We are only 12 months away from the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and as elite athletes train and compete in top races, it was so encouraging to read that the US Track & Field Governing Body were able to schedule in a Masters M/W50 200m race into their busy programme during their National Championships held last week in Des Moins, Iowa.
Emmanuelle McGowan and Roxanne Broxer won their 100m heats and semis at our Championships in Malaga last year, finishing 6 and 7th in the final, won by Australian Julie Brims. Emmanuelle went on to get the silver medal in the 200m (27.30sec) and win the 400m (61.02sec) with Roxanne out of the medals in 7th. In Des Moins Emmanuelle raced to victory in 27.40sec from Roxanne and Joy Upshaw in front of a weekend attendance of over 30,000 spectators. The M50 race went to Karnell Vickers in 24.69sec, you will recall that great 100m final in Malaga where Karnell got the silver medal behind Yoshihisa Miyamoto of Japan. Karnell went on to win his 200m heat and semi (23.89sec) but did not appear in the final. Here he had a 24.69sec victory from David Pitts 24.83sec.
WMA have been successful in getting a Masters Men’s 800m and a Women’s 400m race included at the IAAF World Championships in Beijing and at their Indoor Championships in the USA, clearly this is raising awareness and it would be great to see other Countries follow the USA’s example.
Bridget Cushen
July 2019
