WSJ
Weiner enjoys multitasking
by Matt Parmesano and John Dell/Winston-Salem Journal | Posted July 18, 2014

Photo by Lauren Carroll/Winston-Salem Journal    
Bob Weiner competes in the 2000 meter steeplechase
Bob

Bob Weiner, the media chair for the USATF National Masters, is a busy man this weekend.

Aside from organizing the media coverage of the meet, he is competing in two track events in the men's 65-69 age group.

"It's been tough," he said. "It's really impossible to do both (coordinate the media as well as compete), but I'm doing it."

Weiner, 67, ran the 2,000 steeplechase Friday in 10 minutes, 18.38 seconds to beat his previous personal record in the 65-69 age group by one second. He is scheduled to run the 1,500 on Sunday.

He said he is extremely pleased with how well Wake Forest and Winston-Salem have hosted the meet.

"I'm sure we're going to want to come back," he said. "We're all having a lot of fun here and it's a hugely successful meet."

He has always had a passion for track and cross country, and participated in both in high school and college. After graduating college, he took a two-year hiatus from running but picked it back up at the age of 25 and has competed in the Masters since he was 30, the earliest age at which one can participate. He lives in Washington, D.C., and is a member of the Potomac Valley Track Club.

Bob Weiner helped create the Masters Media Committee in 2003 because he believed the meet wasn't being covered as well as it should've been.

"I just believed that there needed to be national media in Masters track," he said. "We have all these Olympians and world champions, and nobody knows. It's also brings tremendous health advantages for all the athletes who compete here, and people need to know about it."

Photo by Gregory Coats