In a thoughtful critique of the masters movement, former National Masters News publisher and WAVA Treasurer Al Sheahen of Sherman Oaks, California, calls for professional marketing and more age-graded track events -- as well as masters exhibition events in the Olympic Games.

Photo by Ken Stone

The state of masters track:
An interview with Al Sheahen 

This interview was conducted by e-mail in October 2002. Also see the companion profile of Al Sheahen, written in 1998 but published online here for the first time.

By Ken Stone

Masterstrack.com: You?ve invested a major portion of your life in masters track -- as an athlete, official, and editor and publisher. But with your loss in the WAVA presidency race, recent knee injury and pullout from NMN, you seem to have cut all ties to the movement. Are you done with masters track?

Al Sheahen: No. It?s been a gradual deceleration process with NMN, but I?m still involved with the final production, the circulation, the accounting, some editorial decisions, etc. I do many of the same things I?ve always done, just less of it. Jerry (Wojcik), Suzy (Hess) and Angela (Egremont) do most of the work. The credit for the quality of the issues must go to them. Jerry has final editorial authority, but we all consult. The knee injury has kept me out of serious competition since 1999. As you know, when one can?t compete, one?s interest in the entire program diminishes. That?s certainly been part of my gradual withdrawal. I?ve experimented with various knee treatments, but none has been successful. Now I?m on drugs ? Vioxx ? and it seems to help a bit.

Ken Stone photo At the Striders Meet of Champions on May 10, 2003, Al Sheahen attacked second hurdle in his first hurdles race in five years. He ran this 300-meter race at Long Beach State University in California. Tina Bowman leads race and Lynn Naftel trails.

I?ve started to go back to the gym three times a week. I?m trying to get back in shape by doing the treadmill and bicycle, but it will be very difficult. But I remember you don?t have to be in top shape to run 400 meters or less. You can fake it if you have a little speed. People like Phil Raschker always run with pain, so maybe I can do it, too. I?m just afraid of making the knee worse.

I?m also playing senior softball. A month ago, I figured the chances of my getting back to competition were 1 in 100. Now they?re 1 in 5. That?s still a long shot, but I haven?t given up hope of coming back.

What?s occupying your time these days? Have any new passions?

Not really new, but I?ve spent a lot of time in 2002 working on welfare reform. I?ve been to Washington, D.C., twice, with welfare groups, to lobby legislators for improvements in the current welfare law. I?ve written magazine articles, op-ed pieces, even a book on the subject over the past 30 years. Nothing much has changed. Thirty-two million people still live in poverty in America ? the same as in 1980.

This year, I was invited to give talks on the ?Basic Income Guarantee (BIG)? at conferences in New York City and Geneva, Switzerland. More than 200 economists, academics and a few writer/activists like me from over 30 countries attended the Swiss event. It?s a lot like WMA, without the running.

The goal of the BIG movement is to bring the idea of providing everyone a minimum income onto political agendas throughout the world. In the USA, the idea has been off the table for years, but it?s getting serious discussion in Europe and parts of Africa.

In the last months of your NMN tenure, you seemed freer to comment on masters track. Your critique of the Brisbane WMA meet brought a harsh rebuke from meet organizers and WMA officials. Any second thoughts on your remarks after the 2001 world masters meet?

No. I stand by everything I said. I was pleasantly surprised at the response. I figured no one would pay much attention to my comments, as had been the case in the past. But I stirred up a firestorm, which I felt was very positive for the program. People actually seemed to care.

I?m told some of my suggestions will be implemented by WMA: 1) Having the WMA inspectors report their findings to the General Assembly; 2) Having the bid presentations in the morning of the General Assembly rather than in the late afternoon; 3) Not so much VIP stuff.

Hopefully, future organizers will pay more attention to transportation, the International Party, the Opening and Closing Ceremonies; and so on.

Rodale, the publisher of Runner?s World, essentially gave up on National Masters News when it sold the paper to Suzy Hess. Why did Rodale?s experiment with owning NMN fail?

I?m told it was a corporate decision. The people at Runner?s World wanted to keep NMN under their wing. They always liked the publication and felt it was a good addition to their family. They used it to help stimulate advertising sales for both NMN and RW. The people at RW were always exemplary in their fairness and professionalism.

But a new Rodale financial manager apparently felt the number of subscribers (6,000+) and the profit margin weren?t big enough to bother with. Subscriptions had grown from 5,400 when RW took over in 1995 to 8,000 in 1997, but had gradually tailed off to the mid-6,000s by 2001, despite everyone?s best efforts.

Personally, I feel RW readers are very oriented to long-distance training and nutrition advice, and NMN didn?t give them enough of that. Why not? We tried, but found it difficult to consistently obtain and publish good ?advice? columns without detracting from our basic mission of providing hard-core schedule and results to our base of track and field competitors. So RW readers would try NMN for a few months, and then drop it.

With a tiny subscriber base and skimpy ad revenues, NMN always appears to be on the edge of doom. What?s the future of NMN?

NMN seems to have a core of about 5,000 to 5,500 readers, which seems likely to stay at that level. It can break even or maybe even make a small profit if advertising revenues are decent, and if costs are kept in check. That means no 64-page issues, like we once had. If revenues increase, the number of pages can increase. If revenues drop, the number of pages will drop. That way, we continue to publish and stay alive and provide the basic information to our core readership.

Torsten Carlius of Sweden beat you for the WAVA presidency in 1997. Has he lived up to his promises? How different would WMA look today had you won?

Torsten Carlius seems to be a popular president among the WMA Council members. Had I won the WMA presidency in 1997, I naturally would have done some things differently. The main purpose of WMA is to make sure the biennial world championships are properly staged in a good location. After that, it?s all extras.

I would have pushed to get a masters event in the Olympics to get publicity for our sport and to attract more participants and sponsors. The USA has been successful in staging masters events in U.S. Open National Championships, so the interest is there.

I would have made WMA proceedings more open. The Europeans love their secrecy, and it?s reflected in the current WMA Council. For example, since leaving office, I?ve never seen the minutes of any Council meeting. We don?t get interim treasurer?s reports. I would have made a major effort to get African nations involved. Torsten and the Council may be doing this; it?s not easy.

On the world stage, one of the biggest concerns has been the process of  selecting a meet host for the WMA Outdoor Championships. In 1999, the General Assembly awarded the 2003 meet to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, only to have the meet yanked away and re-awarded to Puerto Rico. Last year, the 2005 WMA meet was awarded to San Sebastian, Spain, an area beset by Basque separatist terrorism. And more recently, WMA dramatically raised the sanction fee for host-site candidates -- which discouraged Sacramento from bidding. Do you support the WMA's site-selection system? How would you change it?

First, I?d produce a bidders booklet. That may have been done by now, but it was always ?in progress? when I was on the Council. I?d make sure that at least two WMA inspectors visited each proposed site before a contract was signed. That, too, may now be taking place. Outreach is needed to potential bidders. That was always done informally during my tenure, and is probably still being done.

The site-selection process basically works well, except that the inspectors should provide their findings to the voting delegates. Why use the athletes? money to pay for expensive trips to inspect facilities and then not share the report with the people who vote? It?s ridiculous.

Bid presentations should be made to the delegates at the General Assembly in the morning, not in the late afternoon. There should be time for discussion and conferring with other delegates. The final vote should be taken after lunch, not before.

I?ve heard reports that the WMA Council voted to increase the sanction fee from $40,000 to $150,000, but I?ve also heard that it?s ?really not $150,000? because of some new accounting procedures. I really don?t know the details, and haven?t talked with anyone who does.

Some American masters have been critical of the USATF masters outdoor meet sites as well -- citing Orlando 1999 and Baton Rouge 2001. Do you support the current U.S. system for picking meet sites?

The goal of selecting outdoor sites for USATF National Masters Championships has always been to move the meet around to different geographic locations. This seems to be a worthy and important goal. The problem is we sometimes wind up in a hot, humid location. The same thing happens to open championships. So do you eliminate consideration of those sites, or try to adapt to nighttime competition? If you eliminate them, then you?re limited to West Coast or Maine meets. Not acceptable. So you try to make sure Southern, Midwestern, and Eastern bidders agree to hold many events in the cool of the evening.

It would be preferable to choose sites at the national championships. However, that?s not the way it?s done in USATF. It?s done at the convention in December. At the very least, the cities who plan to bid should be published in NMN a month prior to the convention, so athletes could contact their representatives with their opinion.

Should there be a sanction fee? Probably. And a contract? Yes.

USATF Masters Chairman George Mathews has raised the specter of some form of qualifying standards for masters nationals. What?s your reaction to this?

In the early days, we always opposed qualifying standards, wanting to make meets open to everyone. But the Senior Olympics proved the marketing wisdom of establishing standards in local or state meets. It might not be a bad idea. I think it?s worth trying for a couple of years.

In masters track, drug positives have been rare. But in one celebrated case, a grandmother received a two-year ban for having menopause medicine in her system which contained minute amounts of a banned substance. Should masters and open athletes be subject to the same anti-doping rules?

Masters should not be saddled with the same doping rules as open athletes, until such time as more research has been done on the effects of prescription drugs on older athletes.

At the 2003 world meet, WMA will consider lowering the entry age for masters men from 40 to 35. Do you support this?

I?d vote for that. More competition. Make it equal to the women?s age. The IAAF used to fight it because it conflicted with their open program, since a few top open athletes are over 35. But I don?t think they care about that anymore. But a lot of masters don?t want the 35s. They point to the lack of numbers in the W35 group. They want to start both men and women at 40. I?d vote to make it the same age for both M&W ? either 35 or 40.

You?ve been to most national and world masters meets. What was the best masters nationals? What was the best world masters meet?

The best world meet was Eugene 1989. Japan 1993 was a close second. I also had a good time at the 1975 meet in Toronto. Eugene was beautifully organized. The stands were filled for the Opening Ceremonies. The newspaper coverage was superb. Japan had all of that, except I can?t read Japanese. Toronto was exciting because it was the first and was so political, with the South Africans allowed to run only after a 6-5 vote by the organizers. The best U.S. meet? It?s kind of a blur, but I remember the three Eugene meets (1984, 1994, 2000) and Atlanta (1978) as among the best. Good organization. Good community support.

What?s been the worst masters nationals? The worst world meet?

I didn?t go to Orlando in 1999, but I?m told that was the worst. My choice for worst would be a tie between Indianapolis (1990) and Spokane (1992).

Decades ago, American masters decided to affiliate with the national governing body of elite/open track -- what is now USATF. Masters in other countries,  such as Britain, have gone it alone. In retrospect, has USATF been the best  thing for masters? If not, should U.S. masters consider splitting off as USA Masters Swimming has done?

We debated that for years. I generally felt we could do as well on our own, but others wanted to become part of the USA family. Either can work, as other nations have proven. You just try to make what you have work better. USATF is a very democratic, inclusive organization.

Similarly, has IAAF affiliation helped or hurt the worldwide masters cause?

The same with the IAAF, although they?re not as democratic as USATF. It helps with credibility to be a part of the IAAF. But WMA could go it alone almost as easily.

USATF Masters is always asking itself how to improve participation. What?s your solution?

We need a national publicity department to publicize meets. The Senior Olympics reached out to city parks and recreation departments and attracted a whole different group of people than the Masters did. People are there. You have to let them know what?s going on. NMN isn?t enough. I encouraged Bob Weiner, a professional publicist and masters athlete, to pitch USATF to give him some funds so he could push masters T&F in the media.

We could also use a more athlete-friendly format for some of our smaller meets. In 1981, I made a suggestion which still stands. Run age-graded meets. Don?t award meaningless medals to the first three in each five-year age division when there are only one or two competitors in each division. That?s ludicrous. Award three medals or trophies overall on an age-graded basis for each event. We?ve got pretty accurate age-graded tables. Why not use them?

Instead of holding the actual competition by age groups, hold it by expected performance level. In other words, if a 40-year-old woman expects to run an 800 in 3:00, put her in the same race as the 70-year-old man who also expects to run about 3:00. Put the fast guys, no matter what age, in the fast heat. Put the slower people in the slow heat/s. That way, hopefully, a runner won?t finish embarrassingly last by a wide margin as is often the case now. Now, new runners show up, finish last against some hotshots, and never show up again. The masters swimmers have been doing this for years. For smaller meets, it?s ideal and would boost participation.

Masters athletes and national championship meets are often ignored by mainstream media. How can this be remedied?

See above. Hire Bob Weiner or similar to contact media year round, just like USATF does with open meets. Make individual masters athletes available for interviews.

Currently, USATF Masters officers are chosen by a relatively small number of delegates an the annual convention. Would you support a change in USATF bylaws to allow all USATF masters athletes to vote for chair and other offices by by mail or Internet?

Yes, good idea to let all USATF members vote for officers by mail or internet.

How has George Mathews done as USATF Masters chairman? Would you like to see him do anything differently?

George seems to be doing OK. He communicates to athletes monthly in NMN. He could help by persuading people to implement the above suggestions.

Despite stagnant or declining numbers in USATF Masters meets, the Masters Games/Senior Olympic circuit is booming. The latest sign: an annual Pan Pacific Masters Games starting in 2003 and alternating between Sacramento and Australia. Are such multisport events good or bad for masters track?

The Senior Olympics nearly went belly up when their Prez was accused of mismanaging funds and was run out of town. Last time I checked, they were having trouble recruiting sponsors. But they were successful for years with their multi-sport concept. Multisport events seem to be popular and attract sponsors and athletes.

You were a key figure in creation of the Age Graded Tables. A new set of tables has just been approved. But as committee creations, they have been subject to doubters. Do these tables fairly compare different age groups? Are they being used properly?

I haven?t seen the new age-graded tables.

For many years, NMN sponsored a small cash prize for an Age-Graded 100 champ at the national meet. Is it time for USATF Masters to award cash prizes to all gold medalists -- as Open meets do?

Since I resigned as USATF Masters T&F treasurer many years ago, I have never seen a financial report of actual revenues and expenses for any given year. Oddly, no one besides me ever seems to complain about this. So apparently no one cares. So I don?t know if we have enough money to award cash prizes.

You once said that the Olympic Games should have some exhibition masters events. In light of the Games? movement to reduce events, do you still think this is a reasonable goal?

Yes, it?s only one or two events within a track meet. It?s not a new event, and wouldn?t take more than a half-hour to stage.

Masters records have been subject to some criticism in recent years because many potential bests set in Open competition have been shunned. Do WMA and USATF records truly reflect the best masters performances in history?

Masters records set in open meets have always counted, if the documentation is sent to the Records Committee. I?m not aware of anyone ?shunning? them.

In your opinion, what?s the best single mark in masters track history?

It?s about a 15-way tie. A few that come to mind: Ron Taylor?s 11.57 100 at age 57; Payton Jordan?s 13.64 100 at age 75; Ralph Romain?s 52.74 400 at age 58; Eamonn Coghlan?s 3:58.15 mile at age 4l; Derek Turnbull?s 16:38.8 5000 at age 65; Guido Mueller?s 55.69 400H at age 49; Evy Palm?s 32:34 10K at age 46.

What were YOUR best performances in masters track?

My bests were a 62.2 400H at age 45 and a 2:09.7 800 at age 45.

What?s your fondest wish for the masters track movement?

That it continues to grow and people continue to have fun with it.