Dr. Steve Peters is the British version of Bill Collins. In other words, he smashes records and rarely is beaten. At the Riccione world masters championships in September, Steve will run the M50 100, 200 and 400 (with entry times of 11.5, 23.1 and 53.0). He’s a good bet to sweep. That much is known. But even though I met Dr. Peters at 1999 Gateshead WAVA (in a 200 heat when I offered to swap lanes with him — he was in 1 and me in 4), I didn’t know much about him. That changed recently. Pete Mulholland, the masters editor of Running Fitness magazine, has written a wonderful profile of Steve. The article below comes from the July issue.

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Alan Abrahamson tore the IOC a new one a couple days ago over the interesting but unexamined plan for a Youth Olympic Games for ages 14-18. In his NBC Sports blog, Alan laid waste to every justification for this Jacques Rogge-pushed boondoggle. Alan writes: “If the Olympic Games themselves aren’t a spark (to get people off their butts), how precisely are Youth Olympic Games supposed to do the job?” Well, maybe a Masters Olympic Games could do the trick. But now I’m doubting that the IOC could do justice to the adult athletics movement — if the YOG is any indication.

Dang! Gérard Dumas did it! Overcoming age and injury, Gérard, 72, competed in the pole vault for the 1,000th time July 4 at the Tacoma Beach Vault, reports his Canadian friend Roger Ruth. “Unfortunately, he pulled his right gastrocnemius in the warmup and had to settle for the starting height of 2.17 (although results said 7-0) on two strides,” Roger writes from his home in Victoria, British Columbia. “He’ll be back, and better.” I interviewed Gérard back in March, when he signaled his intention to clear 1,000 meets. At the time he was at 989. So this gent has been relentless.

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Jim Sorensen ran a sub-4:05 mile this afternoon at the Pro Men’s Mile exhibition at the USA Youth nationals in the Chicago suburb of Lisle, Illinois. Great effort. A new American record, too, as his 4:04.98 lowers his own 4:05.27 from the previous week. But the M40 world outdoor record remains 4:02.53. Daniel Lincoln, who took second, told USATF: “It was tough out there. It’s hot and windy, but we just got out and tried to break four minutes anyway.” For Jim’s part, “I got out all right, but the second lap I fell back. I like to run relaxed the first lap, but maybe I just relaxed too much. I’m satisfied in that I was able to lower my American record.”

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Entries are now listed for the WMA World Masters Athletic Championships in Riccione, Italy! Go to this entry page, and check out the options. You can search by name, event, sex, nationality or age group — or any combo thereof. Just check the appropriate box or boxes and click the SEARCH buttton at the bottom right of the page. This is a database-driven tool not unlike the one used for searching marks or athletes at mastersrankings.com — or at any major marathon or road race. When you’ve displayed a list of entrants, you can get further info by clicking on the little magnifying glass at the far right of the name. This brings up recent bests.

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Complete results of the Italian masters nationals are in, and my Italian masters friend Rosa Marchi also sent a link to a list of age-group champions at the Milan nationals. Rosa points out that the short sprints were run into a wind. The meet’s headliner was Hubert Indra, who set an M50 world record in the decathlon with 7,824 points. That tops the listed WMA world record by Gary Miller — Christel Donley’s ex-husband — who did 7,771 way back in 1989. An Italian track site talked up the record, too.

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Forget Orono and Riccione. To the general reader, the only masters event that matters is wrapping up in Louisville, Kentucky — the National Senior Olympics. On the same day that the IOC announced plans for winter and summer Games for “youth,” The Associated Press’ Will Graves was writing about a 95-year-old discus thrower named Marnie Evans. Marnie threw at Louisville, and she’ll likely be the biggest masters name of the year to millions who read AP stories. But the gold medal for masters coverage goes to the Louisville Courier-Journal, whose package of Senior Olympics stories and photos is breathtaking and sophisticated.

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Carmel on wedding day (click for shot with Larry).

Carmel Papworth-Barnum is busy. A relatively new bride to M60 middle-distancer Larry Barnum, she and hubby are moving into a new home while training for Orono masters nationals. But she took time to answer a quick series of questions on her new gig as editor of National Masters News. “I am hoping we can work together to promote masters track and field,” she writes. Most notably, Carmel indicates she plans “to comment on masters track issues in this column as and when they arise.” Cool! Anyway, by way of introduction: Carmel was born August 12, 1965, in Melbourne, Australia, and lived in that Olympic city until she moved to America last year. She worked in telecommunications for over 18 years in procurement and government reporting. She has no children.

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The San Diego Track Club has posted results from last Saturday’s Chuck McMahon Memorial Masters meet in San Marcos, California. I’ve already noted Nadine O’Connor’s 100 WR and 200 wind-aided mark and that James Lofton ran the 400 (in 54.48, it turns out) with a foot injury (incurred while taking off in the long jump some weeks earlier). But I neglected to spotlight Jai Black of San Diego. Man, she flies! Jai (pronounced “Jay”) had a 58.31 in the 400 and later ran a wind-aided 26.18 in the deuce. Jai is a new W45 and will be giving defending national champ Joy Upshaw-Margerum a run for her money in Orono. Jai isn’t entered at Riccione, however.

Phil Raschker would be the W60 world record holder at 200 meters if not for a brutal headwind yesterday at the National Senior Olympics in Louisville. In her age group’s final, Phil ran an amazing 29.27 into a 3.1 meters-per-second wind. That’s about 7 mph. As it was, Phil beat the National Senior Olympic record of 29.59 by the great Irene Obera in 1997. The listed WR is 28.87 by Germany’s Brunhilde Hoffmann. That will fall this season. Guaranteed. Phil’s time was the fastest in the meet, beating even the 29.29 by Rita Hanscom in the W50 final. Phil also won the vault yesterday. Another event, another Senior Olympics record.