My snarky remarks on the 2012 Jyväskylä worlds website haven’t gone unnoticed in Finland. Professor Jouko Ylä-Liedenpohja writes: “Your web-page recently wondered whether the logo of the indoor Worlds describes the sunset or the Northern Lights. Aurora Borealis was excellent last night in Lapland.” Jouko also sends a link to a gorgeous sky video of green magic. See this video.

Bill Collins writes: “It it with a sad heart that I have to inform you of the death of John Hartfield, one of the original members of Houston Elite, and a former world recorded holder in the high jump as a master.  He had been battling cancer for the past few years. John’s service will be held Saturday, January 28, 2012, 10:00 a.m. at Brentwood Baptist Church Lifelong Learning Center, 13033 LandMark St. Houston, Texas 77045.” John was 67, and he was a long jump record-setter, too. In 1992, the Houston Chronicle reported: “John Hartfield … a 1967 graduate of Texas Southern University, was a high-jump champion in college and set a Southwestern Athletic Conference record of 7-1 in 1966. That mark stood until Carlos Garcia of Prairie View broke it in 1986 with a leap of 7-2 1/2.” He was a member of the Drake Relays Hall of Fame. John’s last appearance in the masters rankings was in 2005, in the shot put, according to the site. In 1992, he teamed with Russell Austin, Robert Mitchell and Bill Collins for an over-35 world record in the 4×200 relay, clocking 1:29.85. Our condolences to his friend and family.

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Confirming my report of Sunday, World Masters Athletics has posted info on how Porto Alegre, Brazil, pushed back the dates of 2013 worlds by a couple months — to October 15-27. See statement here. The main points: “The change of dates had been requested by the LOC after an announcement that the Government had agreed to fund a complete renewal of the athletics and community facility known as CETE. Government officials met with WMA President Perkins and Secretary Winston Thomas in November to detail their plans and at that time confirmed that the full cost of the project had been approved so that work could proceed.” So how does this change affect y’all? Mess up vacation plans?

With 39-year-old Tim Seaman taking second, five of the 10 finishers at Sunday’s Olympic Trials for the 50-kilometer race walk team were over 35. But since winner John Nunn, 33, made only the “B” standard for the London Games, he’s the whole team. I covered the race in Santee, California (10 minutes from my home) for sister Patch sites. Check out my photos and videos. (And you’ll be helping my traffic, too. Good for job security.)

Hartshorne announcer Peter Taylor’s journey from Virginia to Upstate New York was eventful — a metaphor for masters track. Worried about his car, then relieved it wasn’t a disaster. “I am just below Selinsgrove, Pennsylvania, on Route 15 North, and I notice that my temperature gauge is on “hot.” It’s all the way up. This is the worst possible news. Is my engine on fire? I can’t believe my misfortune. Decide to hang on for 5 miles or so. I just can’t bring the needle down no matter what I do. Curses.” But like most of us, he makes it to the track. Good for him, and everyone he announced.

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Nolan Shaheed, 62, crushed his own world indoor record in the mile Saturday, clocking 4:50.96 to beat his listed M60 mark of 4:57.06. Nolan was the only record-setter at the Hartshorne Memorial Masters Miles in Ithaca, New York. W40 Sonja Friend-Uhl beat W45 Alisa Harvey, and Charlie Kern defended 2011 his title. Tom Hartshorne sends these results and highlights: “Two near records with Sonja missing by a second the W40s world and Alisa also by little over a second her own W45 world record.  David Cannon going after the M55 world record (owned by Nolan) had leg muscle cramp issue several laps into the race somewhat related to his racing spikes and dropped out in order not to tear anything.  Nolan as they say in sandlot, blew the cover off the ball! knocking 6+ seconds off his amazing indoor mark of two years ago here and in the process undercutting the world outdoor mark by about three seconds as well. And as they say in our circles, Nolan is the real deal!” Age-graded, Nolan’s mile is worth an open mark of 3:49.9.

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After weeks of “sensitive negotiations,” organizers of the 2013 world masters outdoor championships in Porto Alegre, Brazil, have settled on new dates for the meet. Originally, the meet was set for July 24 to August 4. The new dates are October 15-27, I’m told. A source inside World Masters Athletics writes: “Finally we have a resolution in the track upgrading. The government is totally renewing a facility (known as CETE) and this work has now commenced and is due to be completed in June 2013. Apart from the track, there is a sports academy being built at the venue that will provide great future facilities for the city and very good facilities for the WMA Championships. There is still no final decision in doing up a further venue with a new track but that is expected to be known no later than February.” This also avoids a head-to-head fight with the World Masters Games in Turin, Italy, set for August 2013. Here’s an old promo for Porto Alegre:

PV goddess Becca Gillespy Peter is live-blogging the Pole Vault Summit in Reno, and reports that Don Isett went 3.25 Saturday. That’s short of the WR he set recently. Masters results will be here eventually. Becca tweets: “72-year-old Don Isett of Dallas, Texas jumped 3.25m today which betters the M70 world record. He also jumped 3.35m two weeks ago.” Sorry you didn’t go higher, Don. But you’re still amazing.

Saturday brings the always dramatic series of indoor miles known as the Hartshorne Memorial in upstate New York. See a list of the top entries here. One that caught my eye: Alisa Harvey at age 46 taking on Sonja Friend-Uhl at age 40 (who has signaled her interest in Alisa’s age-group world record). This women’s elite race could be a barn burner. M40 Charlie Kern appears to be the favorite in the men’s elite race. And two Nolans might shock as well: Harold Nolan and Nolan Shaheed. Good luck to all, and look for a full report by meet announcer Pete Taylor. Here’s a taste from 2010:

Hal Higdon, a masters running pioneer and world champion, is a prolific writer at age 80. He recently gave what may be his definitive interview with Bob Anderson, founder of Distance Running News, which became Runner’s World. Check out the interview. Hal properly gives credit to David Pain for starting the show: “An unsung hero was David H. R. Pain, who started a track & field meet for runners over 40 in San Diego in 1966.” Hal also says, in response to the question Do you feel old?: “I would be kidding you if I said I bounced out of bed each morning feeling as frisky as I did when I was in my 20s. But I move a lot better than most my age. Often when people learn my age, they are surprised, thinking me much younger.” That’s the best! Stay young, Hal.