With evacuation orders coming almost hourly, many masters friends of ours are subject to mandatory get-out-of-theres in several SoCal counties, notably San Diego, where 300,000 residents have grabbed stuff and skedaddled. If you know the status of any local masters athletes, please post a note here. Earlier this afternoon, my family went shopping at the La Mesa Wal-Mart and Costco and dropped off blankets, dog water dishes, party trays of sandwiches, drinks and snacks at Qualcomm Stadium. The saddest sight: While inching toward the drop-off point for donations, we saw the driver of a red pickup truck with Texas plates nonchalantly drop a cigarette butt out the window. For the best coverage of the San Diego fires, see SignOnSanDiego.com. This disaster has only just begun.

On Aug. 30-31, 2008, a women’s decathlon will be held at Eugene, Oregon’s Hayward Field in a meet called the Belladeca. It’s being touted as the female version of the fabled Gotzis and Talence men’s deca meets. The Belladeca Web site still isn’t up. But the event has triggered lots of chatter on the T&FN message board. But here’s the really cool part: Coach Dan Steele, a track assistant at Oregon who is running the meet, writes: “We are considering have a small field of masters women, but no more than one heat (of hurdles at the same distances and heights). We have to make sure we have a manageable field size to put on a terrific event.” So if you’re interested, contact Dan.

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Thank goodness. Someone with a camcorder in the stands at Riccione recorded nearly two dozen races at Riccione worlds and posted them on YouTube. They are mostly in the 35-39 and 40-44 age groups. The previous videos of the meet were more like MTV music videos with cuts so quick your head spins. These videos won’t win any Oscars. But you get a sense of the competition and atmosphere, including a Italian woman’s gorgeous-sounding announcing. The video source appears to be a gent with the handle andycop, who also writes on our Forum: “Hi! I’m an italian master. We have open a new forum with a section in which all the masters of the world can communicate together.”

On our Forum Monday, Weia Reinboud wrote: “I am curious of opinions about the world championships. My personal opinion is that they have grown too big — in Riccione nearly 9,000 competitors each doing about 2 events. There were three stadia, far away from each other. Although there were many buses specially for us, you could not attend the competition of all your friends. The main stadium was a bad choice because the field was a plastic soccer field, no throws allowed.”

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Supervet vaulter Jeff Hartwig, who turned 40 in late September, has quit competing for the season, he wrote me today from Arkansas. “Yokohama was miserable,” Jeff writes, “and I took it as a sign that it was time to be done for the year. I took a couple weeks off and now I am back to work for next season.” At least that settles the issue of whether he’s retiring. Obviously, he still has some gas left in his tank — and an M40 record to torch. He deserves a rest after a long, studly season. He was runner-up at USATF nationals and sixth at IAAF World Athletics Final. His best outdoor jump of 2007 was 5.85 (19-2 1/4) and his top indoor mark was 5.80 (19-0 1/4). Both are age-39 records, of course. Last February, Jeff hinted at retirement. Now it appears he’s looking to making his second Olympic team (and first since 1996).

Milt Silverstein is a Penn Relays masters superstar and many-times champion in the sprints and jumps. But in late 2002, he declared his retirement in a letter to National Masters News. Thank goodness he didn’t mean it. (He sat out 2003 but returned in 2004 and 2005, when he stopped again.) I recently learned from a Geezerjock blog that Milt is planning a third comeback — and hopes to be in studly form as an M90! Curious, I wrote Milt about his plans and peppered him with questions. He said he’s been busy helping his wife, Rhoda, fight her lymphoma.

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Most national champions get a chance to savor their victories. Not Pete Magill. On Sunday, this Southern Californian won the USATF masters 5K cross-country title, clocking the best time of all 40-and-overs despite being 46. His 15:17 (a 4:55 mile pace!) also was the top age-graded mark among the men, worth an open time of 13:48. On Monday night, I wrote him, and he replied just after 9 p.m.: “Just got back from Saratoga (Springs, New York). A looooooooong travel day. And I have to be up at 5:45 AM, so I’ll email you tomorrow, okay?” But of course. Get rested, I replied. Some 12 hours later, he sent me a wonderfully detailed narrative of his race.

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Former USATF Masters T&F Chairman George Mathews, mindful of the heat emergency at Charlotte nationals in 2006, wants to downsize masters nationals (indoors as well) by eliminating the pentathlon. He made this proposal at the 2006 USATF annual meeting in Indy. But it was tabled and is being revived this November at the convention in Hawaii. He’d rather have a separate national pentathlon championships. His reasoning: “With the growth of our indoor and outdoor championships, we have been unable to conduct our indoor championships in three days and the outdoor championships without overworking our officials, local organizing committees and facilities.”

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Sacramento is seeking to host the 2010 USATF masters national outdoor championships — a dry (and hot) run for 2011 worlds. Bob Burns of the Sacramento Sports Commission yesterday confirmed the candidacy of California’s capital: “Yes, we’re bidding for it — seems like a natural with WMA the following year. To the best of my knowledge, no one else is bidding.” In response to a query on who is in the race for the 2010 nationals, USATF Masters T&F Chairman Gary Snyder wrote me: “Sacramento Outdoors. Boston Indoors.” The 2010 nationals would be at Sacramento State University’s Hornet Stadium — site of the 2000 and 2004 U.S. Olympic Trials and home of a very fast Mondo Sportflex Super X track (9 lanes for the sprints).

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Dr. Rodney Brown excelled in events from the sprints through the 800 meters.

Older sprinters are mourning one of their own this week. Dr. Rodney Brown, a Utah dentist who won three silver medals in the 400 and 800 at the 1997 Durban and 1999 Gateshead world masters meets (plus at least one 4×4 gold) died Wednesday of brain cancer. He would have turned 81 the next day. An obituary appears in his local paper. A longtime friend of his, Bill Daprano, writes: “I always ran on the 4×4 relay with him and I knew when he got the baton it was going to make a huge difference. We were really outnumbered by the Germans in Durban, So we let him lead off. He got us such a commanding lead that the Germans never were able to overcome. On top of that, he was a real gentleman and a great friend. . . . Our 80-84 relay group will sorely miss him.” Rodney last competed in 2006, when he was ranked in the M75 top 10 in the 100 (15.76) and 400 (1:17.51). His funeral is Tuesday.

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