I am pleased to report that on March 15, 2014, at the USATF National Indoor Masters Track and Field Championships in Boston, Mass. (held at the Reggie Lewis Athletic Center) we four broke the official world record for the M70-79 4 x 800 meter relay: Sid Howard (75), Hal Lieberman (71), Gerard Malaczynski (71), and Maurice McDonald (73). Our official time was 11:33.66. The currently listed world record is held by a German team, 11:36.44, set in 2012. As readers may know, Sid is a many time world and national age group champion at 800 meters and the mile. He ran the first leg of the relay despite having a broken wrist, and had to run with a cast on his left arm ; Maurice is a 2x national champion at 800 meters; Hal has been nationally ranked in the 400 and 800 meter categories for several years, finished 2nd to Maurice in the 800 meter run at last year’s (2013) national indoor championships and 2nd in the 200 meter dash this year in Boston; and Gerard was ranked at the outdoor distance of 1500m first in 2012 and second in 2013, and 2nd in 800m in 2013 both indoor and outdoor. He was also declared the age group Outstanding Athlete of the Year by the Long Distance Running Committee of USATF in 2006, and improved the USA record in 2007 at the distance of 20km in his age category. He placed second in the 800 meter individual run in Boston on Sunday, March 16, 2014. Enclosed is a photo of our record setting relay team as well as a copy of the USATF documentation concerning our world record time. In conclusion, I hope National Masters News readers will enjoy hearing about this accomplishment by four 70+ men who are still very competitive middle distance runners.
Regards,
Hal R. Lieberman – Team Captain
