Germany's Guido Müller on Wednesday  warmed up with 100 meters in 13.24 and then blasted the deuce in 26.48 (into a slight wind) to lower his own M70 world record from 26.55 in May. The meet (see results here) was a mixed-ages event in Munich, and Guido's race was won by a kid born in 1989. Guido, born in 1938, appears to be in shape for another record assult in Lahti. In March, Guido set an indoor WR in the 200 and apparently set his first outdoor WR in May. The listed WR is 26.71 by fellow German Horst Schruder in 2005. We also got word today of a W90 world record in the discus by Italian Olympian Gabre Gabric-Calvesi, who threw the discus 12.14 (39-10) at the Italian masters nationals a few days ago. That beat the listed WR of 12.10 (39-8 1/2) by Australia's Ruth Frith in 2000.

Gabre Gabric-Calvesi isn't a mere senior Olympian; she's the real thing.

About a week ago, National Masters News publisher Randy Sturgeon sent me a copy of a letter he printed in his July edition. It was from Phil Shinnick, an Olympic long jumper who in 1963 went 27-4 at the Modesto Relays and thought he had a world record. Not quite. For the next 40-plus years, Phil has been fighting track's major powers to get his record recognized. It lasted only 16 months, but he demanded justice. I posted the letter on a Track & Field News message board thread that dealt with Phil's lost WR in great detail. Within hours, it was deleted. Well, I've posted it again -- on a board devoted to free speech for the Fourth of July weekend. If this link is dead, you'll know it has been zapped anew. What for? Probably because Phil defames Bob Hersh, a longtime T&FN correspondent and IAAF bigwig.

One final push before Oshkosh.  Enough talk. Time for action. On May 4, I launched a petition drive to repair our out-of-whack records process. This is Step 1 in a journey that I hope will lead to adoption of new governance rules at the USATF annual meeting in Indianapolis this December. One cranky blogger can be ignored, but hundreds (or even thousands) of masters tracksters can make change happen. Countless posts have documented egregious errors in USATF masters records -- mostly due to the punishing process of getting records ratified. My hope is that someone will step forward to translate my petition into a rootin-tootin USATF amendment proposal -- one that will pass muster with masters delegates in Indy and get rubber-stamped by the USATF Law & Legislation Committee.  Feel free to write me privately.

Click image above to access petition -- and add your voice to the chorus.

It's apparent that Oshkosh meet organizers aren't offering a free shuttle for athletes to and from the nearest airport -- in Appleton. So here's my suggestion: Post your arrival info and arrange to share a taxi with a fellow masters trackster. I've started this share the ride" message board on our Forum. Or you can post your needs on this blog. I've gotten rides this way in the past, and it drives down expenses appreciably. (Taxis cost upward of $50, I've been old.) So save your money for beer afterward.

A masters mole shares this latest info on Oshkosh event check-in and packet pickup, saying a meet official sent this note: "We will have an early packet pick-up for participants at the stadium right next to the weigh in room from 4pm to 6pm on Wednesday July 8th. At this table, participants will also be able to declare for the 5000 meters which will take place the next morning. " Earlier comments left the impression that check-in wasn't happening until Thursday. The USATF Web site has been confusing as well, saying here: "Packet pick-up will be at the Festival Foods Ticket Booth located at the front gate of the stadium from 6:30am-1:30pm Thurs-Sun of the meet" and then five paragraphs later saying: "We will have an early packet pick-up for participants at the stadium right next to the weigh in room from 4pm to 6pm on Wednesday July 8th. At this table participants will also be able to declare for the 5000 meters which will take place the next morning."

In helping write a USATF press release on Oshkosh -- now just a week away -- I noted: "And for the first time in recent memory, three 95-year-olds are entered in masters nationals. Two will face off in the 400 and 800: Masters Hall of Famer Max Springer of Tennessee and Frank Levine of Pennsylvania. The third M95 entrant is Leland McPhie of San Diego, who will battle Springer in the long jump and triple jump. McPhie has set several M95 world records this year, and Levine last month broke the American record in the 400." This isn't just age genuflection. These guys have bigger hurdles than mere mortality.

From left: M95s Frank Levine, Max Springer and Leland McPhie

Jerry Bookin-Weiner, USATF masters throwing events coordinator, graciously shares this results link for the USATF East Region Masters Championships held Saturday at East Stroudsburg University in Pennsylvania. Two American age-group records were set, he notes -- by Frank Levine in the M95 400 and Neni Lewis in the W45 superweight. Frank clocked 3:19.56 to crush the listed record of 3:53.10 by the late great Everett Hosack back in 2000. Neni improved her own superweight record, reaching 10.34 meters (33-11 1/4). Her old listed AR was 10.03 (32-11). A year older, a foot better. Great efforts, Frank and Neni! We'll see both of you in Oshkosh.

Pete Magill linked to this great demographic/opinion survey.  It says: "When Does Old Age Begin? At 68. That's the average of all answers from the 2,969 survey respondents. But as noted above, this average masks a wide, age-driven variance in responses. More than half of adults under 30 say the average person becomes old even before turning 60. Just 6% of adults who are 65 or older agree." Of course, the older you get, the farther "old age" gets pushed back. My dad is almost 81, and he insists he doesn't feel old. Aches and pains aside, age is in your brain. So when do YOU think "old age" starts? Me? Try 93.

Several athletes and meet officials have been exchanging email on a simple question: If your running event at Oshkosh goes straight to final, do you have to check in the day before for a phantom prelim? What followed wasn't so simple. Someone wrote to assistant meet director Jason Fast, and he punted the query to Sandy Pashkin of the Games Committee. Jason wrote: "Sandy told me that they would have to declare on the prelim day in order to participate in the finals. Who has the final say here?" Later, national masters chairman Gary Snyder (also on the Games Committee) wrote: "Athletes are only required to declare at least one hour prior to their event, not the day before." So that's where it stands now. Here's the schedule. 

Wayne Bennett, the fastest 72-year-old meet director in the West, shares results from Saturday's Texas Masters Championships at Coppell High School north of Dallas. Some nice Southwest sprint times noted. Besides Wayne's own 14.40 and 30.82, I liked M40 John Simpson's 11.10 and 22.99 and M60 Bill Lewis' 12.99 -- but he was DNF in the deuce. (Hope he's OK!)  Great short hurdle duel between Ken Ellis and Robert Bayless, both 51, with Ken prevailing 15.70 to 15.94. M50 Steve Patridge put the shot 15.77 (51-9), M50 Ken Jansson spun the hammer 53.56 (175-9) and Ed Riewerts beat Steve in the M50 discus, 51.89 to 51.15 (170-3 to 167-9). And M75 Bob Ward was his usual studly self, scoring 5243 points in the throws pentathlon (short of his own listed American record of 5588 and his  own listed world record of 5646. Go figure.)

Ugo has an amazing story, including author and Zero-G flier. Click image for more.

Fidel Banuelos graciously reports this online archive of videos he shot at yesterday's Portland masters meet. Fidel writes, "You can do a search on flotrack under my name (fidel) for more videos, but here are assorted videos from the pdxmasters meet this weekend.  If you go to minute 4:20 (into the video), the relay team of Nemesis from Tacoma set a record." (Apparently, Martha Mendenhall's club broke the the American W50 4x100 club record of 58.73 by the Atlanta Track Club in 2008. The Nemesis ladies ran an announced 56.39.) (Update: They were W40 as team.) The meet was held at Mt. Hood Community College in Gresham, just outside Portland. The venue was the site of a combined USATF Northwest Regional Masters Championships, the Oregon Association Masters Championships and the Portland Masters Classic. I haven't seen complete results, but stars included M55 Dave Ortman of Seattle, who set a bunch of region, association or meet records: a long jump of 5.38 (17- 7 3/4 inches), 400 in 58.78, triple jump of 9.92 (32-6 1/2 inches) and high jump of 1.56 (5-1 1/4). He also clicked off a 100 in 12.74.

Nemesis relay members (from left) were Sherri Woolworth (41),
Martha Mendenhall (50), Kris Costello (49) and Shannon Sharp (44)

Duane Gosa upset world champ Robert Thomas today to win the men's masters exhibition 400 at the USA open championships in Eugene, Oregon. Duane, about 44, went 49.92 in windy conditions on a sunny day in the low 70s. Robert, with the best seed time of 49.76, was inexplicably assigned to lane 1.  Minutes earlier, Aeron Arlin Genet, who turned 42 today, wasn't pushed and cruised to a slow-for-her 4:40.76 in the 1500 masters event, a race that included surprise entrant Joan Benoit Samuleson, 52, who took fourth in 5:02.34 -- about 10 seconds off Kathy Martin's W50 American record of 4:52.55. Here are the women's splits.  Joanie, whose name isn't listed in the Status of Entries, somehow made the field without going through the usual channels. Of course, she's an Olympic marathon legend. But if she missed the entry deadline, WTF? Guess the celebs are more equal than others.

Aeron led from the start as only part of the race was webcast on Flotrack.org.

Consider this a miracle. M55 multi-eventer Carter Holmes yesterday ran the 100-meter dash in 2:07.82 and the 400 in 9:10.24.  But then consider this: He spent four days in a coma after a massive heart attack in February 2008, and could barely stand for a long time. Jim Schoffman reports: "Carter . . .  returned to the track today at the Star of the North Games. He competed in the 100, 200, 400, javelin and shotput. He used a walker and was delighted that he was a participant. The article in the St. Cloud Times has all the details and his remarkable recovery." Results are posted here.  Disabled in body but not willpower, Carter is our hero today.

Carter, heading for water, ran the steeple at  Eugene several years ago.