“When I go, I go.”

Barrington Ivers was a high school sprinter who returned to the track late in life to leave an astonishing mark in veteran competition. He set numerous American and world records in the sprints. And even just five months after undergoing a double bypass operation in March, 1997, the 86 year old said, "I'm looking at the 100 and 200 in the 85 to 89 age group."

Barry Ivers was born on Dec. 6, 1910, in Monmouth, Maine. British, his parents had come over to this country from England. Before he had reached high school the family moved to Lewiston where Barry and his younger brother often passed the time practicing sprinting.

"My brother and I would practice, running in the back alley. Of course, running was my favorite thing, and his too. We used to time each other in the 100 yards. And I was always trying to make the 100 yards in 10 seconds. Never quite made it, though." And he remembers the old Armory where in the cellar there was a dirt track. This was the only place around where anyone could run indoors, except at the Bates College cage.

From Lewiston, the Ivers family moved to Brewer in Barry's sophomore year, and it was here at Brewer High that Ivers developed into a state champion class A sprinter. He won the 200 meters in the state meet at Orono in his senior year and he got 2nd in the 100 meters. He also took 4th in the long jump.

At another state meet at Bates he won the 100, the long jump, and took 2nd in the 200 meters. In the long jump, he had placed his left foot about eight inches behind the white line at the takeoff board, yet still managed to soar 20 feet, 8.5 inches. "The guy kept telling me, why don't you hit the board and you'll go 22 feet."

He was a proven quarter miler, too. At the eastern regionals at Old Town he twice won the quarter mile. "I would stay back until about the 220 mark, and then I'd just let it go."

He graduated from Brewer High in 1929 but did not attend college. Yet he ran in the 1932 Olympic trials at Harvard. At that time he was working for the Eastern Steamship Company and he traveled to the meet by steamship. But there was a sickening odor from the furniture polish in the stateroom that made him sick, and that, along with getting sea sick, he was in no shape to run well in Boston. "I'm pretty sure I would have been about 2nd in the 100 meters if I'd been feeling good." He ended up getting fourth in his heat. Back in these times there were no starting blocks, and the sprinters dug holes at the starting line.

Except for one 100 yard race in 1936, Ivers did not run for about 47 years. It was in 1976, while living in Nova Scotia that he starting practicing the sprints once again at age 65. He practiced at the Acadia University track in the town where he lived, Wolfville. In September that year in only his third meet he won the 100 meters and the 200 meters at the Canadian Masters Championships.

While living in Nova Scotia, Ivers and his wife managed the Historic Inn in Wolfville from 1975 to 1977 when they returned once again to Brewer. Ivers was an accountant and handled tariffs on freight movement to Canada. He also served 13 years on the Brewer city council and was elected mayor for three terms. As mayor, he signed Brewer's world famous billboard which read, "Brewer Welcomes UFOs. Landing Sites Available."

For a small man of 5 ft. 6 in. Ivers had enormous strength. During the years that he was general manager of Sanborn's Express for the Maritime Provinces, he remembers one day at work the truckers were passing the time trying to outdo each other in lifting a 100 lb. cart overhead. Most could do it With two hands. Someone asked Ivers to "go show them how to do it." Ivers got up from the chair in his office, strode over and grabbed the cart by one hand and pressed it overhead two times, and walked away. "They couldn't believe it," he said. "I was called a pencil pusher, but I could out lift all the guys."

In his training, there was only one way to do it. All out. He'd go down to the track in Brew~r and practice running 100 yards. "If I couldn't make it in 12.5; there was something wrong with me. I stayed until I could run it in 12.5."

"Every time I ran I ran for speed. I didn't run just for the sake of jogging. There's a difference between jogging and running. You bring your knees up. I ran it. When I go, I go."

At the World Masters Championship in Gothenburg, Sweden, in 1977, Ivers took 7th in the 200 meters with a time of 31.0, and he was 14th out of 28 competitors in the 100 meters, clocking 1.45 seconds. He was 66 at the time.

One of his greatest efforts was his World Record 13.2 seconds for 100 meters at Tampa, Florida in April, 1982 when Ivers was 71 years old. "I never really had any coaching."

He ran in 61 meets from the time he was 66 until he was 82. His most recent meet was at the Maine Masters Championships in Scarborough in July. 1993. And just where did he get his speed from? His mother was known to be athletic, and his father was an accomplished step dancer.

Ivers earned All American honors from the Athletics Congress in several sprint events in 1986 and 1989 while in his late 70's. He was also featured in an issue of Sports Illustrated in "Faces in the Crowd."

The following is a summary of his many American and World Record runs:

At age 72 he tied the American Record in the 1 00 yards in 13.6.

At age 72 he set the World Record in the 100 yards in 13.4.

At age 76 he set a World Record, indoors, in the 200 meters in 33.1.

At age 76 he set an American Record in the 200 meter in 32.26

At age 77 he set the World Record. indoors, in the 60 meter dash in 9.5

At age 80 he set the World Record in the 100 meters in 15.3

At age 81 he set an American Record in the 200 meters in 33.87

At age 81 he set an American Record, indoors, in the 60 meter dash in 9.97

Ivers currently holds the following American and World Records:

American 70/74 age group record for 100 yards, 13.4 sec.

Canadian 70/74 age group record for 100 meters, 15.33

World Indoor age group, 75/79 for 60 meters, 9.5

World Indoor age group. 75/79 for 200 meters, 32.8

World 80/84 age group for 200 meters. 32.9

World age group, 80/84 for 100 meters, 15.3

American age group, 80/84 for indoor 200 meters, 33.87