Donna Lawrence beams after taking masters 200 at Trials.

Video cameras weren’t allowed at Hayward Field during the Olympic Trials, lest some aunt of a women’s hammer thrower shoot some footage that might show up on YouTube and cause NBC to lose all its money. Pity. We might be able to see W40 Donna Lawrence make up 2 meters in the last 20 and beat a very strong field in the masters exhibition 200-meter race in 25.79. The best we have of this July 5 event is this series of shots. Who is this come-from-behind phenom? All I knew is she was Jamaican-born and ran for a Texas club. So I sent her some questions, and she graciously responded. Here’s my quickie Q&A with the bright and lovely Donna, who runs for the Waterloo Track Club and lives in Austin, Texas.

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Rex Harvey of Ohio, our former decathlon star, has thrown his hat in the ring for the presidency of World Masters Athletics, he’s informed me. The vote will come in the General Assembly at Lahti, Finland, in 2009 — midway through the World Masters Athletics Championships. They’ll pick a successor to Cesare Beccalli, who died last December. The acting WMA president, Monty Hacker of South Africa, has said he won’t run for a full term. But three Europeans will join the race, according to a post by Annette and Robert Koop of Germany. That might be good news for Rex.

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A ladies pole vault record dominated headlines from yesterday’s Monaco meet, but It was Danny McFarlane who had the most impressive mark. Leading most of the lap, the 36-year-old Jamaican won the 400 hurdles in a season best 48.39, just off his world age-group best of 48.32. (The listed WR is 48.93 by Merlene Ottey’s ex-hubby Nat Page in 1992.) Danny’s latest mark corresponds to an Open (ages 20-30) equivalent of 46.19 on the Age-Graded Tables.

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I live for these stories. Under the headline “Man, 80, reprimanded for escalator run,” UPI reports out of Farnham, England: “An 80-year-old former Olympic hurdle runner said a Farnham, England, store has threatened to ban him if he is caught running up a down escalator a second time. Peter Hildreth, who represented Britain at the Olympics in 1952, 1956 and 1960, said he used to train for his sport by running up the wrong escalators and decided to try out his old training regime as his 80th birthday approached, The Daily Mail reported Monday.” A longer story is here.

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Orville Rogers, our “Faces in the Crowd” kid last spring, ran the mile in 10:56.61 Saturday at the Texas Masters Championships, held at Coppell High School. Not bad for 90. It’s better than the listed M90 world age-group record of 13:43.6 by American Herb Kirk in 1986 — but is 2 seconds off the listed M90 American record of 10:54.62 by Bill Lauderback in June 2007. (Don’t ask me why. Ask WMA records czar Sandy Pashkin.) In any case, Wayne Bennett of Dallas Masters TC sent me the info. Click here for the Texas Masters results. Some good wind-aided sprints. Nice throws, too.

Ivar Söderlind of Sweden, one of the best masters statisticians in the world, reports on the world, European and meet records set after only three days of the Eurovets championships in Slovenia. See his compilation here. Ivar writes: “After three days of the European Veterans Championship (EVACS) in Ljubljana, I have noted 5 World Records/European Records and 21 Championship Records. In the heat (about 30 degrees above zero) it has been hard to break records in the long distances.” That’s 30 degrees Celsisus. In Fahrenheit terms, that’s 86 degrees. (That’s considered a cold snap in our South and Southwest.)

World Masters Athletics, which recently noted a spate of botched world championships, is fun (and easy) to mock. But I’d prefer it not be at America’s expense as well. So I was shocked to see this note in the Orlando Sentinel: “The National Training Center . . . needs volunteers for the North, Central and Caribbean Masters Track and Field Championships on Aug. 28-31. More than 100 volunteers will be needed each day. Volunteers should have good people skills and will help with events including javelin, weight throw, hammer throw, pole vault, long and triple jump, hurdles, high jump, shot put, race walking, marathon or discus. Track-and-field experience is beneficial, but not necessary. Several shifts are available.”

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I love out-of-the-woodwork stories — when complete unknowns show up and set records. That happened over the weekend in Tumwater, Washington — south of Seattle — which hosted the state’s Senior Games. The athlete is Henry James, and his meet record was an impressive 54.83 in the 400. He’s 50. A week earlier, Henry ran 54.73 at the Seattle Masters Classic. Meg Wochnick wrote this for the local paper: “In just his fourth 400-meter race ever, Henry blew away the competition by more than eight seconds . . . while other athletes and spectators roared with cheers as he came down the homestretch. ‘About four years ago, I thought (the 400) would be something fun to try,” Henry said moments after crossing the finish line.” The 400 “fun”?

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TV coverage of masters track is usually cliche-ridden and one-dimensional, but a Fox affiliate in Seattle got it just about right this past week with a 2-minute, 45-second profile of M65 sprint champion Steve Robbins. They showed him on the track, of course. But they also explored his author side and interviewed his wife, Laura — who looks about 40 years younger. (So that’s your secret, huh, Steve?) His sense of humor shines through when he refers to himself as the world’s fastest medicare recipient. But given his history of injuries (which he summarizes), Steve appears grateful just to be able to run track. As should we all. Click here to view the clip, which I extracted from the regular Web site. His section starts about 2 minutes into the video.

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The folks in Slovenia have a good handle on this Web thing. Click here for results of the European Veterans Athletic Championships — the biggest outdoor masters meet on the planet this year. Decathlon results show how sophisticated the hosts in Ljubjana are about giving us complete info. They aim to impress, of course. Here’s what Dr. Milan Zver, the nation’s minister of education and sport, said on the site: “Allow me to express how overwhelmed and proud I am that Slovenia was given the opportunity to organise the EVACS 2008, an event, which can easily be ranked among the largest competitions ever held after the Slovenian independence in 1991.”