A President’s Pride!
A President’s Pride! I can remember as a young boy taking the President’s Physical Fitness Exam in elementary school. The goal was for all students to learn the life long values of exercise and fitness, in order to live a long, healthy, happy life. So it is true for 93 year old, Bob Matteson (Pictured Above). The current American Record Holder in both the 200m Dash and 400m Dash for the 90 – 94 Masters age division, Bob also set new Liberty Tour records in the 100m, 200m, and 400m Dashes for the same age division. “He is a perfect example for all of these young athletes, myself included, of how long one can live if they take the time to eat right, exercise, and stay active. Track & Field just provides the avenue of exercise for Bob”, says Anthony Mills, Executive Producer of the Empire State Liberty Tour Track & Field Series. He continues, “The fans, and especially the youth athletes, were excited to have Bob participating in the President’s Open. He certainly takes away all of the excuses”.
As expected, the President’s Open saw nearly 90 meet records broken! It also saw the emergence of the first Liberty Tour Signature Event, the Albert W. Mills Sr. 800m Run. This is the first event to be contested with prize money attached to it. Although he did not set a meet record this time, the winner, Justin Bishop, did set a very good standard for the next competitor to break by running the 800m in 2:01.78. This meet also welcomed the first Combined Event mix with any Liberty Tour meet, as the Midget Boys Pentahlon, Master’s Men’s Pentathlon, and the Decathlon were all contested during the regular meet schedule.
The Adirondack Junior Olympic Championship meet is the next stop for the Empire State Liberty Tour, which is open only to youth in the Adirondack Association between the ages of 6 – 18. We will be in Averill park on Saturday, June 21st. The meet begins at 9:00 am. This is the qu.alifying meet for all youth to advance to the Region 1 Junior Olympic Championships to be held at Icahn Stadium, where history was just recently made when Usain Bolt (Jamaica) broke the 100m Dash record with a lightning fast time of 9.72 seconds. For More of the records set, scroll down and enjoy the photo gallery from the 2008 President’s Open! For all of the Results, just click on “Results” from this page.
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- Austin Leonard, from the Glencadia Bullets, sets the Bantam Boy’s 100m record with a time of 15.40 seconds. To add to a great day, he also set a new 800m record with a time of 2:57.37, and a new Long Jump record with a distance of 3.89m.
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- Rudy Winkler, Youth Boy from Averill Park Road Runners, sets a new Shot Put record with a put of 12.19m. Rudy also set a new Discus Throw record with a toss of 37.37m.
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- Master’s Woman, Carol Bendall, sets a new 3000m record with a time of 15:46.75. We won’t give you the age division, as that would not be polite.
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- Robbie Gillich, from the Country Mills Eagles, set a new Midget Boy’s High Jump Record during the Pentathlon with a leap of 1.26m. Robbie also took 1st Place in the Midget Boys Pentathlon.
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- Ian Cook, from the Glencadia Bullets sets a new Youth Boy’s 200m record, both for the President’s Open and the Liberty Tour, by running a smoking 26.12. This Liberty Tour record was just recently broken at the Patriot’s Invitational.
