1975 World Association of Veteran Athletes Championships is the first in a series of World Outdoor Championships (also called World Masters Track and Field Championships). The first international

athletics Athletics may refer to: Sports * Sport of athletics, a collection of sporting events that involve competitive running, jumping, throwing, and walking ** Track and field, a sub-category of the above sport * Athletics (physical culture), competiti ...

(track and field) competitions for older athletes had taken place in 1972, when the United States Masters International Track Team (USMITT) and the Canadian Masters International Track Team (CMITT) organized a tour of Europe along with Australian and European athletes. The minimum age limit for this tour was 40 years, all men, with athletes divided into 10-year age groups called Veterans (now called Masters). This tour was called the "Olympic Tour" since it coincided with the

1972 Summer Olympics The 1972 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XX Olympiad () and commonly known as Munich 1972 (german: München 1972), was an international multi-sport event held in Munich, West Germany, from 26 August to 11 September 1972. ...

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...

. Following the success of this tour, the CMITT organized the first Championships in this series under the sponsorship of

Canadian National Exhibition The Canadian National Exhibition (CNE), also known as The Exhibition or The Ex, is an annual event that takes place at Exhibition Place in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, on the third Friday of August leading up to and including Canadian Labour Day, ...

(CNE). This inaugural Championships took place in

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

, from 11 to 16 August 1975. The main venue was

Centennial Park Stadium Centennial Park Stadium is a 2,200 seat capacity stadium in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is primarily used for soccer, track and field, football and occasionally for kabaddi. The park is also used for the ROPSSAA football finals and the PSAA (Pr ...

in the

Etobicoke Etobicoke (, ) is an administrative district of, and one of six municipalities amalgamated into, the city of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Comprising the city's west-end, Etobicoke was first settled by Europeans in the 1790s, and the municipalit ...

district of Toronto, while Cross Country was held in

Sunnybrook Park Sunnybrook Park is a large public park in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is located north of Leaside and south of the Bridle Path areas of the city. The park is home to many bike trails, dog parks, and Sunnybrook Stables. History Sunnybrook was ...

. The minimum age limit was 40 years for men and 35 years for women for this first Championships, with age groups of 5-year divisions for men and 10-year divisions for women. Younger athletes competed in the age group 30-39: Class 0 for men and Class 0W for women. In meetings at the

University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution ...

during the competitions, the World Association of Veteran Athletes (WAVA) was proposed as a governing body to organize future Championships in the series. A Local Organising Committee (LOC) would work in coordination with WAVA in running the Championships; the 1975 LOC was CMITT led by Don Farquharson, Farquharson would be elected WAVA president during General Assembly at the

1977 Events January * January 8 – Three bombs explode in Moscow within 37 minutes, killing seven. The bombings are attributed to an Armenian separatist group. * January 10 – Mount Nyiragongo erupts in eastern Zaire (now the Democratic R ...

Championships. WAVA was renamed

World Masters Athletics World Masters Athletics (WMA) is the worldwide governing body for the sport of masters athletics – which includes track and field, cross country, and road running events – as participated by people over 35 years of age. As the need became ap ...

(WMA) at the 2001 Championships in

Brisbane Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the states and territories of Australia, Australian state of Queensland, and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a populati ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

. In addition to a full range of track and field events, non-stadia events included 10K Cross Country, 25K Race Walk, and

Marathon The marathon is a long-distance foot race with a distance of , usually run as a road race, but the distance can be covered on trail routes. The marathon can be completed by running or with a run/walk strategy. There are also wheelchair div ...

Controversy

The Canadian government attempted to ban South African and

Rhodesian Rhodesia (, ), officially from 1970 the Republic of Rhodesia, was an unrecognised state in Southern Africa from 1965 to 1979, equivalent in territory to modern Zimbabwe. Rhodesia was the ''de facto'' successor state to the British colony of S ...

athletes due to the

apartheid Apartheid (, especially South African English: , ; , "aparthood") was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. Apartheid was ...

policy of their governments at that time, threatening to withdraw financial support if those athletes participated. After much discussion, those athletes were allowed to compete as individuals and not as members of the national team. A 5-member

Yugoslavia Yugoslavia (; sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Jugoslavija, Југославија ; sl, Jugoslavija ; mk, Југославија ;; rup, Iugoslavia; hu, Jugoszlávia; rue, label=Pannonian Rusyn, Югославия, translit=Juhoslavija ...

team pulled out in protest of the South Africans participation.

Anne McKenzie Anne McKenzie (July 28, 1925 in Ceres, Cape Province, South Africa - July 23, 2014) was a South African Masters athlete pioneer, setting several world records as early as the 1960s. She continued setting records, not only on the track but in ro ...

was a notable South African athlete, winning 4 gold medals.

Results

Past Championships results are archived at WMA. Additional archives are available from Museum of Masters Track & Field as a pdf book. With over 1,400 individual participants and 5,000 starts, this claimed to be the largest

track and field Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and a grass field for the throwing and some of the jumping events ...

meet ever held in North American to that point in time. Among the notable performances, Jack Greenwood, Al Guidet, and Theo Orr had 4 victories, and

Norm Bright Norman Bright (January 29, 1910 – August 29, 1996) was an American runner, mountaineer, and teacher. Bright once held the American record in the two-mile run. Biography Bright was the son of a school principal and a teacher. Born in Mossyrock, ...

had 3. Bright would suffer a car accident in 1978 that caused near blindness, but he would continue to compete in the Championships at least until

1981 Events January * January 1 ** Greece enters the European Economic Community, predecessor of the European Union. ** Palau becomes a self-governing territory. * January 10 – Salvadoran Civil War: The FMLN launches its first major offensiv ...

. Results for 1975 are from Museum of Masters Track & Field pdf book unless otherwise noted. World records are indicated by .

References

External links

Results of Toronto 1975
- masterstrack.com {{World Masters Athletics Championships World Veterans Championships World Veteran Athletes Championships World Veteran Athletes Championships August 1975 sports events in Canada World Masters Athletics Championships International track and field competitions hosted by Canada Masters athletics (track and field) records