Palmason masterful at World Games

A three-medal performance at the World Masters Games in Sydney, Australia solidifed some top 2009 rankings for runner Diane Palmason of Courtenay.

Palmason said the Oct. 10-18 Games were a huge event, with more than 28,000 athletes from all over the world participating in 26 different sports. ”One of the largest registrations was for track and field. The meet was spread over eight days, with competition for men and women in five-year age groups from 30-34 years up to 100+.

“Interestingly there weren’t many in the two youngest age groups, probably because most people don’t consider themselves to be masters until 40+,” Palmason said.

”There were big numbers in the age groups from 45+ up to 70+.  After that the numbers do diminish, but there was one woman in 100+, Australia’s Ruth Frith. She competed alongside her 90+ friend, Olga Kotelko of West Vancouver. These two, both of whom won lots of gold medals, were great favourites with the media covering the Games.”

And Palmason said there was a lot for the media to cover: “There were so many events! With races for each age group (up to 12) for both men and women, that meant, for example, 24 400m events – not counting when it was necessary to hold heats and even semifinals in the M50 400m.” 

Palmason ran three races, winning the W70 200m in 35.17 and the 400m in 1:20.11 while finishing second in the 800m in 3:18.67. ”Runnng the 400m was particularly exciting for me because, for the first time in a number of years, there was a complete field of nine women racing in my 70-74 category – two Americans, two Australians, two Canadians, a New Zealander, a Brazilian and a Japanese woman.

“The Sydney Olympic Park track has nine lanes all the way around, so we were able to run together in a final. My times were somewhat slower than I had run earlier in the season, a fact that I ascribe partly to the fact that the Aussie springtime temperatures were quite cool, and the winds very strong and gusty. But we were all pushed around by the wind to the same extent, so the placings weren’t affected,” Palmason said.

Despite her strong showing in Sydney, Palmason said it was her performances earlier in the season that earned her the following World Masters rankings for W70 for 2009: first in 400m with 1:17.14; second in 200m with 33.74; and third in 800m with 3:12.07.

“I was also fifth in the only 100m that I ran during the year – a 16.85 at the Comox Valley Cougars meet in June. That earned me the Canadian W70 record, to my surprise.”

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