Olympic sprint champ and former WR man Maurice Greene shocked the track world yesterday by announcing his retirement. But anyone who knows Mo won’t be surprised if he makes a comeback. And I have a suggestion. He turns 35 on July 23, 2009. Five days later — how con-VEEN-ient! — the 18th World Masters Athletic Championships begin in Lahti, Finland. Of course, he’d have to pay his own way. But on the upside: No Trials or qualifying standards. He’d also have the advantage of being the youngest entrant at worlds! The listed M35 world record for 100 meters is 10.03 by Britain’s Linford Christie in 1996. Hey, Mo! You’ve gone sub-10 some 52 times. How about shooting for No. 53 in Finland?

California M50 Marty Krulee and Nevada M60 Larry Barnum raced high school boys Saturday at the United Heritage Invitational in Nampa, Idaho, site of the 2005 masters indoor nationals. Both were world champions at Riccione last summer, so I feel sorry for the youngsters whose spirits were crushed and egos traumatized. Marty, 51, won Heat 4 of the 60 in 7.33 seconds, the fastest M50 time of the year and close to Bill Collins’ world record of 7.20. Larry, 64, ran 200 in 27.38 and 400 in 61.46. George Mathews, 64, was the only entrant in the “boys weight throw.” His mark was 19.57 (64-2 1/2). The listed M65 world record with the 20-pound implement is 19.12 (62-8 3/4). Hang on, George!

People sometimes ask: Where can I compete indoors? My reply: Wherever a collegiate meet director is willing to take your money! You’d be surprised how many coaches are happy to let you run if you cough up the entry fee. Latest example is the University of Washington, site of several record-breaking Tony Young masters miles. Over the weekend, masters sprinters there were accommodated in sprints (including a mixed-sex 60). Check out these results. (Do a search for “maste”) These meets aren’t advertised for masters, so you just have to contact the coach, and ask: Can I run?

Perhaps the biggest achievement of the masters tracksters at Friday night’s Millrose Games was simply getting to the meet. Julie Hayden of the victorious Athena TC 4×4 team tells a typical story of grown-ups with jobs, kids and injuries overcoming all to compete at Madison Square Garden. In the course of a Q&A, Julie writes: “Lorraine Jasper was in D.C. for a training weekend in January when she heard that her college gymnast daughter had torn her ACL in training at UNC. The next weekend a ‘sick’ Jasper drove from PA to Upstate NY for the Hartshorne Mile and then straight to North Carolina for her daughter’s surgery. Returning to PA late Wednesday, Jasper, barely recovered, was back in work on Thursday and on the train to the City on Friday!” And that was just one of the Athena foursome.

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Susanne Rohlfing of the German newspaper Kölner Stadtanzeiger interviewed Jeff Hartwig before his latest record jump, and he disclosed that he won’t vault indoors in the United States this season. Therefore, he won’t be on the U.S. team for the IAAF world indoor championships in Spain in early March. Instead he’ll focus on preparations for the Eugene Olympic Trials and ultimately Beijing. Typically, the German interview dwells on drugs.

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Some folks return from worlds with pulled muscles, aching joints. About 10 days after returning to Canada from Riccione, where he won five M85 gold medals in the throws, Garry Bachman had a heart attack. He seems fine now, according to an article in his local newspaper. “The fellow athletes blamed it on all the Italian women,” Garry told writer Shawn Cayley of the Durham Region News north of Lake Ontario. Garry, who holds the M80 world record in the weight throw, won the shot by more than 3 feet, the discus by almost 5 meters, the weight throw by more than 5 meters and the weight pentathlon by nearly 2,000 points. Whew!

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Olympic champion Allen Johnson lowered Greg Foster’s M35 American indoor age-group record in the 60-meter hurdles today in Stuttgart, Germany. Allen, 36, ran 7.55 to beat the listed M35 record of 7.56 by Greg in 1994. Here are the official results. The listed M35 world indoor record is 7.40 by Britain’s Colin Jackson in 2002. Allen ran 42-inch hurdles, BTW, not the 39-inch masters sticks. In other masters action, W35 Maria Mutola won the 800 in 2:02.44, which is about five seconds off the W35 world indoor record.

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Psssst! Nobody tell Jeff Hartwig that he’s 40. Today in Stuttgart, Germany, Jeff raised the M40 world indoor record to 5.70 (18-8 1/4) and had three misses at 5.75 (18-10 1/4). It’s the second time in less than a week and about the fourth time this season he’s upped the undercover best. Here are the official results. He opened at 5.45 (17-10 3/4), which would have been an M40 world record until recently. Jeff is among the top 10 vaulters in the world this season. Guess he won’t be at French worlds. More likely he’ll make the team for IAAF worlds in Valencia, Spain.

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If news reports are accurate, M50 long sprinter James Lofton will soon take a coaching job with the Oakland Raiders — an arch foe of the San Diego Chargers who fired him as receivers coach a few weeks back. How delicious. If James moves to the Bay Area, he’ll see plenty of masters track action in the red-hot USATF Pacific Association, with the likes of Kevin Morning, Marty Krulee, Peter Grimes and other world-class sprinters in his age group. And with the 2010 nationals and 2011 world championships coming to Sacramento, we’ll finally get to see him test himself against the best. Cool! Go get ’em, James!

A Southwest Sprinters foursome (not necessarily from the Southwest) tonight won the men’s 4×4 relay at the 101st Millrose Games in New York City. Southwest was runner-up a year ago. But they ran faster last year, when they lost to Nike Central Park TC. Athena TC, however, defended its title of 2007. But Athena ran 9 seconds faster last year. We’re all getting older, I guess. Unsure of the makeup of all these teams. Hope entrants report the sights, sounds and smells of the tuxedo meet. But the masters men, at least, were studly. Southwest’s winning time of 3:37.22 would have taken fourth in the Public Schools Athletic League boys 4×4, just ahead of Clara Barton High School. Next year, guys, beat ENY Transit Tech!

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