Waigwa Wants to Master Four-Minute Mile

Wilson Waigwa wants to run a mile in less than four minutes.

He is 42.

Although no runner older than 40 has broken the four-minute barrier, Wilson says his greatest adversary is not age, but age discrimination.

“I can’t get into a race,” says Waigwa, a three-time Kenyan Olympian now living in El Paso. “The only ones they let me in are masters races.”

That, of course, doesn’t include road races. Last Sunday, Waigwa was third overall at the San Clemente 5,000. His time of 14 minutes 52 seconds was just 16 seconds slower than winner Terrence Mahon, a 20-year-old Villanova runner from La Habra.

Turning 40 was a curious time for Waigwa. Because he was one of the fastest “older” runners around--he ran his fastest mile (3:50.73) when he was 36--Waigwa became the focus of attention every time he raced. Because his times were so much quicker than any men his age, some even doubted that Waigwa was as old as he claimed.

In 1989, at the World Veterans Games at Eugene, Ore., Waigwa won the mile in 4:05.39. That time set a world record for the masters (40-and-older) division.

Last February, Waigwa and New Zealand star Rod Dixon stole the show at the 84th Milrose Games at Madison Square Garden. In front of 15,750 fans, Waigwa and Dixon dueled for the masters mile title. Dixon, the only man to break four minutes in the mile and 2 hours 9 minutes in the marathon, was the favorite in the race, but Waigwa challenged him from the start.

Unlike most mile races these days--cat-and-mouse affairs in which runners wait until the final lap to make their move--Waigwa and Dixon raced hard throughout, with Waigwa winning in a thrilling finish, 4:13.05 to 4:13.32. Waigwa’s time broke the world masters record for the indoor mile.

Waigwa says he’s happy the masters division is gaining attention--Runner’s World now sponsors a Masters Mile circuit--and he’s pleased with his success on the roads (he has 40-and-older bests of 14:11 for 5K, 29:40 for 10K).

But his No. 1 goal is the same as his peers: He wants to be the first over-40 athlete to break four minutes in the mile.

Last month, Runner’s World predicted that in 1992 John Walker of New Zealand, who has run more sub-four miles than anyone in history and will turn 40 in January, will be the first to accomplish the feat.

Wilson says the only way it can happen is for race directors--especially those who put on the world-class summer meets in Europe--to allow top masters runners to compete in the same races as the world’s best. That way, they can fall into a sub-four pace more easily.

“I know I can do it,” Waigwa said. “It’s just a matter of getting into the right race. I was supposed to go to Europe (to race) this summer, but I couldn’t afford the ticket.”

Which is another difference in masters running--especially on the track. Where some track runners command anywhere up to $100,000 just to run a race, masters are lucky to have a sponsor to provide free shoes.

“I get shoes from Adidas,” Waigwa says. “But what I’d really like is money.”

Track Travelogue: When Daiva Jusionis first heard about the Lithuanian National Games, a national sports festival where Lithuanians from around the world would be invited to compete, she was thrilled.

Jusionis, women’s cross-country and track coach at Golden West College, is of Lithuanian descent, speaks the language fluently and was raised in a Lithuanian neighborhood in Los Angeles.

She and her 19-year-old son, Kes, traveled to her parents’ homeland for the Festival, which ran July 23-Aug. 6. Kes, a middle-distance runner who will be a sophomore at UC Irvine in the fall, competed in the 800 meters.

Their experiences were not of the standard American variety.

* Hours before their plane was to take off from Los Angeles, Kes told his mother he had forgotten to buy new spikes for his track shoes. He shrugged it off, though, saying he’d just buy some when he got there. His mother warned that any country experiencing shortages of food probably didn’t have a lot of surplus spikes, either.

“He said, ‘Oh, c’mon, Mom. I’m sure,’ ” Daiva said. “I thought, well, he’ll learn a lesson.”

He learned . . . and had to race in his old, worn-out spikes.

* The trip to Lithuania included a 10-hour plane ride to Helsinki, a four-hour boat ride to Estonia, and a 10-hour bus ride to the Lithuanian border.

“The bus is not like our Greyhound buses, either,” Daiva said. “The rest stops are just stops on the road where everyone gets out, goes into the forest, then you’re back on your way.”

When the bus reached the Lithuania border, the driver and guards on board told everyone to get out--even though it was about 3 a.m. As the group gathered at the side of the road, the guards broke out champagne and glasses for everyone, and a celebration took place. They sang Lithuanian folk songs all the way to their hotel.

The opening ceremonies featured a parade, three miles long. “The whole way, it was just mobbed with people,” Daiva said. “People on balconies, on the streets, everywhere. People were just so happy that so many Lithuanians from around the world were not afraid to come home.”

* The day Kes was to compete was not a happy day in Lithuania. Several nights before, eight Lithuanian border guards had been executed in Vilnius, the capital--Soviet officials were blamed, Jusionis said--and the country mourned. The Jusionis’ attended the funeral procession along with thousands of Lithuanians.

“You couldn’t even get into the cathedral for the funeral. It was just packed,” Daiva said. “They had a procession all the way to the cemetery, lined with people the whole way. It was a hero’s funeral with honor guards and women dressed in national costume . . .

“You start to realize that you’re part of history. There’s this struggle going on, people are trying to gain their freedom. At the parliament building, people have brought pictures and flags for those who died. There are all these little shrines for the dead. It was really moving.”

* Kes finished near the back of the pack in the 800-meter race in 2:04, far from his best. Daiva said the experience made up for the disappointing time. The country, she said, was beautiful. They ran through forests filled with ferns and flowers. They met not only hundreds of new friends but long lost relatives. And the exchange rate was so good, Daiva said, a party of four could eat at a restaurant for a total of $2.

“But on the way back, when we stopped at Helsinki for a night, the first thing everyone did was go to McDonald’s,” Daiva said. “It was $5 for a Big Mac, but no one cared, everyone gorged. I spent more money on that meal for Kes and I than for half our stay in Lithuania.”

Jusionis, a longtime official with the Southern California Assn. of The Athletics Congress, says she told Lithuanian sports officials that she’d help pave the way for the Lithuanian track and field team to come to the U.S. for competitions, such as the Mt. SAC Relays.

“I told them I’d talk to the people at Mt. SAC,” Daiva said. “But right now, the people are so immersed in the struggle of living, sports obviously have to take a back seat.”

Readers with information on Orange County runners or running events may write Barbie Ludovise at The Times Orange County, 1375 Sunflower Ave., Costa Mesa, 92626 or call 966-5847.