Two Toronto men to race masters 800m at world champs

Two Toronto-based masters athletes will be travelling to the world championships with Canada’s top athletes this summer to race in the first ever masters races at the event.

Paul Osland, himself an Olympian from the 1988 Games in Seoul, and Mike Sherar, both athletes with the University of Toronto Track Club, will race the men’s 800m race on August 29, before the other races in an afternoon session in Beijing.

The International Association of Athletics Federations and World Masters Athletics came to an agreement earlier in the year to showcase two masters events before the world championship events. The two events will be the men’s 50+ 800m, which Osland and Sherar will be racing, and the women’s 50+ 400m.

The world championships are being held at Beijing National Stadium, known as Bird’s Nest, where the 2008 Olympic Games took place.