Tom Aderhold and Mark Cleary, on opposite sides of the country, unite in issuing reminders on upcoming meets — and about our exhibition men’s mile at Open nationals. Tom writes, praisefully: “Do you think you could mention our meet (the Atlanta Track Club classic) in your fantastic blog? More info is available at www.atlantatrackclub.org, but the meet is June 9 at Emory University in Atlanta. It’s a USATF-sanctioned event held on an 8-lane Rekortan track.”

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Germany’s Peter Blank didn’t want fellow European-born spearchucker Roald Bradstock to have all the fun. Yesterday in Rehlingen, Germany, Peter tossed the javelin 77.15 meters (253-1) to take the M45 world record from Roald, who threw a puny 71.75 (235-4) just nine days earlier. Peter turned 45 on April 10 — 14 days before Roald. According to a message board posting, where the record was spotted by Chuck Greene, Peter’s series was 73.53 (241-2), 73.11 (239-10) 76.91 (252-3), 76.13 (249-9) and then his monster 77.15. So Peter buried Roald’s record five times! Official results from Rehlingen are posted here.

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Your masters club not doing so hot? Money hard to find? The Southern California Striders have an idea for you: Go nonprofit. Become a charity — and seek tax-deductible donations. The club’s Lee Gillespie, an M65 sprinter, was able to gain 501(c)(3) nonprofit status for the Striders recently. Among other things, he says: “The (membership) dues are deductible as a charitable deduction (minus the value of benefits received — such as if you get a uniform).” The Striders, whose annual awards I attended last winter, aren’t hurting for members, but they’re a forward-looking group. And maybe a model for other masters clubs around the country.

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I overlooked this one. Danny McFarlane, whose all-time best in the 400 hurdles is 48.00 from 2004, nipped the M35 world age-group record in the event at the adidas meet in Carson, California, a week ago. Danny turned 35 three months ago, and his 48.83 for fifth place on May 20 ranks him as No. 8 in the world. The listed M35 world record is 48.93 by American Nat Page in 1992. “Based on how practice is going right now, I’m definitely in 2004 shape,” Danny was quoted as saying a couple weeks ago. He’s pointing for IAAF Osaka worlds. Go Danny!

World Masters Athletics reports that German pharmaceutical company Bayer is “main WMA’s sponsor.” The aspirin-maker also will collect data at Riccione worlds for a cardio study. But when I visited Bayer’s home page, I could find no reference to its sponsorship of WMA. How strange. I even used its advanced search engine. So apparently it’s no big deal for Bayer. (Also interesting: Bayer isn’t mentioned on Riccione’s sponsor page.) My main question: What’s in it for us? What does sponsorship mean? Money for WMA? Or a few bucks for Riccione meet organizers.

Give USATF credit. When they see a PR disaster, they’re quick out of the blocks. Within hours of my posting news that Britain’s Anthony Treacher had been told he couldn’t compete in Canada’s masters nationals (and was left hanging on USATF masters nationals), three major figures in USATF sent me reasons for the ban. Gary Snyder, who’s been USATF T&F masters chairman for only six months, wrote me: “As you know Anthony Treacher is a British citizen who was banned from competition by the British WMA National Governing Body. That action was approved by the WMA Law and Legislation Committee, under Section 8 (d) of the WMA Constitution.”

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Stacy Dragila cleared 4.20, 4.30. 4.40 and finally 4.50 today at the Road to Eugene meet at the University of Oregon, thus raising her own W35 world age-group record twice in the vault to 14-9. Her previous W35 best was 4.30 (14-1 1/4) . At the same meet, M35 Jeff Laynes ran the 100 in 10.33. Earlier this season, Jeff ran a legal 10.16.

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The USATF masters nationals have been open to foreign athletes for decades. Pay your entry fee, prove your age, and America lets you compete. No more. Now you have to have the blessing of your national governing body. The sad case of Britain’s Anthony Treacher has come to this: Organizers of the 2007 Boston indoor nationals effectively barred Anthony from entering the March meet. And worse — Canadian masters officials told him: You’re not welcome at our outdoor nationals, either.

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Track bloggers unite! All three or four of us. (Actually, several dozen.) The latest, and perhaps the greatest, is Jimmie R. Markham of Richardson, Texas. He introduced his blog — Finish Line Pundit — as a comment on this blog a few days ago. I visited and was blown away. A former 2:04 half-miler (and 4:48 miler) at a Dallas community college, he’s now 42 and putting his technical skills to work in service to track news and commentary. I shot him a questionnaire. He replied.

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Jim Sorensen is no sorcerer. He can’t predict the future, and won’t promise a record. But he’s not shy about admitting that the M40 mile marks are on his mind. In the second and final part of my interview with the new AR man in the 800, Jim hints he could use a fast open race — Maybe even the Pre Classic on June 10 — to help him achieve an M40 first — sub-4 for the outdoor mile. Jim writes: “Even if I fall short of a sub-4, perhaps I can better Moorcroft’s 4:02.53, or get the American record.”

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