Donna Beard dominates at USA Track Master’s Championships

Published 10:39 am Tuesday, July 29, 2025

In her own words, Donna Beard was behind the eight-ball.

Competing in the women’s 60-64 hammer throw at the USA Track & Field Master’s Outdoor Championship in Huntsville, Ala. on July 17, the 61-year-old Beard entered as the top seed in the field of four. However, after fouling her first attempt, she sat at the bottom.

Aside from her fellow competitors, Beard had to combat the heat and humidity of Alabama in July as well as several lightning delays that disrupted the flow of the meet. By the time the rain had slowed down leading up to the hammer throw, the ring was full of water.

“I went, ‘Well, we all have to do the same thing,’” Beard said about the conditions at the time. “‘Let’s just do it.’ … It’s odd conditions, but I gotta do what I gotta do.”

Despite the circumstances, Beard remained focused on her plan: Get a good throw in with a two-turn technique — that is, swinging the hammer around twice before releasing — and then move up to a three-turn, which generates more speed and momentum for a further throw but is a more advanced technique that’s harder to control.

After sending her first throw into the fence, that plan went by the wayside. The best mark among her competitors was 33.61 meters (110 feet-3 inches), while Beard was seeded at 44.93 (147-05). She just needed to get on the board, so she locked in on executing the two-turn.

On her second throw, she did just that and then some, reaching 44.89 meters (147-03).

“Oh, I just won,” Beard said, recalling what she thought to herself. “No one’s going to touch that.”

Even with the title all but locked up and with room to play around, Beard stuck to her two-turn on the third attempt and focused on picking up more speed. She reached 46.19 meters (151-06), just a couple feet away from breaking the national record for her age group (46.84 m, 153-08).

Beard fouled each of her remaining attempts, but she still blew the competition away to secure first place. By the end of the weekend, Beard won three more individual events — the discus throw (102-01), the 12-pound weight throw (50-02) and javelin throw (109-03) — and was also a member of the winning 4x100m relay (1:07.83) with the So-Cal Striders Track Club.

“I felt pretty good coming out with a 46 (meter throw) because I haven’t done that for a year-and-a-half,” Beard said. “Disappointed I’m not in the three (turn) yet, but those are choices I made, and hopefully it comes sometime this year.”

Decades before dominating the master’s circuit, Beard was a multi-sport high school athlete in California before playing basketball at Azusa Pacific University, where she eventually joined the track team after being urged to try the javelin throw by an assistant coach. She developed into a two-time All-American and Academic All-American.

Beard continued to throw in local meets after college, and after The Athletic Congress — the governing body for track & field in the United States at the time — approved women’s hammer throw in an exhibition format in 1990, she decided to pick that up as well.

Coached by her then-fiance, now-husband Chris, who was an accomplished hammer thrower at Occidental College, Beard competed in the first women’s hammer throw exhibitions at the national championships. It would take years before it was recognized as an official event — it didn’t reach the Olympics until the Sydney Games in 2000 — but Beard was no doubt a pioneer in the event.

Beard stopped competing in 1995, and she and Chris had their first of four children in 1997. Their youngest, Kim, is a rising senior at King’s High School and just set a national record in the hammer throw at the USATF Junior Olympics in Savannah, Ga. last week.

After years of teaching, coaching, and raising a family, Beard started competing regularly again two years ago. She remained active over the years, running in four Boston Marathons among other road races, but wanted to jump back into competing in track meets. What started with a local Seattle meet snowballed into signing up for more and more, and she eventually joined the So-Cal Striders.

“It’s fun to be able to be a part of both of their sports,” Chris said about Donna and Kim. “It’s a little bit nerve-wracking as a coach when you’re that close. It’s different when it’s not your kid and not your spouse; you can be a little uptight or a little bit antsy, but it’s not the same. It’s a different level of involvement. I think I had a lot more hair before I started doing it, but it’s been fun to see how they’ve both succeeded.”

And these days, it’s not just Chris coaching her anymore; Kim, who has been throwing since she was four, has become just as valuable of an instructor.

“I’m blessed to have a coach right in my house,” Beard said. “Really two, because my daughter, she’s a great technician. She can see things and say one word, and it still is in my head.”

After cleaning up in Alabama, Beard is heading to Iowa this week to compete in the National Senior Games, with competitors coming from all over, not just for track & field, but also for basketball, pickleball, archery and more than 20 other sports.

Beard is thankful she’s physically able to compete at her age, especially being able to “hang” with her daughter. Her key to it: never slowing down.

“Too many seniors – even at 50, 60 – slow down and sit in front of screens all day,” Beard said. “They don’t get up and out. I guess that my message is, ‘Keep moving. Fight it.’ If it’s pickleball, great. If it’s walking, great. …

“If you can throw heavy objects, I’m fortunate (enough) to do, and crazy enough to do, then go do that.”