Charmaine Roberts drew Lane 6 for the masters women’s 400 exhibition at the Boston open nationals last Sunday. Lane 5 was empty. That’s understandable, since Alisa Harvey had scratched to focus on the open 800 finals. Charmaine made the most of it, however, winning the race in just over a minute. Charmaine turns 41 in mid-April, and graciously consented to a quick interview. I began by asking if she had been hammered by the miserable weather, which forced a 2-hour delay in some events.

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Olympic champ Maria Mutola is still near the top of her game, the 800, but she told the IAAF she’s bound and determined to hang up her spikes, even though she’s only 35. So be it. But it’s cool that the M-word is popping up with regularity. The IAAF reports: “On a statistical note, Mutola joined the Master category last 27 October when she turned 35, but she laughingly comments: ‘Frankly, I don’t think of that. The only important thing for me is to reach the goals I have set in Valencia and Beijing. I believe 35 is a perfect age to say at the end of the season, ‘OK, time to get off.’ Possibly I will compete a few times at the permits scheduled after the Olympics but my decision to retire from athletics is adamant.”

Britain’s Fran Scott, a 49-year-old sprinter, was fighting liver cancer when I noted his struggle last September. Last Sunday, he died, according to an email message sent by UK Masters Team Manager Maurice Doogan. “I cannot say more, than to pass on the words and sentiments of Kermitt Bentham and Steve Peters, which I outline below,” began Maurice’s note, sent to UK masters. “It is with a heavy heart that I am writing to tell you that Francis Scott (Fran) passed away on Sunday 24th February.”

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My masters moles remind me that it’s not the America Wide Web. Records are falling across The Pond as well. Word arrived yesterday of a wonderful W50 world indoor record for 3,000 meters. Spanish masters champion Aurora Perez ran the nearly 2-mile distance in 10:06.36 Saturday in her country’s open nationals in Valencia. Aurora took more than 11 seconds off the listed age-group WR of 10:17.53 by Britain’s Pat Gallagher in 1997. (But Aurora also has a pending mark of 10:11.70.) A running forum celebrates her feat (and includes a great photo). The results are here (but seem to be be missing the 3K). Aurora is entered in the 3K at worlds in mid-March.

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Congrats to Kamloops! Canadian and WMA brass have confirmed what we telegraphed earlier: Kamloops, British Columbia, will host the 4th World Masters Athletics Indoor Championships. The dates are March 1-6, 2010, according to Brian Keaveney, head of the Canadian Masters Athletics Association and president of the North, Central America and Caribbean WMA region. Meanwhile, another high WMA official informs me that Kamloops was awarded the 2010 WMA Indoor Championships “by overwhelming vote of the WMA Council” (with Britain’s Winston Thomas the only dissenter). My source says: “The council was given that power because there were no bids for the General Assembly to vote on in Italy. To my knowledge, there were no other bids received. A couple of sites expressed interest, but no bids.”

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Paul Babits, 47, vaulted 5.14 meters (16-10 1/4) indoors at the Brenda Lee pole vault meet yesterday in Fort Wayne, Indiana, according to a posting (probably by Paul) on mastersrankings.com. This would shatter his own M45 world indoor record of 5.01 (16-5 1/4) set six weeks ago (and reflected on the WMA records page). It also exceeds the listed M45 outdoor record of 5.10 (16-8 3/4) by that rascal Larry Jessee in 1997. I also notice that Pat Manson’s 5.36 (17-7) jump at Reno is now listed as the M40 world indoor record — even though Jeff Hartwig’s M40 season best of 5.70 (18-8 1/4) is listed by the IAAF. I guess the record application is still on a boat from Stuttgart.

Running in the rain, Joe King, 81, clocked a mile Saturday in 7:13.25. That beats the listed M80 world record of 7:16.16 by Canada’s Hans Weickhardt in 1994 and the listed AR of 7:36.55 by John Hosner in 2006. However, 80-year-old John Keston ran 6:48.3 in May 2005 — a mark that created a buzz for change in USATF rules. (Rules were eventually changed, but his mark was not grandfathered.) Results from Joe’s Los Gatos all-comers race are posted here. Joe is no stranger to records, since he holds the listed M65 American outdoor records in the 1500 (4:56.31) and 5000 (18:07.04), marks dating back to 1991! Joe won the M75 national 5000 title at Eugene in 2003 and was second in the 1500 and high jump. Thanks to Jim Bordoni for sharing the news!

According to German runner Annette Koop’s blog, Kamloops, British Columbia, will bid to host the fourth World Masters Indoor Championships in 2010. It would be the first WMA indoor worlds outside Europe (following 2004 Sindelfingen, Germany; 2006 Linz, Austria; and this year’s meet in Clermont-Ferrand, France). Don’t know who else is in the running, but Annette writes: “No question: North America is far off, when it comes to international athletics championships for Masters.”

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With her sixth-place finish in the 800 final today at open nationals, Alisa Harvey broke her day-old W40 American indoor record by a few tenths, clocking 2:05.75 and improving her chances of competing in her fifth Olympic Trials. The Boston race was won by Nicole Teter, who turns 35 this coming November. Coincidentally, the listed USATF W35 indoor record for 800 is 2:06.62 — by Alisa Harvey. Now Alisa holds back-to-back age-group records, with W40 faster than W35. Incredible. Also amazing was Atlanta Olympic champion Allen Johnson, a week shy of 37, taking second in the 60-meter hurdles in 7.53 seconds, taking .01 off his M35 American record.

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Alisa Harvey qualified by time this afternoon for tomorrow’s 800 finals at the AT&T USA Indoor Track Championships in Boston. She ran 2:06.08 to again lower her own W40 indoor American record. More important, she ducked under the “B” qualifying standards for the Olympic Trials! If she’s in the top 30 in June, she’ll be competing in Eugene. Incredible. Now let us pause for a moment of silence — in memory of the shattered egos of 11 women in their 19s or 20s who lost to a 42-year-old. We hope they’ll recover in time for outdoor season. For example: Laura Hermanson, who finished just behind Alisa, turns 22 in five days.

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