January 2008 Archives

Jaff Hartwig, continuing to defy age and gravity, yesterday cleared 5.65 (18-6 1/2) on his first try at a meet in Germany. He thus, again, shattered his own M40 world indoor pole vault record. In the process, the word "masters" has become ubiquitous in every report chronicling Jeff's season. Technically, masters begins at 35, but many folks are still under the impression that 40 is the entry age. No problems! Just keep generating publicity for the movement. Last year, he went 5.80 indoors. That's 19-0 1/4. To better appreciate Jeff's latest jump, consider this: On the IAAF decathlon scoring tables, 5.65 is worth 1116 points. That's comparable to these marks: 26-11 in the long jump, 7-7 in the high jump, 9.9 in the 100-meter dash. At age 40? Otherworldly.

Now that I speak Italian, I move on to Slovak. Here's a January 29 report from the SME newspaper of Slovakia of an indoor track meet in Budapest, Hungary: "BUDAPEŠŤ (Maďarsko): Bývalý majster Európy v skoku do výšky (1990 Split) 36-ročný Srb Dragutin Topič vyrovnal na halovom mítingu veteránsky svetový rekord v kategórii nad 35 rokov výkonom 227 cm. Zároveň splnil aj B-limit na OH 2008 v Pekingu." Basically it says Serbian high jumper Dragutin Topic (pronounced Toppitch, I'm told) tied the masters world record with a 2.27 (7-5 1/4). (Results are also noted in this Hungarian report.) Of course, this is bogus. Yes, WMA lists the M35 indoor HJ record as 2.27 by Romanian Cristian Popescu in 1998. But the true record holder is an American.

Will you forgive me? I've been unfaithful. Although this blog remains my No. 1 labor of love, I've been seduced to do another. About a month ago, editor Sean Callahan of Masters Athlete magazine (formerly GeezerJock) asked me to join a select rotation of masters athletes and observers writing a blog for his Web site. I said sure! So now I'm Mr. Tuesday, and I've contributed four pieces already. Most recent is one about Alisa Harvey and her W40 indoor AR for 800 meters over the weekend. It contains exclusive quotes and anecdotes from that meet in University Park, Pennsylvania. (Exclusive because so far I'm the only one bothering to contact her.) She reveals, among other things, that she hopes to run sub-2:05 outdoors, which would likely qualify her for her fourth Olympic Trials. Check it out!

Jen Toomey is 36. Last Saturday in Boston, she ran the mile at the Reebok indoor games in 4:36.27. You can look it up. The Boston Globe reports that Jen, who missed much of the 2006 and 2007 seasons to injury, wasn't thrilled by the effort. "When asked how she felt about her time, Toomey added, 'It's fine. I'm certainly not going to call everyone and tell them about my time. It gives you a platform to jump off of and go from there.' " Well, her time merely shatters the listed W35 world indoor record by 12 seconds. It's 4:48.52 by Alisa Harvey in 2005. But it's not the best W35 indoor mile on record. That would probably be 4:21.79 by later-dope-tainted Regina Jacobs in 2000 (when Regina was 36). You can look that up, too.

Two 35-year-old track stars (and therefore masters fodder) are in the news over their retirements, or recantings thereof. Jamaica's Danny McFarlane, who holds the M35 world record in the 400 hurdles even if WMA doesn't know it, has unretired, according to this report. The Jamaica Observer reports: "McFarlane, who will celebrate his 36th birthday in June, told the Observer he was confident of becoming the first Jamaican man to win two Olympic medals in the 400-metre hurdles." On the other hand, 800-meter champ Maria Mutola told the IAAF she plans to retire at the end of this season.

Phil Raschker, as we've reported, is up for Atlanta Amateur Athlete of the Year. Now we know her competition: two Melanies -- a tennis star and a soccer goalie. Here's part of the press release: "Finalists . . . include: Amateur Athlete Of The Year – The metro Atlanta amateur athlete who demonstrates outstanding personal achievement and excellence in his/her chosen sport. Melanie Oudin – Tennis, Philippa Raschker – Running, and Melanie Wilson – Soccer (Atlanta Silverbacks Women - Goalkeeper)." Winners will be honored at the 2008 Atlanta Sports Awards on Monday, Feb. 11, at the Historic Fox Theatre’s Egyptian Ballroom. Let's hope the Melanies split the vote and the award goes to Phil.

Don Riggs of the Potomac Valley Track Club in the D.C area is reporting the latest M50 high jump record by Bruce McBarnette. Don writes that "McBarnette continued his assault on the masters 50+ high jump record at Sunday's Sportplex Showcase. After setting the American record at 1.87 meters during the previous Showcase meet, Bruce raised the American record twice at Sunday's meet . . . Bruce first raised the record to 1.88 meters (6-2) with a first-attempt clearance that brought a loud and enthusiastic cheer from the spectators."

Los Angeles Daily News sportswriter/blogger Tom Hoffarth thinks he knows why GeezerJock magazine shed its name and became Masters Athlete magazine: It's the president, stupid. In this case, the president is William Kupper, head of Turnstile Publishing Company, which bought GeezerJock last summer. Basically, it's because Kupper is an old fuddy-duddy with no sense of humor. How so? Tom explains.

Olympian Jearl Miles-Clark, 41, took third in Heat 4 in the 4 at the Penn State National Invitational this past Friday in University Park, Pennsylvania. No big deal, except for the fact she beat the American indoor age-group record of 57.40 by Lesia Batiste in 2003. Jearl ran 57.09 -- just a sneeze short of the W40 listed world record of 56.82 by Holland's Tilly Verhoef-Jacobs in 1997.

Alisa Harvey is serious about qualifying for the Olympic Trials at age 42. Friday night at Penn State University, she scorched the 800 in 2:07.08, nipping her own W40 American indoor record of 2:07.23 -- set two years ago! Here are complete results. This puts her REALLY close to 2:06.50, the "B" qualifying standard for the Trials. If she gets that mark and is among the top 30 entrants, she'll run in Eugene. What a kick!

Will the men's masters exhibition 60 and women's 400 at USATF open indoor nationals have empty lanes? That seems to be the worry of Mark Cleary, organizing these races at the AT&T indoor championships Feb. 23-24 in Boston. On Friday, he sent this note to Mary Rosado, who is organizing the masters relays events at Millrose: "Mary, would you please get the word out to these teams that we still need competitors for the Open Indoor National Masters Invitational event--Men's 60m dash and Women's 400m all athletes must be at least 40 and the women's time standard is 65 seconds and the Men's time standard is 7.33 for 40-49 and 7.36 for 50-59--Thanks."

Kent Lemme, Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts cross country coach, won the masters mile at the Reebok indoor games this afternoon in Boston, taking the exhibition event in 4:25.04 -- with a nonconservative margin of 6 seconds over the runner-up. A year ago, he took second to Mark Coogan at this meet, clocking 4:28.76.

A little paper in Medford, Massachusetts, has discovered masters track. And it's amazed that folks as old as 47 (!!!) run sprints. The headline on the story reads: "Kicking it old school: Kountze proves hitting 40 isn't fatal" Subject of the story is M45 sprinter Michael Kountze, who grew up in Medford but now lives in Nashville. More evidence of wacked editing is when the writer says: " Kountze sprints in the 45-49 category running about 300 feet (100 meters) in 11.8 seconds. He continues to hold a 25-year-old record best of 10.2 second in the 100-meter dash, set during his senior year at his alma mater, Middlebury College in Vermont." Don't get me started. Oh well, at least the sport is in the public eye.

Becca Gillespy of PoleVaultPower.com shares this news: "DORMAGEN (GER, Jan 25): Former World Indoor Champion Tim Lobinger who is known for high number of competitions started his another year in great style. At the begin of his jubilee 15th year on world level he won the Pole Vault meet in Dormagen with clearing respectable 5.76 on first try. And it happened only hours after his return from training camp in South Africa, writes (this article) on www.leichtathletik.de. Home favourite Bjorn Otto was second with 5.70 and tried to win at 5.81. Some 400 spectators saw a tie for third. European U22 fifth placer Tobias Scherbarth (indoor PB) and US vet Jeff Hartwig went over 5.60. With this mark Hartwig again improved his own World Indoor Masters Record." The previous M40 best was Jeff's own 5.51.

Hartshorne deserves its reputation as a masters mile mecca. But every year since 2000, Boston also has hosted some great masters miles at the Reebok Boston Indoor Games. Organized by New England USATF honcho Steve Vaitones, the Reebok masters mile is the first event (at 5:30 p.m.) Saturday at the site of the late-March masters indoor nationals: the Reggie Lewis Track and Athletic Center at Roxbury Community College. Barbara Huebner, director of media relations for the event, tells me: "I sent out press releases to many hometown newspapers of the masters athletes, so we certainly tried to gain publicity for them." Good for her -- and them and us.

Jesse Cummings of Texas, who competed in masters track from 1987 to about 2000, died Wednesday at 90, his local paper reports. He had an M80 time of 2:05.16 for 400 meters in 2000, which was good enough for world ranking that year. The article also says: "In 1987, he began competing in the Senior Olympics in the 400-meter run, discus, javelin and pole vault, winning numerous medals in those competitions." M40 sprinter John Simpson writes: "I coached with Jessie Cummings in my first coaching gig. . . . Great guy!"

Roald Bradstock took note of Peter Blank's retirement from the M45 spear wars. It was the latest favorable news for Roald, whose 71.75 (235-4) throw last May is now listed as the official M45 world age-group record (even though Peter threw 77.15/253-1 nine days later). In any case, Roald is gearing up for 2008. His ultimate goal is competing in his seventh Olympic Trials (spread over the UK and USA). He says he'll be 46 years and 70 days on the day of competition this June.

Norv Turner, coach of the San Diego Chargers, didn't kick his dog when he returned home from Foxboro after losing to the 18-0 New England Patriots on Sunday. He kicked his receivers coach, James Lofton, off the club. Fired him. A stunner, to say the least. NFL Hall of Famer James, who we see running the 400 at SoCal masters meets, was shocked as well, telling The San Diego Union-Tribune: “I don't have any idea (on the reasons behind the firing). I was stunned. (Norv) just said he was going in a different direction.”

Peter Blank has hung up his spears. Peter, the M45 world record holder in the javelin, was interviewed recently in Germany about his retirement from the sport after four decades. We also learn that Peter sued German authorities to be included on the 1992 Olympic team in Barcelona. Not sure of the details. He also says that he tried to qualify for last year's IAAF Osaka world meet at age 45, saying: "I was in the shape of my life, physically, I would throw 90 meters." Below is another godawful Google translation of a post on the Koops' Web site.

Remember Seagren vs. Nordwig? Kingstad vs. Ritte is the latest U.S-German vault rivalry. After opening at 4.10 (13-5 1/4), Germany's Wolfgang Ritte went straight to an M55 world indoor vault record of 4.30 (14-1 1/4) Saturday and made it on the first try, according to the Koops' Web site. A video shows the clearance. The jump came in the North Rhine Championships. (Results are here.) He also took three shots a 4.40 (14-5 1/4), but he still becomes the oldest man to clear 14 feet, beating American Jeff Kingstad to the mark after beating Jeff's 4.21 record. The M55 outdoor record is lower: 4.26 (13-11 3/4) by Sweden's Hans Lagerqvist. "I hope the world record continues to improve," Wolfgang is quoted as saying. Your turn, Jeff.

Allen Johnson, who turns 37 in March, won the 55-meter hurdles yesterday at the elite "Run for the Dream" meet at Fresno State. Results are here. Allen's time of 7.14 is off his all-time best of 7.03. But that was back in 1994, two years before winning 110 gold at the Atlanta Olympics. His 7.14 is among the top 65 performances of all time. No bad for a geezer. WMA keeps records for 60-meter hurdles only (with an M35 best of 7.40 by Britain's Colin Jackson). So we'll see what Al does later this season. Also, over the weekend, 36-year-old Stacy Dragila opened her season with a modest jump of 3.96 (12-11 3/4) at Idaho State University, reportedly off a short run. She's entered at Millrose in February. Watch out, world! She's coming back!

Diane Shrerrer, a central New York running columnist, covered the Cornell races over the weekend and adds to the record. She shares a great story on John Hinton: "The Hartshorne elite races had the potential of producing up to five American or world age-group records -- it would get two. But Hinton was never part of that equation because before the race, officials thought he was age 44, not 45. 'It was better that way -- no pressure,' Hinton said. 'I needed motivation. I walked into Barton Hall, looked at my bib number and saw the words Hartshorne Mile. I said to myself, 'This may be the day.' " Back home in Colorado, M50 miler David Albo wrote an homage to Hartshorne on his blog.

Rod Jett doesn't claim God on his side, but local Jesuits are cheering for him. He's a teacher and sprint/hurdles coach at Jesuit High School in Carmichael, California, which has a powerful track program (One star alum is Michael Stember). Rod is hot after M40 hurdle records, even if David Ashford asserts to be the real recordman in the 60-meter highs. (See David's comments here.) I wrote Rod, a Sacramento resident, a few days ago, and he graciously responded, confirming plans to run a masters 110 hurdles exhibition at the Modesto Relays that might include two-time Olympic champion Roger Kingdom.

Back in early November, Amanda Mittleman of Long Beach State University south of Los Angeles shared news of her thesis study on postmenopausal elite athletes. Today she sent an update, and another invitation to masters. She wrote: "I've had several AMAZING women, who received word about my study from your websites, participate in my study so far. . . . I still need 12-15 more elite athletes (I need 30 or 32 athletes)." Here's her info flier again (in PDF format). You also can write Amanda. Thanks for supporting Amanda; she promises to share her thesis with us.

A year ago, Peter Taylor wrote about his Ithaca mile announcing experiences in a report titled "How I Spent My Winter Vacation (Or: My Trip to Cornell for the Hartshorne)." He did it again this year (on his birthday weekend), and the result is another gem. He's a professional, and true to his craft. He writes of entrant Zofia Wieciorkowska: "I insist on saying her full last name every time rather than cheating with 'Zofia.' ” Whatta guy, and whatta story. Thanks, Peter, for sharing your time and talents with the masters before, during and after the races.

In 1970, a Greek named Christos Papanicolaou became the first man to clear 18 feet in the vault. I vividly recall the cover of Track & Field News documenting the milestone -- showing Chris flying over the bar, seemingly in the dark. Track nuts went ape-shit. The mark made headlines around the world. Yesterday at the DakotaDome in Vermillion, Jeff Hartwig raised his own M40 world indoor record to 5.51 (18-1). The world hardly noticed. On the Age-Graded Tables, Jeff's 5.51 is equivalent to an open mark of 6.08 (19-11 1/2). Jeff's all-time best is the American outdoor record: 19-9 1/4. Nice jump, Jeff. Keep 'em coming -- all the way to Beijing.

Sorry, Wolfgang Ritte. Your reign atop the M55 vault world was short-lived. A week after Wolfie raised the indoor age-group best to 4.20, Jeff Kingstad took back the indoor WR by clearing a bar set at 4.21 meters (13-9 3/4). Blame this blog for Jeff's latest record. Yesterday he wrote me: "Hi Ken: Thanx to your blog, I realized Wolfgang immediately raised my new WRs of 4.11m & then 4.12m, to 4.20m." Jeff says he hadn't planned to vault until January 26 at a University of Wisconsin Madison invitational, but instead he found a meet three hours away Friday at UW Eau Claire, "and stopped there on my way to my son's varsity hockey game, only another 100 miles from there!"

Rod Jett, a national-class hurdler from Cal, has an all-time best in the 110 hurdles of 13.43. He competed in the 1996 Olympic Trials, and last appeared in the IAAF world lists in 2000, when he ran the highs in 13.88. Last year, when he turned 40, he ran the masters 110s in 14.10. Yesterday in Seattle, he ran against some high school boys in the 60-meter hurdles, clocking 8.19 -- an American indoor record. He beat the listed AR of 8.22 by Glen Patterson in 2003. The listed WR is 7.85 by France's Vincent Clarico in 2006. Results of the meet also show several masters stars, including M50 world champ Marty Krulee, who ran the 60 flat in 7.36 seconds (the world age-group record is 7.20 by Bill Collins). Nice run, Rod. Best of luck the rest of '08.

John Hinton of North Carolina improved the M45 world indoor record in the mile today at the Hartshorne Masters Miles in Ithaca, New York. Frank Condon of California added an M65 American record in another race at the annual event at Cornell University. John, 45, clocked 4:20.18 to beat the listed world age-group record of 4:21.90 by fellow American Albin Swenson in 1993. Frank, 65, ran a 5:22.02 to nip the listed USATF age-group record of 5:23.05 by Sid Howard in 2004. Alisa Harvey, 42, of Virginia was the only women to run sub-5. Nolan Shaheed, 58, of California ran a 4:45.6, less than 3 seconds off his own M55 world record.

The Texas Relays form the opening leg of the Midwest Relays circuit, which includes Kansas and Drake. But unlike the Lawrence and Des Moines events, masters aren't welcome in Austin. So learned M40 sprinter John Simpson when he politely asked Texas officials to add a masters 100, 200 and/or 4x100 masters relay. They said, "Sorry, podnah." Actually, what Texas Relays meet director Doug Wilson wrote John was: "We have been approached a number of times about adding some Master Events to the Relays, but due to the schedule, we don't want to add any more events, and we do cater to the High School and Collegiate teams, so if we added anything, and we haven't for a while, it would be in those divisions."

It's an interesting indoor season, where the worlds come before nationals. So be it. But moving right along, the Boston masters nationals folks have unveiled their 2008 Web site. But the entry form PDF isn't posted yet. Neither is the page on "specific eligibility requirements" at the USATF National website. But the key info is the schedule, which is now online here. This will be the last masters nationals for Boston for a while, since the 2009 meet moves to Maryland. And 2010 hasn't been assigned.

Masters record-holders John Hinton, Anselm LeBourne, Nolan Shaheed, Frank Condon, Alisa Harvey, Patti Ford, Carolyn Smith-Hanna and Patty Blanchard are among the entrants in the Hartshorne Masters Miles this Saturday in Ithaca, New York. Tom Hartshorne, son of the founder, provided the lists below and writes: "Here are the fields assembled for the 41st running of the Hartshorne Memorial Masters Mile at Cornell's Barton Hall. . . . Peter Taylor will be introducing the athletes and giving the play by play of each race. Hopefully, our club site (at Fingerlakesrunners.org) will have the results posted soon after."

Doug Thompson, a respectable 800-meter man, informs us of the second annual running of the SISU 800 Meter Challenge Race on March 8. He writes: "This is an attempt to get a regional 'elite masters' competition to Mesa, Arizona, a few weeks before indoor nationals. I'm funding $500 in first prize money through my foundation, and it looks like we'll have some shoe sponsors as well (details on www.SISU800.com). We hope to continue to increase the prize money in the next few years so that we can make this very attractive to masters 800-meter runners. Last year we had a great field, all from Arizona, and set several State records. We should shortly have some pictures up from last year's race on the web page."

New year, same old Bruce McBarnette. On Dec. 16, Bruce -- an attorney/actor/real estate tycoon in Loudon County, Virginia -- set an M50 American indoor record in the high jump with a mark of 1.86 meters. On Sunday, he added a centimeter, making it 1.87 (6-1 1/2). The latest leap came at the same site as the previous: the Prince George's Sports and Learning Complex in Landover, Maryland. Bruce is rounding into fine shape for French indoor worlds in mid-March. He's won four world age-group titles, but his fifth isn't guaranteed because of the presence of American teammates Jim Barrineau, an Olympian and former M40 world record holder, and Peter Hlavin of Los Angeles, who went 1.80 twice last year outdoors.

As expected, Monty Hacker of South Africa has taken over as president of World Masters Athletics. He succeeds Italy's Cesare Beccalli, who died of a heart attack last month in Brazil. Monty thus becomes the first Southern Hemisphere prez of WMA. The WMA Web site reports: "Following upon the death of our President, Cesare Beccalli, our Executive Vice President Monty Hacker has assumed the office of President in an acting capacity until the next General Assembly (Lahti FIN 2009), in accordance with the provisions of clause 7 (b) (ii) of the WMA constitution. In accordance with IAAF precedent he will continue to retain his office as WMA Executive Vice President. He will however delegate certain of his Executive Vice-Presidential functions to one or more Council members, in order to reduce his executive work load."

Sorry, Jeff. Wolfgang Ritte has entered the room. The same day M55 Jeff Kingstad thought he was upping his own world indoor record in the vault, German world champion Ritte was putting it appreciably higher someplace in Deutschland. According to results posted on Annette and Robert Koop's site, Wolfgang cleared 4.20 meters (13-9 1/4) -- just five days after turning double nickels. (That translates to a 5.72, or 18-9 1/4, on the Age-Graded Tables.) So who will end the season uber alles? Wolfie is among 333 Germans listed as entrants at French worlds in March. Jeff isn't listed as an entrant. But he has the luxury of competing at Boston nationals AFTER the Clermont-Ferrand meet and can see what mark he has to surpass. Who will be the first to 4.27 (14 feet)? Go get 'em, Jeff!

This coming December, Gary Snyder's two-year term ends as chairman of the USATF Masters Track & Field Committee. I don't know if he'll run for a full four-year term, but I do know this: Our organizational directory shows a slew of vacancies. According to this list, we lack a national vice chair for masters track and two regional coordinators (Midwest and Northwest). January's National Masters News shows Janet McCarty-Smith of Tulsa as the current vice chair and two folks in the "missing" coordinator slots. But if NMN is right, why is the official USATF site wrong?

Four-time Olympian Jearl Miles Clark, known for her 800 and 4x4 prowess, ran the 400 in 58.40 yesterday at the University of Kentucky. Here are results. She turns 42 in September. The listed W40 indoor WR is 56.82 by Holland's Tilly Verhoef-Jacobs. The American age-group record is 57.40 by Lesia Batiste. Jearl, who hasn't recorded a mark since 2005, might be thinking Beijing.

I'm told that 200 masters athletes took part Friday in the 33rd annual masters meet held in conjunction with the Dartmouth Relays in Hanover, New Hampshire. Results are posted. Craig Fram, 49, ran the 1500 in a wonderful 4:30.99, a time that would have ranked No. 2 on the 2007 U.S. list. Most of the entrants were New Englanders, but M55 hurdler/jumper Jim Broun and M60 hurdler/vaulter Joe Johnston came all the way from Florida. And M45 thrower Ken Jansson journeyed from Wichita, Kansas. Ken's weight throw of 15.98 (52-05 1/4) was among the meet's top marks.

How do you go higher than a summit? You go to the University of Wisconsin. A week after the National Pole Vault Summit in Reno, where he topped the listed M55 indoor WR in the vault with a jump of 4.11, Jeff Kingstad went 4.12 (13-6 1/4) yesterday at Madison, according to this post on Becca Gillespy's message board. The official school Web site confirmed the mark, saying: "Former Badger Jeff Kingstad, a UW letter winner from 1971-74, broke a world record in the pole vault in his age group (55-59) with a clearance of 13-6 1/4."

In November, Phil Raschker journeyed to Monte Carlo to pick up her IAAF Masters Athlete of the Year award. On February 11, she won't have to travel so far if she wins another award for her 2007 feats: Just drive down Interstate 75 a piece from her home in Marietta, Georgia. She's one of three finalists for Atlanta (metro area) Amateur Athlete of the Year, as she learned from this letter a few days ago. Last year, the award went to a water skier, Regina Jaquess. The other two nominees haven't been announced. With a population of about 5.2 million, metro Atlanta is no small burg. So this is pretty cool. Best of luck, Phil.

Who knew? I can turn an Italian phrase (and cliche) with the best of them. At least, that's how it looks on a new Italian track site, which goes heavy on masters. A few weeks ago, an Italian journalist named Andrea Benatti asked me for an interview, and so I let my hair down (as far as it goes), and responded to her questions. The result is posted twice. Here's the Italian version. And here's the English version. In case you don't want to register to gain access, I've reposted the interview below. Bon appetit.

Three-time Olympian Suzy Favor Hamilton has decided against going for No. 4 at age 39, Track & Field News reports. She says: "With all my past injuries I am finding it very difficult to continue on with the training. Things are going well and I am enjoying life after sports. I am selling real estate with [husband] Mark and also doing public speaking for coaches’ clinics and companies to motivate employees to a healthy life style and really enjoying it." She hinted at a Trials try last May. No sweat, Suzy. Have a good life -- but masters will always welcome you!

Roald Bradstock, the M40 spearchucker extraordinaire, reports: "I wanted to let you know that my new website: www.roaldbradstock.com is now officially up and running. It has taken over five months to create. I would like to personally thank Dennis Filglini at MacDaddi for creating this site. . . . Also, there are now 24 videos posted on YouTube. Stay tuned. In the next few months more artwork, videos and news will be added. Incidentally, for those of you that do not know I got remarried. A photo of Clarissa, my new wife, can be seen in the "My Story" section under "Photos" on the new website."

Craig Masback, who pays attention to masters track only when forced to, is quitting as CEO of USA Track & Field and taking a job with Nike, USATF reports today. Although he's been honest on why USATF Masters hasn't gotten the marketing it deserves ("You don't have the numbers," he would say), he hasn't done much with his bully pulpit to grow the masters movement. (And he's never entered a masters meet himself, despite his world-class credentials as an open miler.)

Ken Weinbel, an 80-year-old thrower who was USATF Masters T&F Committee chairman from 1996 to 2001, is reported to be in poor health with a recent history of unexplained seizures and falls. He's been moved recently to Daystar Retirement Village, an assisted-living facility in Seattle. His wife, Noelle, says doctors won't let him go home until the reasons for his problems have been nailed down. Noelle writes: "It would be heart-warming if Ken received mail from family and friends." Ken can be reached at Daystar Retirement Village, 2615 SW Barton Street, Apt. 3-220, Seattle, WA 98126-3900. Noelle also wrote some friends and family members: "Thank you one and all for your prayers and also for your physical and emotional support while turning the page to this most difficult chapter in our lives."

In my original post on the weekend's Pole Vault Summit, I overlooked the W50 world indoor record by Donna Schultz. According to this article in the Reno newspaper, Donna cleared 3.07 (10-0 3/4) to beat the listed W50 world indoor record of 3.06 by Phil Raschker at Boston nationals in 2000. The results sheet indicates Donna cleared 9-0 and 9-6 on her first tries, and also the WR on her first attempt, before missing three times at 3.17 (10-4 3/4). Donna has been jumping for years, but this mark is a real breakthrough. Way to go, Donna! (And my apologies for missing your mark.)

Paul Babits, 47, sets vault records as often as I get haircuts. But lately his big jumps have been at home in Indiana, where he coaches at the Vault High Athletics indoor facility. Nobody doubted his ability, but it's nice to see him scale huge heights outside his comfort zone in Fort Wayne. Here's a video of his makes at 4.90 (16-1) and 5.01 (16-5 1/4). (Disregard the figures on the screen.) Paul gets perfect verticality!

Canadian sprinter Jimson Lee, reading about Robert Thomas and his French lodging offer, sent me a video of the M40 400 final at Riccione in which Robert took second to Italy's Enrico Saraceni, 49.23 to 50.07. (Fellow Americans David Jones and Junior Ripy were fifth and sixth in this race.) Click and enjoy!

Jerry Bookin-Weiner, an M60 thrower and masters throws coordinator, has posted information on the USATF Masters Eastern Regional Indoor Championships over on our Forum. Jerry writes: "The Sportsplex (in Landover, Maryland) will also be the site of the 2009 USATF National Masters Indoor Championships. Field events will begin at 8 am, with the Weight Throw, followed by the Superweight. Track events begin at 10 am. All throwing implements will be provided (including indoor 44# and 56# superweights), though athletes may also bring their own implements. 27” hurdles are available." Jerry has a good shot at winning some golds himself, especially in the weight and superweight.

Jeff Hartwig is over. And so is our 12-year national nightmare. Competing yesterday in the men's elite section at the annual Pole Vault Summit in Reno, Nevada, Jeff jumped an M40 world indoor record of 5.50 meters (18-0 1/2) to become the first legitimate 18-footer over-40 in history. He beat the listed indoor WR of 5.20 (17-0 3/4) by Grigory Yegorov of Kazakstan a year ago. (The listed American indoor record was 5.18 (17-0) by Earl Bell, Jeff's coach.) But before Jeff went 18, Pat Manson (who turned 40 in November), cleared 5.36 (17-7) as he seeks to go 18 feet for the 23rd consecutive year. He'll get it. M50 record holder Gary Hunter also jumped. Don't know his mark yet, but he was videotaped. Other masters WR were set: M45 (5.01) by Paul Babits, M55 (4.11) by Jeff Kingstad and M60 (4.00) by John Altendorf. Amazing!

Dave Clingan, our friend for nearly a decade and co-founder of this site, today sent this crushing note: "After three months of persistent knee pain, I finally went to see an orthopedic specialist today and got an X-ray of my right knee. Here's the bad news: I have advanced osteoarthritis, as indicated by severe loss of cartilage in the knee. It is irreversible and irreparable. Any running I do from now on will be painful and only worsen the problem. Which means, for all intents and purposes, my running days are over." Dave, a world-class 800-meter man and relay record-setter, has been a finalist at worlds several times. But even more significant, his selfless labors as a ranker and calendar-maker have helped the masters movement in countless ways.

Today is the last day for Americans to enter indoor worlds without a late fee. And if you're going to Clermont-Ferrand, and haven't arranged lodging, world sprint champ Robert Thomas offers help. He writes: "I have two three-bedroom apartments reserved for 140 euros a night and four two-bedroom apartments for 95 euros a night. You have to get a car for the apartments as they are not on the public transportation lines. I also have 11 double rooms at the suite hotel for 95 euros a night and and 3 triple rooms at 103 a night and they are on the tram line to the stadium. I have also listed a British website that has housing that everyone can look at and see if they have something that they like. (Here is) the Website of hotel that I have 14 rooms book for 95 to 103 euros a night. Check this website for the (British group's) hotel rooms." You can reach Robert at rjttrack@hotmail.com.

Leon Joslin is quite the name-dropper. In a Seattle Times story today, he recalls being on the same high school football team as Gerald Ford. He also was a freshman on an Ohio State track team that featured a guy named Jesse Owens. But Leon is a superstar in his own right. Last summer he bettered the listed M95 world record in the discus. (The story refers to world championship, but Leon wasn't in Riccione.) Only Leon's discus mark, although farther than Trent Lane's listed WR, probably won't be recognized since it came at an all-comers meet.

A year ago, Dartmouth College in New Hampshire offered a full set of masters events (field as well as track) at the annual Dartmouth Relays indoor meet. W70 vaulter Flo Meiler set an indoor WR at the meet. New England was the main source of entrants, but some Canadians and at least one gent from Florida competed. (See these results.) Well, the meet is coming up again -- on Friday, January 11 -- and the deadline for entry is very forgiving -- "Masters athletes may register the day of the meet -- UNTIL 2:00PM -- for $ 15.00 per event." Here's the entry information. Sounds like fun. Anyone planning to attend Jan. 11?

Masters Athlete, the magazine and Web site formerly known as GeezerJock, is starting a rotation of bloggers. And I'm in it. Editor Sean Callahan invited me to write once a week on any subject that strikes my fancy. I start this coming Tuesday. Sean details this and other ambitious additions to the site in this announcement. He also writes: "We'll be adding more bloggers in the future. If you're interested in blogging for masters-athlete.com, email a description of what you'd like to cover and a writing sample to: scallahan@masters-athlete.com."

Badri Nath Chopra is the Rodney Dangerfield of masters track in India. He won M85 gold in the 2K steeple at Riccione (as the only entrant in his age group but the oldest steeplechaser at worlds). But a national paper depicts him as unsatisfied because he and his wife haven't been recognized for their track achievements. He's quoted as saying: "We don't desire what we don't deserve. No one has as many lifetime achievements as my wife and I have. But still no one knows of us." (Of course, readers of this story also know about him.)

Matt Bogdanowicz aims to break 2 minutes for 800 as an M40 next year.

Many masters live double lives. M55 high jumper Charlie Rader plays volleyball. W60 runner Lynn Naftel loves soccer. M60 sprinter Dan Girling teaches boxing by sparring with youngsters. But here's a combo I'd never think of: middle-distance runnning and pull-ups. So when I learned from M40 sprinter Jimson Lee's blog that M35 Matt Bogdanowicz was going after a world record for pull-ups, I rubbed my eyes. Then I wrote Matt a note. He replied on his 39th birthday last week: "One year to go; the great thing about age 39 is no pressure just run and have fun, can’t wait until next year!" Matt didn't wait on one WR, though. He holds the best mark for 60-second pull-ups. The official records are listed here. (And the video is posted as well.)