Do they have C-SPAN for the Maryland Capitol? If they did, you might have seen the amazing sight of 16 masters athletes from around the state officially honored by state lawmakers for their Orono nationals achievements last summer. M55 multi-eventer Keith Mathis writes: “On Martin Luther King Day, the Maryland Legislature recognized masters athletes from Maryland who won medals in Orono. Thought this might encourage other states to do the same.” Indeed! What a great idea to modafinil mg emulate. Get on the horn to your local rep and get the same recognition for your state stars! Call it a masters mitzvah!

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Jaff Hartwig, continuing to defy age and gravity, yesterday cleared 5.65 (18-6 1/2) on his first try at a meet in Germany. He thus, again, shattered his own M40 world indoor pole vault record. In the process, the word “masters” has become ubiquitous in every report chronicling Jeff’s season. Technically, masters begins at 35, but many folks are still under the impression that 40 is the entry age. No problems! Just keep generating publicity for the movement. Last year, he went 5.80 indoors. That’s 19-0 1/4. To better appreciate Jeff’s latest jump, consider this: On the IAAF decathlon scoring tables, 5.65 is worth 1116 points. That’s comparable to these marks: 26-11 in the long jump, 7-7 in the high jump, 9.9 in the 100-meter dash. At age 40? Otherworldly.

Now that I speak Italian, I move on to Slovak. Here’s a January 29 report from the SME newspaper of Slovakia of an indoor track meet in Budapest, Hungary: “BUDAPEŠŤ (Maďarsko): Bývalý majster Európy v skoku do výšky (1990 Split) 36-ročný Srb Dragutin Topič vyrovnal na halovom mítingu veteránsky svetový rekord v kategórii nad 35 rokov výkonom 227 cm. Zároveň splnil aj B-limit na OH 2008 v Pekingu.” Basically it says Serbian high jumper Dragutin Topic (pronounced Toppitch, I’m told) tied the masters world record with a 2.27 (7-5 1/4). (Results are also noted in this Hungarian report.) Of course, this is bogus. Yes, WMA lists the M35 indoor HJ record as 2.27 by Romanian Cristian Popescu in 1998. But the true record holder is an American.

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Will you forgive me? I’ve been unfaithful. Although this blog remains my No. 1 labor of love, I’ve been seduced to do another. About a month ago, editor Sean Callahan of Masters Athlete magazine (formerly GeezerJock) asked me to join a select rotation of masters athletes and observers writing a blog for his Web site. I said sure! So now I’m Mr. Tuesday, and I’ve contributed four pieces already. Most recent is one about Alisa Harvey and her W40 indoor AR for 800 meters over the weekend. It contains exclusive quotes and anecdotes from that meet in University Park, Pennsylvania. (Exclusive because so far I’m the only one bothering to contact her.) She reveals, among other things, that she hopes to run sub-2:05 outdoors, which would likely qualify her for her fourth Olympic Trials. Check it out!

Jen Toomey is 36. Last Saturday in Boston, she ran the mile at the Reebok indoor games in 4:36.27. You can look it up. The Boston Globe reports that Jen, who missed much of the 2006 and 2007 seasons to injury, wasn’t thrilled by the effort. “When asked how she felt about her time, Toomey added, ‘It’s fine. I’m certainly not going to call everyone and tell them about my time. It gives you a platform to jump off of and go from there.’ ” Well, her time merely shatters the listed W35 world indoor record by 12 seconds. It’s 4:48.52 by Alisa Harvey in 2005. But it’s not the best W35 indoor mile on record. That would probably be 4:21.79 by later-dope-tainted Regina Jacobs in 2000 (when Regina was 36). You can look that up, too.

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Two 35-year-old track stars (and therefore masters fodder) are in the news over their retirements, or recantings thereof. Jamaica’s Danny McFarlane, who holds the M35 world record in the 400 hurdles even if WMA doesn’t know it, has unretired, according to this report. The Jamaica Observer reports: “McFarlane, who will celebrate his 36th birthday in June, told the Observer he was confident of becoming the first Jamaican man to win two Olympic medals in the 400-metre hurdles.” On the other hand, 800-meter champ Maria Mutola told the IAAF she plans to retire at the end of this season.

Phil Raschker, as we’ve reported, is up for Atlanta Amateur Athlete of the Year. Now we know her competition: two Melanies — a tennis star and a soccer goalie. Here’s part of the press release: “Finalists . . . include: Amateur Athlete Of The Year – The metro Atlanta amateur athlete who demonstrates outstanding personal achievement and excellence in his/her chosen sport. Melanie Oudin – Tennis, Philippa Raschker – Running, and Melanie Wilson – Soccer (Atlanta Silverbacks Women – Goalkeeper).” Winners will be honored at the 2008 Atlanta Sports Awards on Monday, Feb. 11, at the Historic Fox Theatre’s Egyptian Ballroom. Let’s hope the Melanies split the vote and the award goes to Phil.

Don Riggs of the Potomac Valley Track Club in the D.C area is reporting the latest M50 high jump record by Bruce McBarnette. Don writes that “McBarnette continued his assault on the masters 50+ high jump record at Sunday’s Sportplex Showcase. After setting the American record at 1.87 meters during the previous Showcase meet, Bruce raised the American record twice at Sunday’s meet . . . Bruce first raised the record to 1.88 meters (6-2) with a first-attempt clearance that brought a loud and enthusiastic cheer from the spectators.”

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Los Angeles Daily News sportswriter/blogger Tom Hoffarth thinks he knows why GeezerJock magazine shed its name and became Masters Athlete magazine: It’s the president, stupid. In this case, the president is William Kupper, head of Turnstile Publishing Company, which bought GeezerJock last summer. Basically, it’s because Kupper is an old fuddy-duddy with no sense of humor. How so? Tom explains.

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Olympian Jearl Miles-Clark, 41, took third in Heat 4 in the 4 at the Penn State National Invitational this past Friday in University Park, Pennsylvania. No big deal, except for the fact she beat the American indoor age-group record of 57.40 by Lesia Batiste in 2003. Jearl ran 57.09 — just a sneeze short of the W40 listed world record of 56.82 by Holland’s Tilly Verhoef-Jacobs in 1997.