Texas TV station KVUE covered Marion Jones' appearance at a youth clinic organized last weekend by masters track majordomo Seth Brower in Austin. The station reported her message to the kids: "When you're facing a situation in your life that's critical -- that the consequences could be life-changing - stop, take a break. Step back. Think. Consult your advisors, your friends, the people whom you trust to help you make the best decision." KVUE also interviewed Marion separately for the 3 1/2-minute clip shown a day or two ago. Biggest revelation of the TV report: "She has written several books and hints that another one about her recent experience may be in the works."

Marion ate up the attention of a friendly crowd of fawning youngsters.

Gérard Dumas, a British Columbian fluent in two languages (English and Canadian), also speaks vault. In fact, he's the pre-eminent historian of the event. He's also the most vertically traveled vaulter ever. 
Now 74, Gérard claims 1,000 competitions (not including beach vaults or meets where he recorded no heights), reports Roger Ruth. "Gérard has competed in a total of 1,048 meets, five of those beach and 38 no-heights, leaving a total of 1,005 officially recorded. A former French indoor champion, his career best was 4.53 (14-10 1/4) in 1967," says Roger, a former M40 WR man in the vault. Still clever after all these years, Gérard graciously consented to another interrogation after his historic season.

Gérard jumped 14 feet this day in 1966, his pit composed of scrap foam remnants.

After perhaps a four-year absence, masters track returns to the California State Games next year, reports Lauren Brosamer, a marketer for the event. She writes: "In the 2010 California State Games we are adding an Open/Masters division in track and field. The meet will take place Friday, July 9, 2010, in San Diego. The first event is racewalk and will start at 8 a.m. As of right now we are unsure about the location. It will either be at La Costa Canyon High School in Carlsbad or at Mesa College (in San Diego) if the track is built in time. All of the meet information can be found on our website.  Interested athletes can call our office any time at 619-223-2033 for additional (info)." The last time oldsters were in the event -- in 2006 in San Diego -- M50 NFL Hall of Famer James Lofton blitzed a 4 in 51.75 (just off the WR). Thankfully, the State Games won't clash with Sacramento USATF masters nationals (July 22-25).

Stan Perkins

On May 1, 2010, masters tracksters around the world begin observing new rules of the game. For example: Some age groups will throw new weights. The decisions were made more than four months ago at the Lahti General Assembly (which I summarized in my original report). But only this week did WMA think to share the new rules officially. See details here. At this rate, it'll be March when WMA posts its Masters Athletes of the Year. Given that new President Stan Perkins promised in my interview to make the WMA Web site more relevant, this delayed posting is dismaying. In July, Stan told me: "I think it is fair to say that the WMA website has been disappointing in that it has not been regularly updated, not just from a WMA perspective but also by the regions who each have allocated space within the website. . . . Getting the right person with the dedication and drive to make this website an effective information and marketing source will be one of my key objectives when I am elected as president." Nice sentiments, Stan! Now make them happen!

Don McGrath, the 50-interview gent, writes: "I'm sponsoring a contest for the 50-k Active/Athlete Challenge members that I thought you would be interested in. It is a photo contest for people who have taken the Challenge and has a first place prize of $300 in Target gift cards, while the 2nd place prize is an iPod. These are great prizes, just in time for the holidays. All you need to do is be a 50-k Challenge member, submit a picture with your 50-k "My Active Life" T-shirt in it, and have other members vote for your photo. If you aren't a member yet, then go to www.50-k.net and register. If you don't have a shirt, you can get one at the www.50-k.net store. We'll get one to you pronto." Don says the contest closes at midnight December 17.

The USATF San Diego Association Masters Championships scheduled for November 22 have been postponed. Say what?  You didn't know about no masters meet?  Join the club. OK, lissen up: San Diego USATF folks have been promising an association masters meet since July -- piggybacking the San Diego Track Club's Chuck McMahon memorial meet. But it was canceled. Then at the August board meeting (see the minutes), it was revived! Masters chair Graeme Shirley promised the meet for October. That fell through, for unknown reasons. Then two months later, at the same board meeting where my transfer request was rejected, Graeme said the association would have its masters meet on November 21 at Cal State San Marcos, where Steve Scott coaches. Supposedly the meet director would be Jennifer Nanista, who was laid off as a San Diego State track coach in July but found work in her old mortgage business.

Thrower Lillian Snaden, who competed at Landover and Oshkosh nationals and was a longtime South Carolina USATF official, died November 3 after an illness, according to posted obituaries and friends who have shared the sad news. "I will miss her dearly," Valerie Beesley of USATF S.C. said in this online report. "No matter how tired I was she always found me at the end of each day of the track meet in the summer and give me a hug and tell me what a great job I was doing and how thankful she was for all the hard workers at the meet. I was always in amazement that she firstly would and could find me, secondly that I always felt the officials and all day volunteers were the hardest workers out there in the summer weather elements and yet here she was thanking me." One private report suggested Lillian had a stroke. She was a weight throw specialist who set several records this year. In recent years, she's been on the USATF Masters Hall of Fame ballot. She is survived by her husband, Bill, himself a thrower. Our condolences.

Bruny Surin

This needs to be verified. But a posting on a Canadian track message board says: "Hey everyone, There is going to be a mens 50m invitational at Mcgill on December 5th. It will be a straight final only, if you're interested to run it, send me a msg. 2 time World Indoor Champion Bruny Surin will be racing in his first time since retirement with plans of breaking the Canadian 50m Masters Record. Personal best for 60m 6.45 Personal best for 50m 5.64." Bruny, a Haitian-born sprinter who was on Canada's 4x1 team that beat USA fair and square at the Atlanta Games, turned 42 last July. McGill University indeed has a Dec. 5 meet scheduled. And Bruny has a blog, but he hasn't updated it since March. And it's in some foreign language. Can't tell if he's been running. WMA doesn't list a world record for 50 meters. The Canadian M40 record for 50 meters is listed as 6.20.  Stay tuned.

USATF's News & Notes yesterday trumpeted another honor for Phil Raschker. She won a Distinguished Service Award from the United States Sports Academy, which calls itself  "an independent, non-profit, SACS accredited sports university" and adds: "The role of the Academy is to prepare men and women for careers in the profession of sports." (Mainly coaching, I gather.) The school, based in Daphne, Alabama, is pretty small. In 2007, it had only 522 students (just 97 undergrads). So this wasn't exactly a Sullivan Award. Another DSA recently went to an Italian sports media mogul. (In fact, the academy hands out more awards than Phil has medals.) Ironically, I can't find any athletics at the Sports Academy. No track team, in other words. Hey, there's an idea! Recruit Phil (who is more famous than the academy) and make her a one-woman track powerhouse!  Now that would be an honor!

Kenny Williams

Relax. It's not one of us. It's the other masters track -- two-wheeled racing. An M40 cyclist named Kenny Williams, reports this site, "tested positive for the banned substance DHEA in a test taken at United States masters nationals in Colorado Springs. In a letter first published at cycle-smart.com, Williams called the decision to take the drug a mistake and said that he had only taken it once. Right, because we've never heard that story before. But hey, maybe this time it's true. And maybe the earth is flat. First time or no, doping for masters racing is stupid. 'nuff said." Another good article is posted here. It says: "The 42-year-old resident of Washington state admitted to taking the steroid Dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) prior to the Championships, where he claimed the 3000 metre individual pursuit and kilometre time trial titles. Williams' victory in the 40-44 3000 metre individual pursuit had been achieved in an unofficial world record time of 3:26.097."

Andrew Boyce

Track and field was the original "extreme sport."  But the X-Games perverted the meaning. "Action" sports like skateboarding and BMX stole our brand! Now Andrew Boyce, an M40 jumper as crazy as the snowboard nuts, wants to reclaim the crown of "extreme" for its true king: pole vaulting. Andrew's recent video showing him vaulting onto a roof to fetch a Frisbee is the first in a series of clips devoted to adding sex appeal to the sport. Sayeth Andrew: "I would like to get one of the pole companies (or extreme sport companies) to sponsor this venture as it will double demand for poles in the U.S. and world when Extreme Vaulting catches on. Extreme Vaulting will only add to the sport and increase the audience watching track and field." The IAAF may not approve, but wacky street runs like Usain Bolt's in Manchester make it possible to rethink the vault as well.

Pekka Viippo may be a cheater, but at least he's an honest cheater. As noted here three days ago, Pekka got a two-year competition ban after testing positive for bad stuff at the Lahti world masters meet in August. Pekka, an M45 thrower, gave an interview to a Finnish reporter, and I've been sent a good translation of it thanks to the brilliant and beautiful Anna Barrineau, the Finnish-born wife of M50 high jumper Jim Barrineau. The bottom line: Pekka doesn't deny doping. And he realizes his name is mud. But you see some twisted justifications for his using testosterone, norandrosterone and methylphenidate, among other things.

Three Northern California masters throwers are starting what M50 founder Randy Wilson calls "a new club for throwers to unite the region." He reports: "We expect to have over 100 members as soon as we launch in January 2010. If you know this area, you are aware of the talent we have to draw from. We have verbal commitments from many of the best throwers and teachers in our sport." Besides Randy, the founders are M45 Mike Ostrom and M65 John Burns.  Randy won bronze in the shot and discus at Oshkosh nationals, and Mike won a couple golds and a bronze at outdoor nationals, so this is a good nucleus. John's a highly ranked high jumper as well!

An interesting story about M60 sprinter Homer Guerrero shared his hopes for a track comeback after a 40-year break. He told a reporter in San Marcos, Texas, that he was in shape for a 13-flat 100-meter dash. "My goal is to bring back the gold," Homer told the San Marcos Record. "I'm 100 percent sure I can do it." The story appeared October 31 -- the day he was to run in the Texas State Senior Games Championships in Houston. But he apparently has some work to do. These results show he took fourth in 14.46 -- with first in his age group being Edward Jones in 13.66. Actually, I'd be thrilled to be running mid-14s in five years. I can barely do that now. But maybe Homer has acquired some new respect for the M60 group. Welcome to masters, Homer!

On October 23, Finnish media reported a doping violation at the World Masters Athletics Championships in Lahti. (I saw it for the first time tonight, sorry.) WMA and the Koops' site in Germany now are reporting the punishment meted out. Here's the brief WMA report on M45 Finnish shot putter Pekka Viippo, the silver-medal winner, being found "guilty of the following doping violation: presence of the prohibited substances Testosterone, Norandrosterone, Methylphenidate and Ritalinic Acid in his doping control sample." He was tested August 2 at Lahti. His national federation slapped Pekka with a two-year competition ban. This is interesting aside from the obvious. The Finns fingered one of their own! Will there be other dopers ID'd? Don't know yet. This Finnish site has a report and apparently a long audio interview with Pekka (who sighs a lot.) His other claim to fame: He reportedly once lost a fight to Mike Tyson.