Eleven masters athletes, including five “old-timers,” have been inducted into the USATF Masters Hall of Fame, according to a source within USATF Masters track. The official news release has not been prepared yet, so take this as unofficial for the moment: Among active athletes, the Class of 2007 includes Carol Finsrud, Alfred Guidet, Gayle Johnson, Barbara Miller, Austin Newman and Nadine O’Connor. The old-timers (inactive for at least five years) are Dan Conway, Alfred Funk, Ruth Rothfarb, Dorothy Stock and Herm Wyatt. For more on their events, see the nominee list. Congrats to all! And get on the stick, Indy, and publicize the honorees!

Thanks to a CC from Jeff Davison of Southern California, I’ve learned about a group called the Association of Road Racing Statisticians. Normally, I don’t pay much attention to roadies, but this group also tracks single-age records in the 5,000 and 10,000 on the ovals. The group’s 5K records range from 5-year-old Kevin Strain’s 29:49.4 to 94-year-old Paul Spangler’s 54:08.71. The 10K list (which also includes women’s single-age records) goes up to 90-year-old Alfred Althaus of Germany. Both lists are as of December 2006, however, and Jeff points out some superior marks listed in Pete Mundle’s Age Records booklet.

The National Track & Field Hall of Fame inductees (five of them) were announced a couple weeks ago. USATF’s awards breakfast revealed a bunch of other award winners Saturday. But before delegates to the USATF annual meeting say aloha to Hawaii, they have one other chore to perform: Announce the Masters Hall of Fame Class of 2007. I’ve written to assorted folks, appealing for this information. So stay tuned. The nominees are known. In fact, the inductees have already been contacted. So what’s the holdup? Fess up, USATF!

A few years ago on my 50th birthday, I ate ice cream cake. Today on Steve Rainbolt’s 50th, he ran 50 kilometers (about 31 miles) as a fundraiser. Guess he took it more seriously. Steve is track coach at Wichita State University — a former Kansas University high jumper when I was at KU. Except I remember him with lots of dark hair on top. Anyway, the WSU site reports: “Head Track and Field Coach Steve Rainbolt completed a 50-kilometer run as part of a fundraiser for the track and field program at the Heskett Center on Saturday. With the support of his entire track and field team, Rainbolt ran the distance in 5 hours, 57 minutes and 24 seconds. He stayed under goal of six hours in the run.” Not bad for an old flopper, Coach. Good for you.

Last April, I wrote about an Age-Graded Tables project by Chuck Phillips. Last week he gave me an update, writing: “While it still takes WMA five or so years to update their age-graded tables, I just updated mine in one week. On 19 November I downloaded 40 pages of published USATF records, entered the improved and new records in my database, made minor re-fitting adjustments to my standards, and posted them in their entirety on my tripod website on 26 November. It can be done properly in less than five years and the masters track community deserves better than it is getting in that regard.” Which reminds me: WMA’s official Age-Graded Tables have been available in digital form since August 2006, but a hard copy (in the form of a soft cover booklet) still has yet to be published. What’s the deal?

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Allen Johnson, 1996 Olympic champ at 110 hurdles, says he’ll enter the M35 hurdles at the 2009 masters indoor nationals, according to a press release from Bob Weiner. He’ll be 38 when the indoor nationals are held at the Prince George’s Sports and Learning Center in Landover, Maryland. (He could do masters now, but he still has an outside shot of making the Beijing Olympic team.) The M35 world indoor record for 60-meter hurdles is 7.40 by Britain’s Colin Jackson and the listed American record is 7.56 by Greg Foster. In 2004, Allen tied Foster’s American record for open 60 hurdles — 7.36 seconds.

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News has begun trickling in from the USATF annual meeting in Hawaii. We learn via Crackberry from Jerry Bookin-Weiner (and a forward from George Mathews): “The Ultra Weight Pent(athlon) was approved yesterday by the Masters Committee and the Rules Committee unanimously in both cases.” This event involves throwing implements ranging from 35 pounds to 300 pounds (200 for women), using a hammer-throw-style grip. USATF rules mention the event. Since multi-events involve points, I spoze some Age-Graded Table lists conversion factors for these heavy events.

The Oscars have nothing on USATF Masters when it comes to politics in top awards. Like the Academy Awards, the year’s top athlete selection in USATF appears to be less a function of merit than “it’s-our-turn” mentality. Despite being named IAAF Female Masters Athlete of the Year, Phil Raschker isn’t even the top masters athlete in the United States, USATF has decided. Phil won an incredible 10 gold medals at Riccione and set several world records this season in her W60 debut, but a W75 distance runner I never heard of — Lois Ann Gilmore of Janesville, Wisconsin — was today named USATF’s Masters Athlete of the Year.

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This coming January 21, Fresno State is putting on a world-class indoor meet called Run for the Dream (its name honors Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.). But the dream is for the youngsters, not us. I wrote to several people associated with the meet, asking if perhaps (pretty please?) they might find space for a masters event or two. This week, Fresno State events director Nate Wills replied: “We will not be having any masters events at the Run for the Dream due to the revised meet schedule we will be using. Coach (Bob) Fraley has stated that this event will be run differently than any other meet in the past and therefore will not be able to accommodate additional events.”

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Germany’s Guido Müller, a former IAAF Masters Athlete of the Year who holds seven world age-group records in the sprints and hurdles, claims gold nearly every time he runs at world masters championships. But that isn’t enough. He wants the WMA world meets downsized through qualifying standards. His comments appear in the latest issue of the German masters magazine Senior Athletics. Guido is quoted as saying: “I was delighted at this World Championships in Riccione until I learned that about 9,000 participants reported.” He bemoaned the transit problems between stadia and the financial burdens on entrants — many staying for all 12 days of the meet. He said good athletes stayed away while wealthier (but lousier) performers showed up.

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