Hanscom named WMA World Best Female Masters Athlete

For Immediate Release
Thursday, October 15, 2009

Contact:
Tom Surber
USA Track & Field
Media Information Manager
317-713-4690; Tom.Surber@usatf.org


News & Notes, Volume 9, Number 53

Hanscom named WMA World Best Female Masters Athlete

All-time USA Masters great Rita Hanscom of San Diego, Calif., will be honored as the 2009 WMA World Best Female Masters Athlete at the annual IAAF Gala in Monte Carlo on November 22.

Hanscom, who won five gold medals at the 2009 World Masters Athletics Championships in Lahti, Finland, joins Phil Raschker (2007) and Bill Collins (2006) as the only Americans to receive this honor.

As a competitor in the W50-54 age group, Hanscom began her remarkable 2009 season by winning six medals at the USATF National Masters Indoor Championships. After turning 55 in May, she won six medals at the USATF National Masters Outdoor Championships and gold medals at the WMA World Masters Championships in the 300m hurdles, long jump, 80m hurdles, pole vault and heptathlon where she tallied a world record score of 6,382 points.

Hanscom is currently ranked #1 in her age group in eight different events, and is also the NCCWMA nominee for WMA Athlete of the Year.

For more information on the 2009 IAAF Gala in Monte Carlo, visit: www.iaaf.org.

Masters great Max Springer dies

National Masters Track & Field Hall of Fame member Max Springer died following a stroke on Sunday, October 11. He was 96.

Although he did not begin his competitive running career until he was 64, Springer won numerous championships and set many records during his more than 30 years as a masters athlete. Springer remains the listed world record holder in the M90 indoor long jump.

Earlier this year at the National Senior Olympics in Palo Alto, Calif., Springer won his age group competition in the 100m, 200m, 400m, 800m and long jump.

The funeral will take place Sunday, October 18, at the Second Presbyterian Church in Knoxville, Tenn.


About USA Track & Field

USA Track & Field (USATF) is the National Governing Body for track and field, long-distance running and race walking in the United States. USATF encompasses the world's oldest organized sports, some of the most-watched events of Olympic broadcasts, the #1 high school and junior high school participatory sport and more than 30 million adult runners in the United States.

For more information on USATF, visit www.usatf.org