Orono and the Web go together. Besides the USATF webcast, photographer-athletes and others have posted thousands of images of last weekend’s masters nationals. About 900 shots are on Pam Swan’s Google gallery. Pam writes: “Wish I had gotten coverage of more events, but this time around I had to fit my own competition schedule in!” Toronto distance runner Douglas Smith put up 1,300 images on his Canadian-centric gallery. And the official Orono shooter — Monty Rand and his crew (which included his wife, I think) — has organized his photo gallery by event and day. My shots will go up when I return home next week.

Steve Nearman, a running columnist for The Washington Times, competed at Orono over the weekend and was able to write off his expenses (we hope). He wrote a nice story on Olympian Jan Merrill-Morin, another Orono entrant. The story was written before the 1500s on Sunday. Jan didn’t run. But her presence Thursday in the W50 5000 was a thrill for fans and entrants alike. And she didn’t disappoint, clocking 21:07.84 to claim gold. She won by almost 27 seconds. Steve also was impressive, taking seventh in the 800 in 2:08.49.

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From the Merlene Ottey Tribute site comes this news: “Bouncing back from recent illness that curtailed her training, Merlene Ottey took the women’s 100m title at the Slovenian Championships on Saturday. Her winning time was 11.69 sec. — a season’s best for the 47-year-old. “This isn’t nearly fast enough to compete at the World championships,” Ottey said. But she hasn’t yet ruled out competing in Osaka , and with her 11.34 best from last year, Ottey has the standard to be named to the team, an astounding 24 years after her appearance at the inaugural World Championship. “I’m feeling better, so I expect to run faster by the end of the week,” Ottey added.” Merlene’s time would have tied for second in the M45 100 at Orono!

So many track tales, so little time. After returning from tonight’s Athletes Banquet at the University of Maine fieldhouse, I’ve been hunkered down preparing photos of masters nationals for Geezerjock magazine. And it’s time for bed. So I gotta punt on details from today, except to highlight Gary Hunter’s 15-7 WR in the M50 vault. Despite my best efforts to persuade the webcasters to turn their camera on the vault, the track was where their heads were at. Sigh. Records set today are detailed here. For several great accounts of the meet, check out the Bangor Daily News of the past four days. The Portland Press Herald also gave us some good ink. And the meet webcast is now archived for anytime viewing.

It wasn’t Charlotte hot, but it was hot. Halfway through the USATF masters outdoor nationals, athletes are looking forward to cooler weather Saturday and Sunday after an evening T-storm brought heavy rain and lightning to this area of Maine. With radar showing electrical storms about six miles away, meet officials canceled the final field events (M70 and M75 discus) and rescheduled them for early Saturday morning. That was a minor bother compared to what happened around 4:30 Thursday afternoon — when 300 athletes staying at one University of Maine dorm were told to pack and move to another dorm when power was lost at their first dorm. And the dorms aren’t air-conditioned. It reached the low 90s Friday, but a stiff breeze (into the faces of 400 finishers and all sprints) provided some relief.

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After a last 20-hour push ending Sunday, the technical team overseeing the WMA world championships in Riccione has produced this official schedule. And unlike an earlier iteration, it doesn’t separate the sexes. In other words, men and women will run the same event at the same track in the standard oldest-to-youngest order. Three tracks are being employed, and there’s no guarantee that multi-eventers will be accommodated in all combos. But at least there’s a semblance of fairness apparent.

Martin Gasselsberger of Switzerland, the founder and webmeister of mastersathletics.net has updated his world masters rankings in time for Orono nationals and Riccione worlds. Among its many revelations: Jeff Hartwig and Pat Manson aren’t the only stud M35 vaulters around. In fact, the No. 2 M35 in the world is Bulgaria’s Ilian Efremov, who jumped 5.70 (18-8 1/2) indoors in February at age 36. Another addition to the site: all-time 100-meter dash lists by age group. If World Masters Athletics doesn’t start working with Martin, it’s insane.

Uh oh. Delegates to the WMA General Assembly at Riccione in September will consider a proposal to eliminate the steeplechase for all men and women over 60. This won’t fly, of course. But other tweaks include dropping the water barrier for older age groups and changing the heights and distances of most hurdle events. These bear watching. Thanks to the Brits, we have a summary of these proposals. Also on the Sept. 11 agenda for delegates is a plan to make the indoor worlds quadrennial instead of every two years. At least have comic relief: “A proposal that the name of the ‘weight pentathlon’ be changed to the ‘throws pentathlon.’ ”

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USATF Masters and the Senior Olympic circuit aren’t the only games in town. I’m reminded by W50 sprinter Kim Williams in Portland, Maine, that her state has an active corporate track presence. Called the Maine Corporate Track Association, or MECTA, it gives employees a chance to bond with their fellow worker bees and stay in shape via a form of age-group competition. They don’t refer to M40, W50, M65, etc. They employ five divisions: Open (18-29), Submaster (30-39), Master (40-49), Senior (50-59) and Veteran (60 and above). On the national level, the U.S. Corporate Athletic Association held its national championships a few weeks ago north of San Diego.

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David Holland Rose Pain was born 85 years ago today in Taplow, Buckinghamshire, on the river Thames, west of London. You’ve come a long way, baby. Today he lives near San Diego State University with his wife, Linda. Although he hasn’t been involved in track for many years, he still takes a keen interest in masters developments. And many of his masters track (and triathlon) friends will help him celebrate his life at a birthday party in mid-August. (A more convenient time for folks.) Linda is organizing the event. And I think it would be neat if the masters track community sends its regards. If you’d like to say thanks to David and wish him well, post a comment on this blog — and I’ll pass the word to Linda. Or you can write me, and I’ll forward the note to Mrs. Pain.

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