This would allow one person to be responsible for coordinating the Masters Division duties now spread among several sub-committees. Ideally the person selected would be an experienced masters athlete who understands the needs of the Division. The Coordinator could also seJVe as a focal point for communications between masters athletes and the Marathon Committee. Discussed below are several areas in which errors of omission detracted from the success of the marathon. They are also areas in which masters runners could be given more recognition which in turn would serve to attract excellent masters runners to participate. ( 1) Ideotiflcation of m•aten nmnen before, timiD& and .t the fiDilh Bne of the Marathon. This year the listing of entrants on Wednesday, Janwuy 16, in the Houston Chronicle did not indicate invited runners, race numbers, or ages, as has been done in prior years. During the race there were no unique numbers, colors, or other marks to identify masters runners for spectators, media, or other competitors. Due to these factors there was not one mention by the announcer at the l1nJ&h line of the word "masters" despite some world and national class performances. Luis Lopez did not have his name or masters mentioned even though he did a world class time and set the Masters course record. Carol Virga did a national class time, but was not recognized as the Masters female winner by the finish line announcer. A Masters Division Coordinator could work to facilitate identification of masters runners. (2) Publicity and Pubic RelatioDa - There were no articles in local media concerning such world and national class masters runners as Luis Lopez, Richard Umberg, Carol Virga, and Jeff Galloway, the U.S. Olympic lOK third place finisher in the 1972 Olympics. Luis Lopez is currently running times in a class with Bill Rogers. Open and Wheelchair Division participants had several articles in local media prior to the event, and separate columns devoted to results which appeared on Monday in the Post and Chronicle. A Masters Division Coodinator could work with the public relations committee to identify the outstanding masters performers and inform the media of masters winners. National Masters News, Running Times and other periodicals need masters winners, including exact ages and some of the older runners with outstanding performances rather than just the two or three fastest clock times and no ages. "---------~------~---· ,. r •· Mr. David Hannah Page 2 January 29, 1991 (3) lnYlted Masten Ruunera- A list of invited masters runners needs to be published in advance. Thanks for inviting the top age-graded winners of the GAAC Warm-Up Series. Invited masters runners Robert Ellis and Joyce Gaskin had good Marathon performances. Did the other world and national class masters just show up or were all of them invited? ( 4) Aae-J111Cled awards would more fairly recognize excellent performances by the entire age span of the Masters Division (see attached). Twin Qties Marathon and Tulsa Run 15K are two major events using age-grading for awards. Twin Cities is about the same size and total prize money as Houston. Twin Qties in 1990 awarded a top age-graded prize of $5,000 as part of its $36,500 Masters Division purse. Twin Cities uses part age-graded, part clock time awards system, whereas Tulsa's Masters awards are all age-graded. (5) Consideration might be given to increasing the total Masters Division prize money to be more compatible with the fact that Masters are 374Jft of the Houston Tenneco Marathon finishers. The Houston Tenneco Marathon can become one of the national leaders in Masters Division competition. Thanks again for the $7,500 Masters prize money and for your consideration of the above observations and suggestions. =::::7Sincerely, Promote Masters Running . f ~ 1991 HOUSTON TENNECO MARATHON January 20, 1991 AGE-GRADED MASTERS WINNERS MEN AGE MASTERS NAME AGE CLOCK AGE OPEN GRADED CLOCKED TIME STAND. CLASS PLACE PLACE % EQUIV. 1. 1. Luis Lopez 41 2:18:59 94.17 2:12:02 2. 2. Richard Umberg 40 2:23:15 90.79 2:16:57 3. 4. Bruce Mortenson 47 2:33:50 88.56 2:20:24 4. 5. Robert Wolfe 44 2:34:45 86.26 2:24:08 5. 6. Jeff Galloway 45 2:37:14 85.48 2:25:27 6. 3. Don Paul 40 2:33:04 84.96 2:26:20 7. 21. Imre Michura 54 2:52:32 83.45 2:28:59 8. 7. Dennis Manske 44 2:39:59 83.44 2:29:10 9. 68. Robert Ellis 60 3:04:52 82.52 2:30:40 10. 20. Allen McDaniel 51 2:51:37 81.80 2:31:59 11. 9. Tony Keller 46 2:45:49 81.60 12. 108. William Conrad 63 3:13:35 81.31 13. 51. Takis Skoulis 55 3:02:03 79.80 14. 10. Jack Healing 43 2:46:36 79.59 15. 17. G. Warren Jackson 46 2:50:58 79.14 2:37:07 16. 11. Jose Alvarado 43 2:47:49 79.01 17. 8. Ben Medellin 40 2:45:28 78.60 18. 14. Bill Roach 43 2:48:52 78:52 19. 12. Carlos El Torro 42 2:48:00 78.41 20. 31. Cecil Smith 49 2:56:38 78.25 2:38:53 21. 13. Roger Boak 42 2:48:44 78.07 22. 17. John Cummings 43 2:50:01 77.99 23. 110. Anthony Castagna 59 3:13:58 77.86 24. 101. Orville Kremmer 58 3:12:40 77.60 25. 22. David Chester 45 2:53:21 77.53 2:40:22 Above statistics are thought to be accurrate, but are unofficial. This report was prepared by Howard Kunz on January 28, 1991. World Class = 90% National Class = 80% Regional Class = 70% Note world class performances by Luis Lopez of Costa Rica and Richard Umberg of Switzerland. Luis was fourth Masters with a 2:23:59 in October 1990 at Twin Cities where Masters prizes totaled $36,500. Tenneco is fortunate to have these world class masters and Jeff Galloway who was third in the 10K in the 1972 Olympics at which Frank Shorter won the Marathon. Note national class performances by Houston area's Robert Wolfe, Robert Ellis, and Allen McDaniel. Robert Ellis was the Warm-Up Series age graded winner. Ellis, McDaniel, and Imre Michura are among several examples of how age-grading more fairly represents outstanding performances by the entire age span entered in the Masters Division. .. ,,.. 1991 TENNECO MARATHON AGE-GRADED MASTERS WINNERS Page 2 WOMEN AGE MASTERS NAME AGE CLOCK AGE OPEN GRADED CLOCKED TIME STAND. CLASS PLACE PLACE % EQUIV. 1. 1. Carol Virga 40 2:47:56 86.35 2:39:48 2. 6. Joyce Gaskin 53 3:22:34 79.39 2:53:21 3. 2. Kathryn Miller 46 3:16:21 77.16 2:58:51 4. 4. Yvonne Lee 47 3:18:21 76.97 2:59:17 5. 3. Cynthia Kendrick 42 3:16:59 74.67 3:04:49 6. 5. Alice Fuentes 41 3:22:16 72.20 3:11:09 7. 14. Monique Christensen 50 3:39:46 71.20 3:13:49 8. 10. Sue Sharp 46 3:15:07 70.73 3:15:07 9. 7. Cheryl Hansen 40 3:25:05 70.71 3:15:09 10. 9. Patricia Case 43 3:32:00 69.89 3:17:27 11. 8. Nancy Sullivan 41 3:31:19 69.11 3:19:42 Note the national class time by Carol Virga of Boca Raton, Florida. Joyce Gaskin of Beaumont and Monique Christensen of Galveston are examples of good performances by 50+ age runners who lose much credit when age-grading is not used. Aging is a fact of life, but one does not have to decline in athletic accomplishment relative to the World Association of Veteran Athletes {WAVA) - National Masters News Tables age-grading used in this report. The Marathon Committee is to be thanked for extending invited runner status to Joyce for her impressive national class performances in winning the Warm-Up Series age grading for masters women. Age-grading for Women was cut at 11 after which a break in standard percentage occurred. The Men were arbitrarily cut at 25 for time-of-calculation considerations. Total Marathon Entrants 5,663 Total Marathon Finishers 3,835 {+or- 35) {final count N.A.) Percentage of Entrants Who Finished 67.72% Total Masters Finishers 1,434 or 37.4% of total finishers Total Masters Men Finishers 1,261 or 32.9% of total finishers Total Masters Women Finishers 173 or 4.5% of total finishers There are 7.3 times as many Masters Men finishers as Masters Women finishers; hence the greater level of competition among the Masters Men. Currently the $7,500 Masters Division prize money is divided equally between the top 5 Masters Men and top 5 Masters Women.