Masters Relays Can Be Chaos. 'Neon Eons' Beat Chaos And Set A World Record.

The Neon Eons (left to right) Rob Whitaker, David Westenberg, Michael Lebold, Tim Owen. Stuff happens to Masters relay teams. There is no professional contract or governing body to smooth out the bumps. These guys smoothed out the bumps with skill. Photo By Lisa Owen.

 

By Ray Glier

Tim Owen had assembled the four fastest 800 meters men over 65 years old he could find. The goal was to shatter the world outdoors 4x800 relay record (M65) in the USA Track & Field Masters Outdoors Championships last weekend in Sacramento.

It seemed a cinch.

It’s never a cinch.

Set an alarm. Chaos follows Masters track relay teams. It gets unleashed in calamitous ways. Schedule changes. Injuries. Miscommunications. Some of these teams are thrown together overnight, sometimes in the minutes before a race. Guys and gals can meet for the first time…just before the gun. Practice baton handoffs? Are you kidding?

I love these Geezer Jock stories. Gonzo stuff happens, especially with these relays, and the graybeards and blue hairs don’t get buried. They start shoveling. I remember Dr. Ivan Black, a Masters veteran, running around an indoor track and cobbling together a relay team in less than 30 minutes.

It happens…all…the…time. It’s why the relay times in older age groups are not that good. Good teams give it their all and suddenly the baton is rolling off the track into the infield grass because they have not practiced handoffs to what's-his-name they are handing off to.

This is one of those stories where calamity tried to ruin best laid plans and calamity failed.

Owen’s Dream Team did almost unravel like a cheap suit. David Westenberg of Massachusetts, the anchor, had second thoughts about signing up for a race in 103-degree California heat. Owen had a nagging hamstring issue, which describes most hamstring issues.

Fred Torneden was unable to make the trip, and his replacement, Rob Whitaker, was dealing with a sore Achilles that had limited his training. Westenberg, a miler, was still trying to get his legs back from running April’s Boston Marathon.

Then, a few moments before the first heat of the 4X800 relay in Sacramento, an official told the squad of Michael Lebold, Whitaker, Owen, and Westenberg they were not running the second heat, they were in the first. Hurry up, fellas.

So much for practicing baton handoffs, or stretching.

Owen reminded the team to turn and face the infield for the handoff and don’t try and grab the baton. Hold your hand open and let the incoming runner put it in the bread basket. Owen’s wife, Lisa, was a long-time high school track coach and schooled three of them for another world-record attempt indoors in March. (More on that in a moment).

I wouldn’t be writing this if they didn’t blast their way into the record books last weekend.

The team went 10:16.67, toppling Spain's previous mark of 10:19.89. The Neon Eons chopped 11 seconds off the existing American record of 10:27.85.

Westenberg, the No. 1 miler in the U.S., saved it with a sizzling anchor leg of 2:29 on a sizzling day. They were running at 3 p.m., which is peak heat. The weatherman said it was 103, but the weather scientist had his head in the clouds. He wasn’t down on the track where it was at least 112.

When David got the baton from Lebold for the last leg he had to make up three seconds to catch the Spanish. 

“When I saw that we were three seconds behind it gave me a little extra incentive,” Westenberg said.

“Pressure? I don’t know. I guess there was some. I like to trust my training and trust my readiness for the race. I know that every race is different, and so many factors can affect what your time is. Even if you are physically ready to run a record time, you may not be able to.”

Owen led off and went 2:33.9. Whitaker had a 2:37.7 split, Lebold was 2:35.1, followed by Westenberg at 2:29.8. The 2:34 average is very stout.

“We did well to get the record simply because it is so difficult to get four very good runners who are relatively healthy, able to travel, or be at the same meet on the same day. That's really challenging,” Westenberg said. “That's why the reality is that the 4X800 relay records, some of them, are not very good at all. I think ours is pretty good now.”

In the individual 800 at the meet, Lebold, 66, did what he always does. He beat Westenberg for the gold narrowly, 2:31.68 to 2:32.02. (Michael owns David in the 800).

Owen, 65, claimed the bronze with 2:34.46, which is remarkable for a guy who was out of the sport from 2018 to 2024.Whitaker was fifth at 2:37.08.

Westenberg, a retired corporate lawyer, won the 1500 with 5:11.98. Lebold came in at 5:13.89 for the silver. Just as Michael beats David in the 800, Westenberg owns Lebold in the mile.

Owen missed the bronze by less than a second. 

Owen had actually come up with the idea of setting two world records, indoors and outdoors. He gathered up Westenberg, Lebold, and Torneden for the USATF Masters Indoors Championships in March.

In Chicago, on the banked and very fast Dr. Conrad Worrill Track and Field Center, they went 10:08.15 to set a new world mark. That's where Lisa first coached them up. Coaching matters. 

After Chicago, captain Owen looked ahead to Sacramento and thought the world record in the 4x800 outdoors was all theirs. Westenberg wasn’t so sure. Stuff happens, he said. And it did. There was a cascade of hiccups from injuries to recovery obstacles, to heat, to a member from Chicago unable to make Sacramento, to getting rushed onto the track for the race

And what about the jinx factor? These guys talked about a world record. You can talk about "going for it", but these guys seemed a little cocky.

“Tim was sitting around with the data showing us what the average time needed to be, comparing our time in the past to what the record was and things like that,” David said. “So we were all talking about it.”

And they succeeded. Skill is a tailwind against relay mishaps and jinxs.

Westenberg himself has nine American records and 15 national championships. Lebold, who is from San Diego, is ranked first in the U.S. in the 800 and fourth in the world in the mile. Owen is No. 3 in the U.S. in the 800. Whitaker, 65, who lives in Yorktown, Va., is currently No. 6 in the U.S. in the 800. He has been ranked as high as No. 2 in the 3000, 1500, and mile.

Westenberg, 66, will go to Sweden and run the 1500 in the World Masters Athletics meet in August. He is currently ranked No. 4 in the world at 4:57.98. David will skip the 800 because it would require him to stay overseas an extra six days.

Westenberg will be on his own in Sweden, no relays, unless some out-of-breath Geezer Jock frantically runs up to him with a  9-1-1 plea. "Joe has dropped out with stomach cramps and would you, pretty please….join the relay."

Well, there is no 4x800 at WMA, which is too bad because the Neon Eons have this thing down...I think.

David Westenberg ran the anchor for the 4x800 (M65) world record relay team "Neon Eons" at the USATF Masters Outdoors Championships. In this photo he is holding off Michael Lebold to win the 1500 at the championships. Photo by Blake Wood.

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