MMMM Just Around The Corner

The 6th Annual Montana Men's Master Mile is less than a week a way. This Friday night, February 12th, at the Brick Breeden Field House in Bozeman, the best master's milers in the state of Montana will hit the boards on MSU's 200-meter indoor track. They'll be chasing the 4:33.7 time set by Scott "The Animal" Creel in the 2006 event.

Peter Dan Sullivan will also be chasing Creel's 3-consecutive win streak (2005 - 2007) and seeing if he can once again dip under the 4:40 barrier after coming oh so close last year (4:40.2).

In addition, it will be great to see how our boys from the Big Sky compare against the national level elites. To give you some idea of what the jet-setters are doing, here are the results from Friday nights master's mile at the Boston Indoor Games:

1 Chris Teague 4:29.05
2 Ray Puglsey 4:29.43
3 Chris Simpson 4:30.56
4 Sean Livingstone 4:31.99
5 Armando Olivieria 4:32.69
6 Kent Lemme 4:33.61
7 Jason Cakouros 4:34.28
8 Josh Brown 4:35.11
9 Francis Burdett 4:35.51
10 Bart Wasiolek 4:36.04
11 Jamie Aubuchon 4:36.42
12 Henry Scollard 4:39.68
13 Bruce Davie 4:40.51
14 Chris Kealey 4:43.99
15 Kris Hartner 4:44.40
16 John Clark 4:53.20

It's unlikely that we will see our whole field under 5:00.  But, if 2009 sets any precedence, it may be possible that everyone is under 5:10; and, maybe even 5:05.

So, who is the 2010 field - well, here you go (including Race Director John Zombro's self created alter ego's for each runner):

Peter Dan Sullivan - Helena - Steve Cram - 2-time defending champion and only person to run in all 5 editions (to date) of the MMMM
Ray Hunt - Deer Lodge - Steve Ovett - sandbagger supreme with an incredible ability to shoot flames out of his ass in the last 300 meters.  Thrilling race with PDS last year, finishing second (4:40.2 to 4:40.6)
Chad Coley - Bozeman - Ray Flynn - 3rd last year in 4:48.8
Rob Walker - Bozeman - John Walker - new to the master's scene and a 1st time participant in the MMMM
Kyle Strode - Helena - Thomas Wessinghagen - a big, powerful runner who finished 4th in 2009.
Steve Bruner - Bozeman - Sebastion Coe - 5th in 2009
Pat Judge - Helena - Craig Masback - new to the 40+ ranks; but, a long time MMMM competitor (in past years the race has been open to sub-masters).  Has had some stirring races with Steve Bruner the last 2 years.
John Herring - Missoula - Steve Scott - just missed sub-5:00 in 2009.  Does his 2010 result start with a 4?
Tim Dumas - Bozeman - Tom Byers - has the dubious honor of having to undertake a "do over" after not living up to his part of the post race events last year :-)
Dean Lipp - Missoula - Jurgen Straub - has been more of a marathoner the last few years.  But, will be testing his leg speed in his 1st try at the MMMM.
Jeff Braun - Butte - Rod Dixon - another newcomer to the MMMM.  Has reached a new level of performance in the last year.  What can he do at the mile?
Steve Gideon - Darby - Don Paige - has shown some wheels at 400 and 800 as a master.  Can he make the move up to the mile with the same results?
Kirk Keller - Three Forks - Eamonn Coghlan - even as an over 50 athlete, still has some serious wheels.  Participation not confirmed.
Chris Guy - Bozeman - past MMMM competitor; but, has been injured in the last year +.  Will act as the rabbit this year to get the guys lined up for some seriously fast running.

Will try to provide an update during the week; and, wil obviously post the results as soon as possible.

The Muddy Buzzard