World Masters Athletics Preview

John Mansoor

When he cast aside his marathon shoes in the mid-1980s, John Mansoor swore he’d never run another step.

For more than 20 years, he made good on his promise. He raised a family, hunted and fished in his spare time. He indulged his love of cigars and Wild Turkey and gained 40 pounds.

“Hunting is actually good exercise, but fishing … all you do is sit in a boat and drink,” Mansoor said.

So it came as a bit of a shock to see the slimmed-down executive director of the Pacific Association rubbing off 25 years of rust at last summer’s USA Masters Outdoor Track and Field Championships, winning a silver medal in the 10,000 meters.

John Mansoor at the 2010 Pacific Association Masters Tack & Field Championships

Mansoor followed that performance up with a 36:10 10k on the road as well as a 1:18:30 half-marathon this spring. He’s logging 70 miles a week preparing for this summer’s World Masters Athletics Outdoor Track and Field Championships in Sacramento.

“People ask me why I’m doing this,” Mansoor said. “Believe me, I ask the same thing myself.”

The road back began inauspiciously several years ago when Mansoor, a onetime coach at UC Davis, began coaching the distance runners at his son’s junior high school in El Dorado Hills.

“I’d sit in the dugout while they went for a run,” Mansoor said. “I got bored and started thinking, I can run with them for two or three miles. Then I became the distance coach at Oak Ridge High School and kept running with the kids. As they got faster, it forced me to get faster to keep up with them.”

As the 2010 USA Masters Track and Field Championships at Sacramento State approached, Mansoor decided to give it a shot. He clocked 36:54.80 for 10,000 meters, trailing only Rick Becker (35:02.69) in the men’s 55-59 age group. Becker is one of the most decorated masters distance runners in the world.

“I figured what the hell, let’s see what happens,” Mansoor said. “I was surprised. People must have disappeared. I was the second-fastest guy in the United States. I’m still mystified.”

Mansoor has been a part of the Northern California running scene since the early 1970s. He starred locally at Mira Loma High School and earned a scholarship to Ohio State, where he captained the cross country team. He concentrated on the marathon as a post-collegian, clocking a best of 2:18: 34 before back trouble forced him to retire in 1985.

“I was fine with stopping,” Mansoor said. “I was burned out mentally. Once I stopped, it was easy not to start again.”

He switched his energies and creativity to the administrative side of the sport. Mansoor has served as the race director of the California International Marathon since its inception in 1983, shepherding its growth from 1,800 entries in the first year to capping the field at 8,000 in 2010.

Mansoor became executive director of the Pacific Association in 1984. He directed the U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials in 1992 and 1996 as well as the distance races at the 1990 Goodwill Games in Seattle. He directed an indoor meet in Reno in which he gained national attention for having one of the casinos post a betting line on the two-legged thoroughbreds.

He might have followed through on his pledge not to run another step had his wife, Heike, not urged him to coach their son.

“And she told me, ‘By the way, there’s a young phenom girl on the team,’” Mansoor recalled. “That didn’t impress me. I’ve seen phenoms come and go.”

The girl was Alex Kosinski, who wound up running a national record 4:38.15 for 1,600 meters at Oak Ridge and is a six-time All-American in cross country and track at the University of Oregon.

This year’s Oak Ridge team includes Jackie Mansoor, one of the Sac-Joaquin Section’s top distance runners. It’s no surprise that the Mansoor children became good runners – in addition to John’s pedigree, Heike set a national high school record of 2:43:00 in the marathon in 1980 while attending Encina High School in Sacramento.

Injuries cut Heike’s career short, but she also remains active in the sport as the Pacific Association’s head of sanctions, clubs and insurance. She doesn’t sound terribly surprised that her husband is running again.

“I remember when he swore he’d never compete again,” Heike Mansoor said. “But he’s always been very competitive, and he gets bored a lot. His mind is constantly working on new things.”

Winning might be out of the question at the WMA Championships (July 6-17), particularly with Australian standout Keith Bateman entered in every event from the 1,500 meters to the marathon.

“He may be entering everything to have options,” Mansoor said. “That’ll be very interesting.”

Mansoor’s plan is to compete in the 8-kilometer cross-country event at Granite Regional Park – a course he designed and helped get built –on July 7, the second day of the WMA Championships. The United States team in the men’s 55-59 age group has a strong shot at winning a medal. Mansoor then plans to size up his performance and and decide whether to contest the 10,000 meters or the marathon.

“My best event has always been the marathon,” Mansoor said. “On paper, that’s where I have the best shot at an individual medal. I’ll try for it and see if my body holds up. There’s so much that can happen in a marathon. If my training breaks down, I’ll end up running the 10k on the track.”

He looks tanned and fit and the will to win is still there. But his body reminds him that its feet, back and shins are 56 years old.

“I’ve had two lives, my first life and this life,” Mansoor said. “I’m still improving in this life, which is kind of unusual. My mentality is still that if I train hard enough, I’ll get faster. Then when I’m out running, I ask myself, ‘Why am I running so slow?”