Mark Cleary, organizer of the masters 800 exhibitions at Sunday’s Mt. SAC Relays, writes: “We got only five entries for the women’s race — (but) two women that were at indoor nationals sustained injuries there that have not cleared up yet and (one) athlete had some family situation that prevented her from being there. So with two women, we had no reason to contest the race and had to cancel that one, which is very unfortunate.” On the bright side, the men’s 800 should be a barn-burner.

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USATF’s rule book ain’t right. At least when it comes to some masters throws. So says a note to USATF officials. I mentioned this before. But the following missive goes into greater detail. It begins: “The Superweight table in the 2007 USATF Rule book Rule 332.3g on page 189 was not updated.”

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Pick an age group. Any age group. Starting in May, when Jim Sorensen turns 40, masters mile records in many groups will be under assault. A preview comes Friday, when Jim runs a 1500 at Mt. SAC. But the big record attempts — in at least two age groups — will be May 12 at the Fountain of Youth Masters Mile in Canby, Oregon.

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Jeff Laynes, the fastest masters sprinter in the world (35 and over), isn’t ready to utter the M-word. Profiled by a San Francisco Bay Area sportswriter, Jeff says: “I’m not retired,” alluding to the typical status of masters runners. “I train myself mentally and physically to be able to run against anyone.” (Jeff doesn’t realize that most masters aren’t retired. Whatever.) Here’s the article, which weakly challenges Jeff on his sub-10 dreams. Jeff will compete Sunday at the Mt. SAC Relays. Hope he gets a chance to see the masters run — and asks what their work status is.

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Atlanta Olympian Jeff Williams is 41 now — and ready for some masters competition. He’ll get it Sunday at the Mt. SAC Relays in Walnut, California. Even though his 200 PR from 1996 is 19.87 (and he’s still in the Top 15 of the all-time USA list), Jeff (pictured here) will be tested by some world-class M40s in the masters exhibition 200. The entrants include some American record holders: Robert Thomas (indoor 400), Aaron Thigpen (outdoor 100), J. Smith, Don Fields, Andre Freeman, James Chinn (2005 world 400 champ), Kettrell Berry (several national sprint titles) and Felton Turnage.

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Elliott Almond of the San Jose Mercury-News has written an obituary of Lad Pataki that gives masters their due. Amazing. The M-word appears no fewer than four times in the online version of the obit. (Tomorrow’s print version may be shorter.) This is yet another milestone in our journey into the public vernacular. It shows that “masters” is becoming common knowledge in mainstream media. This is something Dr. Pataki would have cheered. Also: Great work by Elliott in quoting masters athletes as well as Olympians. We are doubly honored.

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Sprinters and fieldfolk, stop reading now. This one is for long-distance runners who thought they might want to compete at Riccione worlds as well as the WMA 100-kilometer championships. Think again. They’re being held at the same time! Annette’s Seite in Germany points out that the 100K (64-mile) event is September 8 in Winschoten, The Netherlands. The WMA world masters track meet is September 4-15 in Riccione, Italy. The Italians are “clearly irritated,” according to Annette and Robert Koop. Contracts are being scrutinized. What fun!

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Wearing street shoes, Mike Castellucci of Channel 8 News in Arlington, Texas, huffs and puffs but can’t keep up with M70 sprinter Wayne Bennett on the University of Texas-Arlington track in a cutesy clip that lasts almost 2 minutes. It originally aired on the 5 o’clock news April 4. Wayne keeps his dignity. Mike does not. Wayne writes: “The guy took some liberties with some of my statements, but the publicity was good. It might even inspire some people to get out and exercise a little bit. . . . Some (acquaintances) have said: ‘I didn’t know you did that.’ . . . I’m always looking for some way to get masters track in front of the public. It was fun to do.”

John Hinton of North Carolina ran 15:00.39 to win a munchkin-laden 5000 meters Friday at the Duke Invitational at Durham, N.C. Track photographer Cheryl Treworgy, a witness, writes: “With three laps to go, John was 10 seconds behind the leader with a pack hanging on to him.With two laps, he was still 10 seconds back with a second up on the next runner. With one lap to go he began his assault, caught the leader and put five seconds on him for a time of 15:00.39 to 15:05.98.” Brian Pope holds the M40 American record in this event at 14:17.36.

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Marie-Louise Michelsohn shattered the listed world outdoor record for 10,000 meters Saturday by more than 30 seconds at the freezing USATF Tennessee Assn. Masters Championships. Marie-Louise ran 43:06.12 — 6:56 mile pace — to beat the old record of 43:37.20 by Germany’s Rona Frederiks in 2005. It’s Marie-Louise’s fourth WR of the season. Her first was the indoor 1500 best at the Armory in New York. Born in late 1941, Marie-Louise was profiled by Running Times magazine in April 2006. She told RT: “When I was in my fifties, I thought it would be nice to peak at 60. I started running at 53 and they say you peak after seven years. Then, when I was still improving at 60, I revised the number to 62.” Revise again, M-L.

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