JK8K
Dedicated to Jim Kurtz
Jim was a very dear and great friend. He was always thinking of others. Gave his free time constantly. He was a fellow runner who was quite competitive and always humble with his successes.
To honor his life we established the JK8K cross country race to celebrate his kindness and generosity and his undying devotion to his family.
Striders in Action
Pasadena Senior Games 05/30/26
The Striders were represented again at the Senior Games this year, and none were as busy as Ed Rose. This is his report from that day:
Long day on the track, with lots of delays that sometimes helped and others that did not. I did the 50, 100, 200, 400 and triple jump. Had it all planned out based on schedule however delays changed everything. Order of events effected some of my times I believe, but what can you expect doing this many events. I was hoping to do the triple jump between the 100 and 200, but had to do it after the 200. On my 5th jump had a season best and was going to quit with a 7.17M jump. My friend and fellow competitor said I was six inches behind the board and encouraged my to take my last jump. I hit the board perfectly and went 7.36, only a centimeter off his estimate. As a result I bumped him out of third place. Super sportsmanship. Ended up with gold in 200 and 400, silver in 100 and bronze in 50 and triple jump. Triple jump best in three years:
50M 8.29
100M 15.71
200M 32.75
400M 1:21.42
TJ 7.36M
James Malin made a good showing as well, posting a 1st place in the shot put (11.39m), 2nd in discus (27.44m), and 4th in Long Jump (3.46m).
And – you can read about Andy Anderson’s exploits in his blog, below:
Andy’s BLOG 06/08/2026
Fellow Striders:
I appear to be back.
As I have related, I almost died in February of 2025 from acute kidney failure caused by kidney stones blocking both my ureters. Five days in the Intensive Care Unit saved my life. My doctors attributed my not dying to my physical fitness.
After several months of no training, I was allowed to slowly get back into shape, but I was followed closely by my doctors. From June to September I did careful work-outs. By early December I was allowed to begin competing and did so in the 5K. I gradually improved my time from 41:45 in January this year, down to 34:32 in April. At that point my doctors did another full medical analysis (physical exam, blood studies, x-rays, ultrasound, etc.) before allowing me to begin hard training for the 400 and 800. That began on April 15, 14 months after being rushed to the hospital (2/18/25-4/15/26). My goal was the Pasadena Senior Games on May 30. That gave me 6 ½ weeks. I realized after about 3 weeks that there was no way I could train for both events in that short a time frame. So I focused solely on the 400. I did the best I could, but I had no idea how I would do in actual competition.
On Saturday I was in the first heat of the 400: the oldest runners. There were 6 of us. Our ages were: 77 (Ed Rose, a fellow Strider), 77, 81, 89 (me), 89, and 90. I was in lane 5, Ed in lane 8. Soon after the start, it was obvious that Ed was moving very fast and was all by himself out front. The other 77 year old stayed ahead of me, but no one else ever challenged me. Ed finished in 1:21.42, 14 seconds ahead of the number 2, and 20 seconds ahead of me in third in 1:41:48, well off my 1:35.18 the last time I ran a 400 in competition in 2024. I managed the first 400 meters of the 800, but then could not hold the pace and finished in 4:19.58 – way off my 2024 effort of 3:46.91 in Nationals.
The data for Saturday just came out in mastersrankings.com. I did better than I expected. In the 85-89 age group, my 400 was 4th in the World, 1st in the USA, and 1st for 89 year olds in the World. My 800, very surprisingly, was 3rd in the World, 1st in the USA, and 1st for 89 year olds in the World. Of course, this is just June 1. I am certain that runners will go much faster this summer. Still, it is good to be back!
Andy
Meet of Champions 04/26/2026
Cerritos College, Norwalk
The Southern California Striders hosted the 60th annual Meet of Champions in April, and our usual suspects were there. James Malin, with his usual strong performances, won 2 silvers (LJ – 3.34m, SP – 11.00m) and a bronze (discus – 29.10m). As for Ed Rose, 2 golds (100m – 15.53, 200m – 33.37), 1 silver (50m – 8.35), and 2 bronzes (LJ – 3.33m, TJ – 7.03m). See his report below:
I ran and jumped at the So Cal Striders Meet of Champions on Sunday. Not my best day, and hard to top previous meet. Just did not seem to be right all day. No zip or rhythm. Some days are like that. Did manage season bests in 100M and Triple jump. 100M was fastest since 2022. In the long jump I fouled 4 of my 6 jumps, which was 4 more fouls than I had all last year. May have been influenced by the wind as it was swirling all day. One run jump it was in your face, the next behind you.
This was sort of a duel meet so we got medals from the Striders and as a regional meet. Ended up with gold medals in 100M, 200M, silver in 50M and bronze in long jump and triple.
Here are a few pictures of medals and me doing my Mr T impression. Arms too short for a good selfie.
