Setting a world record is special. Setting a WR on your birthday is incredible. So what do we make of this? Back-to-back WRs while aging up! On June 15, many time world champion David Carr of Western Australia ran 1500 meters in 6:27.3 on his 85th birthday at the Ern Clark Athletics Centre. That beat the listed WR of 6:38.23 by the late Ed Whitlock of Canada last August. The next day, on her 50th birthday, Holland’s Nicole Weiling-Dissel ran the 800 in 2:13.04 at a meet in Soest, shattering the listed WR of 2:16.05 by Australia’s Jeanette Flynn in 2005. Weia Reinboud reports that Nicole’s coach is the one who guided Ellen van Langen to Olympic gold at 800 at the 1992 Barcelona Games.

In 1982, French Olympian Lucien Rault set the M45 world record in the 5000 of 14:23.6. It wasn’t a surprise. He’d run the 10K in the 1976 Olympics in 29:40.76 at age 40. But the shocker is that Lucien’s time would hold up as the WR for 35 years. Now we have Kevin Castille claiming the M45 WR with his incredible 14:11.09 at the Music City Distance Carnival in Nashville two weekends ago. An earlier mark of 14:22.55 is still being reviewed, according to Jeff Brower’s list of pending marks. No mention of the 14:11, however. Kevin’s times have been under a cloud for years, though, since he’s a former admitted cocaine dealer. But as Charles Bethea details in his amazing 2014 profile of Kevin, the doping doubts have been addressed: “The more records he breaks, the more he’s been accused of using performance-enhancing drugs. (He has never failed a test.) The LetsRun message boards are full of anonymous suspicion. Even Hop’s friends openly wonder: How did this guy seem to come out of nowhere and suddenly start winning so much? It must be that he’s juicing. Kevin thinks it’s funny, in a way, given that he handled crack cocaine for a decade and never used the stuff. People, he says, think he came out of nowhere, but they don’t know about Acadiana, or ULL, or his decade off, or how hard he works now.” He also slept in an altitude tent set at 10,000 feet. I know people who won’t accept Kevin’s marks as unjuiced. But I have no evidence. All I know is he beat Pete Magill’s listed AR of 14:34.27 and Lucien’s 14:23 — at least twice. Let’s see what Jeff has to say — if the 14:11 is submitted.

Highlight of day one @runmcdc 5k masters 45 WR. Kevin Castille. #amazingrace

A post shared by Dave Albo (@davealbo) on Jun 9, 2017 at 11:01pm PDT

Results of the June 10 Wine Country Games in Santa Rosa show that M50 Cameron Bolles and M60 Ralph Fruguglietti fell short of their American record goals in the discus. But they both threw pretty damn far — 57.85 (189-9) for Cameron and 54.59 (179-1) for Ralph. Not sure of the conditions, which matter in that event. But I’m pretty sure Willie Gault and Mickey Grimes would have gone faster on Day 1 of the USATF West Region Masters Championships at West Los Angeles College had they not be running into a stiff wind. Willie at 56 clocked 11.77 into a 2.7 mps wind (off his own WR of 11.30), and newbie M40 Mickey Grimes, a former elite world champ relayist, ran 11.32 into the same wind. Also notable was Nolan Shaheed clocking a 5:28.54 mile at age 67. Results are here.

In journalism, you tell stories. Sometimes you become one. Friday at UC San Diego, wife Chris and I were covering His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama, the M80 Tibetan Buddhist monk and Nobel Peace Prize winner. He arrived for a press conference and started shaking hands with reporters in the front row. Since Chris and I had gotten up at 4:45 a.m. to have a shot at good seats, I was ready for a hearty grasp. Instead he asked my permission to touch my bald spot — similar to his own. The rest is Minor Media History. I posted photos, video and this first-person report at Times of San Diego. Bon appetit.

W65 Sabra Harvey and W80 Jeanne Daprano, recent record-setters at 3000 and mile, respectively, sent responses to my shameless interrogations. First Sabra: “Yes, WR was the ultimate goal, sub-12 being the expectation for at least the U.S. record. Conditions were wet, raining a bit, but temps were near perfect actually. Running with the younger ladies helped, especially in the beginning. The adrenaline rush with all those fast ladies surrounding me pulled me much faster than I’d anticipated, so I had extra in the bank for sub-12 from the beginning. However, that fast pace took its toll a bit by lap 6, so had lots of work to do on the bell lap for WR. I’d hoped to be at 10:11 at that point, but was somewhere around 10:20, still under the sub-12:00 pace but off WR pace. I knew I could lay down a 1:27 or better from recent training, so just went for it with encouragement of Susan Hay (running as rabbit). Portland Track Festival is a great meet. Joanna Harper does a good job of recruiting ladies for the 3000 and was very helpful in making the opportunity to try for the record possible.”

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If you’re a W75 sprinter or horizontal jumper set for WMA regionals in Toronto, better get cracking’ on your training. Carol Lafayette-Boyd is coming. The new claimant to five world records says she’s planning to compete at that August meet, telling me: “I will be there. I am taking my granddaughter home to Ontario at that time, and I have family in Toronto.” So the resident of Regina, Saskatchewan, is indeed in play for WMA Female Athlete of the Year. I wrote her after her stunning outing last weekend, and she graciously replied. The biggest revelation was how considerate of others she was in not taking her full complement of jumps — because of the time officials needed to measure her records. (Don’t be so unselfish at Toronto, Carol. Take all your jumps.) I asked her: Any events in which you think you could have done better? “I plan to do better in all three jumps in Toronto,” she replied. Well, that answers that.

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World champion Carol Lafayette-Boyd turned 75 in May. Over the weekend, she stamped herself as a favorite for IAAF/WMA Masters Athlete of the Year. At the 2017 Scotiabank Saskatchewan Provincial Championships in Regina Canada Games Park, Carol smashed five world age-group records over two days — in the 100, 200, high jump, long jump and triple jump. (She also ran the 50-meter dash.) In the 100, her 15.15 beat the listed WR of 15.31 by Kathy Bergen at the 2015 Mt. SAC Relays. In the 200, Carol clocked 32.83 to beat Kathy’s listed WR of 33.79 at Lyon worlds. Carol high-jumped 1.23 (4-0 1/2) to beat Kathy and Rietje Dijkman’s 1.22s. She long-jumped 3.81 and 3.85 (12-7 1/2) (into a wind) to twice beat Paula Schneiderhan’s listed WR of 3.77 (12-4 1/2). And she triple-jumped 8.19 (26-10 1/2) to beat Christa Bortignon’s listed WR of 8.11 (26-7 1/4). Whew! Whew! Whew! Yowza! Yowza! (See results here.) Her story is well-told here and in a Facebook post by her alma mater.

Perth world champion Sabra Harvey of Texas added another world record to her growing collection Saturday, running 3,000 meters in 11:47.30 at the Portland Track Festival. That beat the listed W65 WR of 11:48.2 by Britain’s Angela Copson in 2012. Sabra was fourth in a race won by W45 Sonja Friend-Uhl in 10:05.19. (Sonja ran 9:53.04 indoors.) (See results here.) It’s not her first visit to Oregon for this elite meet. In 2010, Sabra clocked 11:11.49 for a W60 American record at 3K. So she’s lost but 5.1 seconds a year. Sabra holds WRs at 800, 1500 and 4X8. The men’s masters mile is Sunday. Also filtering in is a WR in the W60 throws pentathlon — 4597 points by Holland’s Tiny Hellendoorn at the Werpvijfkamp voor Masters meet in Edan. Results are here. That beat the listed WR of 4519 by Denmark’s Ann Kirstine Jensen at 2015 Lyon worlds.

Masters Hall of Famer Jeanne Daprano of Georgia turned 80 last September, and she’s making good use of her new age group. Last Saturday, she added the American W80 mile record to her W70 and W75 collection, clocking 8:35.04 at the USATF-sanctioned South Carolina Open and Masters Track Classic at Furman University. (See results here.) That shatters the listed AR of 9:00.52 by the late Gerry Davidson back in 2001. (I covered it.) She just missed the listed WR of 8:33.76 by Canada’s Helly Visser in 2014. Jeanne also is staying busy at the National Senior Games in Alabama, winning the 400 and 800 and also making the finals in the 50, 100 and 200. Whew!

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Results are being posted expeditiously from the National Senior Games in Birmingham, Alabama, but watch out for the errant “W” — signifying world record. For example, Charles Allie ran the M70 400 Thursday, but won’t actually hit the big Seven-Oh until mid-August. But his winning time of 58.48 — though spectacular — is not an M70 world record. (The Senior Games circuit sticks you in the age group you’ll be as of Dec. 31 of the year of competition.) But still — wow! Charles may be be the oldest American to go sub-60 with his mark. (The listed M70 WR is 59.34 by German sprint god Guido Müeller.) The listed M70 AR is Bob Lida’s 61.00 at 2007 Riccione worlds. Lemme know if you spot any records at NSG that really are records.

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