W40 sprinter Rosa Marchi is Italy’s version of Sherlock Holmes.

Ralph Fruguglietti is certifiably — grateful. Yesterday he learned the identity of the old mower who gave him discus tips three days before he won M50 gold at Riccione. It wasn’t the ghost of an Italian Olympian, or even the Olympian’s son. It was a local track coach who just looked like Adolfo Consolini, the late 1948 gold medalist. The mystery that I likened to a “Twilight Zone” episode was solved by Rosa Marchi of Italy, who I contacted to seek detective help at the track in question. She wrote me: “What a coincidence! Now I’m just going there for my training! It’s just 27 km from Padova (my city) and sometimes I go there to meet some friends. It’s the track of the 2006 Italian masters team!” Rosa’s quest is almost as fascinating as Ralph’s yarn.

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Phil Raschker with one of her 10 gold medals from Riccione worlds.

Phil Raschker is our Babe Ruth. But George Herman’s major league career lasted only 22 seasons. Phil has been winning since 1980, making this season her 28th. At Riccione this month, she ran her medal count from world masters championships to an awesome 79 — including 58 gold, 15 silver and six bronze. And she did it while battling a cold. She says she had a cold “from the first day of being wet from head to toe with wet clothing, competing for many hours, sitting in the stands, cold wind blowing.” How did she stay in one piece for 11 days? “Sleep, eat, rest, and stay focused,” she says.

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Doug Smith, an Ontario masters leader, tackles two of the toughest events in sport: the steeplechase and the press release. And just for giggles, he took thousands of photos. In his wrap-up from Riccione, he writes: “They were very strict in doling out the photo bibs that allowed you on the track. This was a good thing, because it allowed us a better rapport with the officials, and got me right on the track at the finish line. I didn’t want to do it again, but found myself doing all the hard lifting in getting the group shots together. The paparazzi found my big mouth and pushy manner ideal for the task.”

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Jeff Hartwig of Arkansas, writing today — his 40th birthday, reports: “I am on my way home from Europe. The World Athletics Final went well, but I should note we had near perfect conditions for jumping. Originally Earl (Bell) was going to set something up in Jonesboro for the weekend, but now I have a chance to go to Yokohama for the last meet of the season with men’s pole vault — so off to Japan I go. The meet is Sunday. Should be fun. I am looking forward to it.” As are we. Go Jeff!

Larry Jessee, kiss your M40 “record” goodbye. Yesterday in Stuttgart, Jeff Hartwig cleared 5.70 meters (18-8 1/4) on his third try to take sixth place at the IAAF’s World Athletics Final. Jeff thus served notice that Larry’s listed M40 world age-group record of 5.50 (18-0 1/2)– set 11 years ago at an obscure single-event meet in his hometown of El Paso, Texa — is toast. Jeff turns 40 tomorrow. Also at Stuttgart, Allen Johnson took sixth in the 110 hurdles with a 13.36 at age 36. Next season: 13.37 at 37.

Ralph Fruguglietti in Bakersfield Californian photo by Casey Christie.

Ralph Fruguglietti and family returned from Riccione late last Tuesday. His gold medal in the M50 discus, poised for framing, now rests in his Shafter home in California’s Central Valley. Ralph, 52, is back at work as owner/operator of a popular Italian restaurant, where student-athletes from nearby Cal State Bakersfield carbo-load on lasagna and calzones. But Ralph will never stop savoring the magical events of early September — a cross between “Field of Dreams” and “The Twilight Zone,” when he received crucial advice from a mysterious figure.

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Coach Ross Dunton, who spun off his original Web site, has launched another, called athleticsinfo.org (no relation to Andy Hecker’s trackinfo.org.) Not much posted yet, but he’s done us a favor by listing nominees for the 2007 Class of the USATF Masters Hall of Fame. Good work. The same 25 names (12 women and 13 men) were printed in the August issue of National Masters News — but without their events or hometowns. So this is nice. Inductees will be named at the November USATF convention in Hawaii. If I had a ballot, these would be my top five choices:

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Anthony Treacher, our British friend banned for being a noodnik, made the mistake recently of asking a USATF masters official about Florida track meets in 2008. Anthony wrote Bob Fine. At first, the exchange of email beginning Tuesday was civil, but then Bob kind of lost it. Here’s the back-and-forth, as documented by Anthony:

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Mark Winitz has more good stuff on worlds. From a press release he sent out yesterday, we learn: “Longtime distance runners Eve Pell, 70, and Sam Hirabayashi, 80, both of Greenbrae, Calif., like to do things together, especially running. The fast couple, who are engaged to be married, traveled together to the World Masters Athletics Championships held September 4-15 in Riccione, Italy. Together, the standout Pacific Association USA Track & Field athletes earned five medals in top-notch competition.” Mark also sent me this link to a Joy Upshaw-Margerum story in her hometown paper. (She also set an AR at worlds, which I missed in my report.)

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Tom Fahey at his day job at Chico State University in central California.

Tom Fahey is a gentleman and a scholar. And a freakin’ good discus thrower. Today the Californian enters the M60 age group, and none too soon for the M55s he embarrassed at Riccione, where he took silver, or the Americans he defeated in winning gold at Orono. I’m grateful to this guy for purely selfish reasons. He generously gave my wife some throwing tips at Orono (but not while she was competing). And he writes as well as he throws. Tom is a prolific poster on our Forum (and this blog), having contributed 99 comments (with thousands of page views as of this date) that are intelligent, educational and sometimes just a hoot.

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