Willie Banks, the USATF director and Hall of Famer, says he prepared for the high jump at the San Diego Senior Olympics by — losing weight. Looks like it helped. After slimming down from 203 to 183 pounds this year, he straddled 1.83 meters (6 feet 0) to beat Jim Barrineau’s 1.80 American record from Lisle nationals in August. Then he barely missed 1.88 (6-2), which would have been a world record. But the star of the show at San Diego Mesa College (whose teams name is the Olympians) was W75 Christa Bortignon of Vancouver, BC. She ran 17-something in the 80-meter hurdles and sprinted 200 in 33.39 to set her 11th and 12th world records this season, by her count. The listed W75 WR is 34.40 by Germany’s Paula Schneiderhan at Durban worlds in 1997. See photos of the meet by Tom Coat.

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Pat Fahy, a longtime masters track honcho in Arizona, ran the Boston Marathon with his daughter Emmie in 2009. Now he’s produced a book on the journey called “Go Father, Go Daughter,” which has been reviewed by Kirkus Indie Reviews. Pat appreciated the review’s reference of his “deft rendering of the Masters track sub-culture.” He wrote me this week: “Although I’m not completely sure exactly what the reference to its ‘obsessive handicappers’ is alluding to.”Pat also notes: “Emmie and I ran Boston qualifying times in January and hope to go back to run Boston next April. We’ve submitted our entries and are awaiting word on whether we will be accepted.” Ten years ago, Pat was an M50 long jump national champ. Now he’s a publishing champ.

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World Masters Athletics reports: “On the occasion of the recent regional championships in Zittau (GER) and in St. John (CAN), the delegates of EVAA and NCCWMA elected new presidents. While Kurt Kaschke (GER) followed Dieter Massin as president, Sandy Pashkin (USA) took over the chair of Brian Keaveney in NCCWMA.” So now we know what Sandy’s time will be consumed by when she’s not acting on records requests. Being a regional prez is a thankless job, since she’s now in charge of making regional meets come off expertly. That’s her forte. (She had a technical role with communications at the Eugene Olympic Trials.) But how is she gonna balance her new role with her old ones — records czarina for USATF and WMA? Can’t someone else in a world of 7 billion people handle those chores?

The Montreal Gazette brings news of another world record for ageless distance ace Ed Whitlock. “Wearing bib #1, Ed Whitlock set a new world record for the half marathon in his hometown of Milton, Ontario, this past weekend. The 81-year-old posted a time of 1:38:59, 11 seconds better than the old world record. World records are old hat for Whitlock, who owns the WR in the marathon distance for the 70-74 (2:54.48), 75-79 (3:04.53) and 80-84 (3:15.54) age groups.” The 2012 run is slower than his 1:37:38 in Toronto a year ago, so this might be a single-age record. Anyway: Congrats, Ed. Keep on truckin’!

According to the latest report on the Sacramento Sports Commission’s role in WMA 2012, noted by the local paper: “The regional sports foundation tasked with putting on last year’s World Masters Athletics Championships has not paid off a $400,000 loan to the city and may have spent the money on other events, an audit has found. The Sacramento Region Sports Education Foundation was granted the loan by the City Council in March 2010 from the city’s parking fund to pay for WMA-related expenses. But revenues from the event fell more than $250,000 short of expenses and the loan was not repaid.”

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Charles Allie of Pittsburgh has been a superstar for decades, but quietly and with classy understatement. But his latest statement, a couple weeks after turning 65, deserves some pretty loud cheers. At a Potomac Valley Track Club meet early this month, he shattered world records in the 200 and 400, with astonishing times of 24.85 and 56.28 — bettering listed WRs of 25.20 by American Steve Robbins in 2008 and 56.37 by German legend Guido Müeller in 2004. See results here. Charles, a Houston Elite teammate of Bill Collins, also ran the 100 (into a wind) in 12.40. His 200 had a tiny aiding wind. And what do the Age-Graded Tables say about these marks? They are worth 19.37 and 43.28 for an open runner. Happy belated birthday, Charles. Nice little celebration.

Vance Jacobson of Seattle shared this very sad news Sunday night: “Raymond Yeck, our friend and fellow competitor, passed away peacefully in the early hours of Saturday, September 8, after a 3-plus-year battle with cancer.  I recall in 2008 when I complained of gaining weight, he claimed some challenges in maintaining his weight.  It was shortly after that when Ray was diagnosed with what eventually evolved into a form of adult leukemia.  After years of aggressive treatments and comebacks, including the 2011 World Masters Athletics Championships in Sacramento where he ran the 100 meters, Ray lost a courageous battle beyond which most of us could imagine. He was 64.”

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A great column in the September issue of National Masters News, headlined “The Musings of an Aging Athlete,” carried an editor’s note describing the author as Jerry Wojcik, the former owner of NMN. (Actually editor, I think.) The column began with the line: “I am now 82. When I get on the pole vault runway, I do not feel any different than I did 10, 20 or 30 years ago.” I wrinkled my nose at that, because Jerry is a thrower. Never knew of his vault interest! Good for him. But today’s email alert from NMN said of the article: “There is just one problem — it is written by Jerry Donley not Jerry Wojcik. Second, in the table of contents, it says that in that section is an article by Gary Patton on Less Is More. Insult to injury! They are completely my errors and I am not sure how I even made them. My profound apologies to Jerry and Jerry, both dear friends and huge supporters of National Masters News.” Good mea culpa by publisher Randy Sturgeon on his senior moment. We still love you, Randy.

M85 decathlete Dennis “Denny” Sullivan, being an Oregon athlete and world record holder, inspired a comparison to Olympic champ Ashton Eaton in an Associated Press story that originated in the Bend Bulletin. We learn: “Sullivan said he will be taking a break from competitions to let heal the injuries he sustained in his latest meet and to recover from his bout with vertigo. When he does return to the track, he said, his next major meet will be as an 87-year-old next summer at the 2013 World Masters Athletics Championships in Brazil. He realizes that, as much as he loves the competitions, they are becoming more challenging and he can’t go on forever. ‘Something people don’t realize is that the stopwatch and the tape measure don’t lie,’ he said, referring to his advancing years. ‘It tells you how you’re dropping (off) as you grow older.'”

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I have no clue whether World Masters Athletics is using your entry money to flog its tired, old antidoping crusade. But for what it’s worth, here’s what WMA wants you to know. Basically, in six languages, our world governing body wants you to know your rights and responsibilities when someone taps you on a shoulder for a urine test. Of course, this happens to such a tiny fraction of athletes it’s not worth worrying about. But Germany’s Dieter Massin, continuing to exorcise the ghosts of the former East German Doping Machine, gets to have his fun. (He’s head of WMA Anti-Doping Committee.) Bu when will WMA do something about its tired, old website? Suggestion: Put athletes on it. Photos, profiles, interviews would be nice.