Age is just a number

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While I was down on the infield watching the hurdles, the Masters 100-meter races were going on. They always get the crowd's attention, not least because there are a lot of people the same age in the crowd.

When I got back to press row, I looked at the finishing times, and found some interesting things.

-- All nine of the 45-year-olds had a better time than at least one 40-year-old.

-- 50-year-old winner Oscar Peyton beat 45-year-old winner Derek Holloway's time, 11.39 seconds to 11.42 seconds.

-- The first, second, and third-place 60-year-olds would have beaten third-place 55-year-old Jerry Scriver.

-- 55-year-old winner Bill Collins of Houston Elite set a new world record for his age group with a time of 11.50 seconds, beating the previous record of 11.57 seconds. That time would have won him second place in both the 45-year-old and 50-year-old races.

-- Five 60-year-olds and two 65-year-olds beat the time of last-place 40-year-old Michael Burke.

-- Both of those 65-year-olds, Alby Williams and Bobby Whilden, beat the last-place finishers in the 45-year-old and 50-year-old races as well.

-- Williams would have finished fifth in the 60-year-old race, which had eight runners in its field.

The biggest Masteres race of them all, the 75-year-old-and-up 100m race, comes tomorrow.