I'm suffering Dara Torres envy. I'm not jealous of Torres making her fifth U.S. Olympic team at age 41, or her 50-meter sprint times in the pool. I'm envious of how the world has elevated her to superstar Masters status ahead of others more deserving.

She's a phenom, no doubt. A mother of a young girl, Torres has been profiled in the New York Times Magazine and countless TV and Web clips. At Beijing, she'll swim the 50-meter freestyle, 4x100-meter medley relay, and 4x100-meter freestyle relay, hoping to add to her nine Olympic medals, including four golds.

But what about Merlene Ottey?

Ottey is the Jamaican-born, U.S.-educated sprinter who changed her nationality to Slovenian some years back to extend her elite track career. And if she improves her time a fraction of a second in the 100-meter dash by July 23, she could be going to her eighth Olympic Games! Yes, eighth.

How old is the ageless Ottey? She turns 50 in May 2010.

A fan Web site reported on May 10 that "Ottey celebrated her 48th birthday today with her relatives in California. She is supposed to return to Slovenia on Monday 12 May to make her final preparations before opening her 2008 season."

A few weeks earlier, sprint legend Michael Johnson predicted that Ottey would make it to Beijing, saying: "Her career has been amazing. She's an example of a real hero in the sport." Her first Olympics?  Moscow 1980. She's won nine Olympic medals.

Her status today?  Well, she's almost on the bubble.

According to her tribute site (created by a fan), Ottey has a 2008 season best of 11.67 seconds in the 100-meter dash. But at least one other Slovenian woman has attained the "B" Olympic qualifying standard of 11.42 seconds. This means Ottey has to run the "A" standard of 11.32 seconds or beat the 11.36 by countrywoman Pia Tajnikar to guarantee a trip to China.
 
The last time she ran that fast was 2006, when her yearly best was 11.34.

Even if she doesn't make the China squad, her 11.67 is mind-boggling. On the Age-Graded Tables, a  performance of 11.67 corresponds to an Open (ages 20-30) equivalent of 10.198. (The real world record is Flo-Jo's 10.49.)

Her 11.67 this year would have given her the bronze medal a year ago in the world Masters championships -- in the MEN'S 45-49 age-group sprint final.

For Dara Torres to duplicate Merlene Ottey's career, Torres would have to swim in the 2012 and 2016 Olympics.

That's assuming Ottey doesn't make this summer's Slovenian squad for Beijing. If Ottey ducks under 11.34 somehow, tell Dara Torres: See you in 2020!

Tags: Masters Age Swimming Track

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Jeff Hartwig has company. Exactly a week after pole vaulter Hartwig made the U.S. Olympic team at age 40, a New Hampshire race walker won the 20-kilometer event Sunday in Eugene, Ore., at age 44 -- becoming the oldest American on the track team bound for Beijing. Joanne Dow won the 12.4-mile walk by beating her rival (and friend) Teresa Vaill, 45.

Tears flowed as Dow finished the race, realizing her Olympic dream after 12 years of frustration and disappointment.

"There was a really large crowd at the start/finish line and they were really loud and supportive the whole race, but the last few laps it started to get to me and I started to cry," Dow told Mark Gosztyla of her hometown Manchester Union-Leader, "but then Hop (coach Rob Hoppler) yelled to me, 'Don't start hyperventilating on me now!' and I was able to keep the emotions in check until after I finished."

Dow took 1 hour, 35 minutes and 11 seconds to complete the road circuit in Eugene. Even though she lacks the Olympic "A" qualifying standard of 1:33, she made the team as the top finisher with the secondary "B'' qualifying standard -- the way many Third World teams are able to send athletes to the Games. Second place went to  Vaill, who holds the American record, and turned 45 last November.

Newspapers in Maine and New Hampshire celebrated Dow's achievement.

Four years ago in Sacramento, Dow finished behind Vaill at the Trials after having met the Olympic "A'' standard of 1:33:30 -- but was kept out of the Olympics because a third walker in the race had not attained the "A" standard. The rule later was changed, establishing a "B'' standard time of 1:38.

"I call it the 'Joanne Dow' rule,'' she told a reporter with a laugh.

What made her Sunday stroll extra-special was her family's presence. Witnesses included her husband, Tim, 18-year-old daughter, Hannah, and 16-year-old son, Tim Jr. "This win was for them as much as it was for me,'' Dow told reporters. "A lot of tears were shed afterward because my family went through this whole thing with me for nearly 14 years.''

Tim Dow called the experience "a dream come true for Joanne. She sacrificed so much and today all our prayers to God were answered.''

Another dream was realized by an even older athlete: Roald Bradstock, 46.

A two-time Olympic javelin thrower for Britain who became a U.S. citizen in 1995, Bradstock of Marietta, Ga., was on pins and needles for weeks. He didn't learn that he had made the 26-member Trials field until a little after 10 a.m. last Wednesday, when he received a phone call that USA Track & Field had listed him as "qualified" and "declared" on its Web site for official entrants. 

Two days later, Bradstock threw in the men's javelin preliminaries -- and beat eight younger men with a final throw of 225 feet, 5 inches.  Among his victims was Breaux Greer, the American record holder, who went into the meet with a shoulder injury.

Beyond his remarkable performance, Bradstock gained worldwide attention for his change of uniforms during the event. He threw three times -- in three different, hand-painted uniforms.
He also had a different javelin for each try.

As Jere Longman reported in The New York Times: "He changed his Lycra outfit for each of his three tosses, variously sporting zebra tights; the five colors of the Olympic rings; and the red, white and blue of the American flag, even if stocky javelin throwers might be advised to avoid horizontal stripes. To accessorize, Bradstock threw color-coordinated, pop-art javelins."

"I see this as an artistic way to communicate with younger people," Bradstock told a scrum of a dozen reporters in the press tent. "In order to go viral on YouTube, it needs to be something sexual, violent or bizarre. The first one, I'm not going to do. Bizarre, I've got that tanked."�  (Bradstock posts videos of himself throwing golf balls, iPods and whatnot.)

And even if a trip to China wasn't at stake, a total of 24 Masters athletes competed in exhibition events at the Trials -- 16 men over 40 in the 3,000-meter run and eight women over 40 in the 200-meter dash. In the sprint, Donna Lawrence, a 40-year-old from Austin, Texas, came from behind in the last 10 meters to edge world indoor champion Renee Henderson,   43,  of Merchantville, N.J.,  25.79 to 25.98 in a race witnessed by thousands at Hayward Field.

M45 world record miler Tony Young, 46, of Redmond, Wash., won the wind-buffeted 3K (a half-lap short of 2 miles) in 8:47.17 -- more than 7 seconds ahead of Andrew Duncan of Nevada. But No. 3 was perhaps the happiest medalist: Damian Baldovino.

A resident of Lakeview, Ore., Baldovino finished in a personal best 8:56.35 seconds -- in only his third track meet since running for Medford High School in the mid-1980s. "That was cool," Baldovino told his local paper. "I never even went to college, so for me, this was just huge. I was never in an NCAA meet or anything."

Tags: Track Javelin Racewalking

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What a difference a year makes. In June 2007, Jeff Hartwig of Arkansas was a run-of-the-mill world-class pole vaulter, taking second at the U.S. open national championships in Indianapolis with a mark of 18 feet, 8 1/4 inches and qualifying for the IAAF World Championships in Osaka, Japan.  Nice, but ho-hum. He got little attention.

Sunday in Eugene, Ore., Hartwig took second in the U.S. Olympic Trials with a jump of  18 feet,  8 1/4 inches and made the U.S.  team for the Beijing Olympic Games. Now Hartwig is a combination of Yoda and Superman -- prized for his wisdom and celebrated for his strength. Attention was being paid.

The difference? Hartwig is now 40.

Last September, when he celebrated the big Four-Oh, Hartwig graduated from being the reigning American record holder to the poster boy of Masters track. (I chronicled his every age-group record.) He lost his American record to Brad Walker this season -- but exacted revenge by beating him at the Trials.

Lynn Zinser featured him in The New York Times. The Eugene Register-Guard, flooding the zone with dozens of stories, detailed Hartwig's trials and tribulations. The Associated Press, Los Angeles Times, Boston Globe, USA Today, ESPN and dozens of foreign papers ate up his story, now legend -- how he made the 1996 Atlanta team, no-heighted at the 2000 Trials, failed again at the 2004 Trials and declared that there was "absolutely" no chance he'd try again in 2008.

After accepting his silver medal and taking a victory lap in Eugene, waving a small American flag, Hartwig spent a half-hour with the world press Sunday night explaining how he made a second Olympic team 12 years after his first.

"I never thought as a 36-year-old that it would be possible to be anywhere close to this level as a 40-year-old," Hartwig said. "And yet, I attribute my success as a 40-year-old to the fact that I've just never quit.. . . . If I thought I could go 10 more years (in the elite ranks), I would. I absolutely love the sport that much. This is certainly the way I want to go out, and I can tell you, pretty much guaranteed, for sure, that I'm done after this year."

That last remark might be taken with a grain of salt, but his delicious Masters feat deserves to be savored.

Some perspective:

At 40, Hartwig is the oldest American to make the U.S. team in the pole vault -- and easily the only man his age to make the Olympic "A" standard of 5.70 meters (18-8 1/4). Even if Hartwig had made the team with a lower clearance, he still had a qualifying mark from last winter, when he jumped 5.71 meters (18-8 3/4) indoors.

Now go back to 1954. That's when Roger Bannister ran the first sub-4-minute mile. When did man first take a giant leap over 18 feet in the vault? Not until 1970. On the IAAF decathlon scoring tables, a 5.70 vault is worth 1132 points. That's more than a 10.00 in the 100 (1096 points), and is equivalent (in points) to a 7-8 high jump.

And on June 22, 1976, American Dave Roberts raised the world record in the pole vault to 5.70. The meet locale? Eugene, Oregon.

In the course of explaining his elite longevity, Hartwig also recalled the advice given him by former Masters  indoor world record holder Earl Bell, a fellow Olympian: Don't ignore aches and pains. Treat minor injuries as major injuries.

Now it's time to think the unthinkable: Can a man who turns 41 on Sept. 25 win a medal in the Summer Olympic Games on Aug. 22, the day of the men's pole vault final?

Consider this: Hartwig's best mark in 2007 was 19-2 1/4. This season, only three men in the world have exceeded that mark -- American Walker, Australian Steven Hooker and Russian Evgeniy Lukyanenko.

Can lightning strike twice? Absolutely.

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Four years ago, at the U.S. Olympic Trials in Sacramento, a 36-year-old pole vaulter was feeling down. He was the American record holder in his event, but for the second Trials in a row, he was an also-ran. He failed to make his second Olympic team. 

Jeff Hartwig of Arkansas, the star-crossed vaulter, told the media:

"I said after 2000 (when he failed to clear his opening height at the Trials): 'I'll never let myself be that disappointed again.' This is par for the course for me at these kinds of meets. I'm absolutely in shock. This is what I do for a living, and the Olympics are a very small part of that. It's something that happens once every four years. I believe that maybe there's a little bit of luck -- or in my case bad luck -- that sort of comes with that. I was fortunate to go to the Olympics once (in 1996), and I'll cherish that forever. But I'm obviously disappointed."

Hartwig was asked if he'd compete at the 2008 Trials.

He replied: "Absolutely not -- no chance."

Well, guess what?

He's baaaaaccckkkk!

Hartwig, now 40, owns the No. 5 vault this year in the United States (18 feet, 8 3/4 indoors) but isn't one of the favorites to make the Beijing team. Track & Field News predicts he'll finish seventh at the Trials that start this weekend in Eugene, Ore. The men's final is this Sunday. If he makes the team, he'll likely be the oldest to compete in the vault at the Summer Games.

But he might not be alone among 40-somethings on the China-bound American track team.

A 44-year-old  from Manchester, New Hampshire, is a favorite to win the 20-kilometer (12.4-mile) race walk at the Trials on its final day: Sunday, July 6. Her name is Joanne Dow, and she's a mother of two. But wait! There's more! Teresa Vaill of Gainesville, Fla., has a chance, too -- at age 45. In 2004, Vaill was 43rd in the Athens Olympic 20-kilometer walk.

Track & Field News has this forecast of the women's 20K walk at the Trials: Vaill first, Dow second! Of course, finishing in the top three at Eugene doesn't guarantee you a place on the team. You also have to beat an Olympic qualifying standard. For the women, the standard is 1 hour, 33 minutes, 30 seconds. Vail's all-time personal best is 1:33:23, set in 2001. Dow's best is 1:32:55 from 2004. So they have their work cut out.

One potential Trials participant doesn't care if go misses the speedboat to China. But he's bound and determined to throw the javelin at the University of Oregon's Hayward Field on the Fourth of July. That's two-time British Olympian Arne "Roald" Bradstock of Atlanta.

Bradstock, who became an American citizen in 1996, is 46 -- and poised to be the oldest field eventer ever to compete in the U.S. Olympic Trials (at least in recent memory).

Bradstock wrote me: "I have to say that if I make the Trials, I will think of it as one of my greatest athletic accomplishments."

For now, Bradstock is playing the waiting game. He's currently 26th on the list of potential entrants, and recent practice of USATF organizers has been to invite the top 26 to the national championships or Trials.

"This is going to be very, very close," Bradstock says. "I believe I will end up being the last one in or the first one out. It is the first time I can think of that I am praying to be last!"

As best he can tell, he won't be informed of his fate until July 2 -- two days before the men's javelin prelims in Eugene. But he's been planning to attend the meet anyway, writing: "On July 2nd I will be having a javelin clinic at a local high school in Eugene: 'The Art of Javelin Throwing.' It will be free and open to athletes, coaches and the general public."

And should he make history as the oldest spearchucker in the Trials, what will he do then?

"I will be doing something extra-special for my seventh and final Olympic Trials performance: I will be debuting 'Optical' Javelins at the Olympic Trials along with matching hand-painted outfits that will match colors of the javelins.  There will be three different javelins with three different matching outfits -- black and white; red, white and blue; and Olympic colors."

None of those hues would rival the sunny smile of Bradstock if he lined up with America's best javelin throwers on Independence Day. Nor if Hartwig steps onto the podium at Hayward Field after the men's vault final June 29. Masters might be in the Olympics!

Ken Stone will be writing a live, continuously updated blog at the Olympic Trials. To read it, go to: http://www.signonsandiego.com/sports/weblog/track/

Tags: Track Olympics

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Linda Cohn raised her own W55 American record in the javelin, Annelies Steekelenburg upped her own W60 Dutch record in the high jump and I ran the slowest 100- and 200-meter dashes of my adult life Saturday at the Southern California Association USATF Masters Championships at Cerritos College in Norwalk, Calif.

Linda was delighted, Annelies thrilled. And me?

I was ecstatic beyond words.

Say what? Yup, I was hollering with joy Saturday after clocking 14.87 and 31.04 seconds in the 1 and 2 on the Mondo track at Cerritos. I learned that, seven months after ACL-reconstruction surgery, my repaired left knee was completely healed!

In finishing the races with no pain or strain, I discovered that my seven months of rehab had done the trick. And in being able to walk just fine on Father's Day, I realized that my comeback was well under way.

On  Nov. 5, 2007, I announced on my masterstrack.com blog: "The IAAF and WMA can't stop me. Tomorrow at 7 a.m., I undergo a two-hour procedure that will make me faster, stronger and extend my track career at least 50 years. I'm replacing my anterior cruciate ligament."

I later shared details of how Kaiser-Permanente's Dr. Donald Fithian, a world-class knee expert, would arthroscopically  insert a cadaver's 37-year-old patellar tendon where my 53-year-old ACL had been. (Giving me a chance to claim M35 status.)

At the time of the surgery, I had a matched set of torn ACLs. The right one was injured long jumping in 1974 (and reinjured high jumping in 1984). The left one went kablooey in October 2002 as I attempted to three-step the 100-meter hurdles at the Club West Masters Meet in Santa Barbara. After barely clearing the seventh hurdle, my left knee buckled like a house of cards and I crashed to the track (breaking my wrist in the process).

Over the next couple years, I built up the muscles and tendons and returned to sprinting. I competed at outdoor nationals in 2003, 2004, 2005 and 2006.

But I didn't need, or consider, ACL surgery until April 2007, when I reinjured the left knee upon takeoff in the high jump at the John Ward Masters Games in Santa Ana. After icing my knee, I told the gent running the event -- 1968 Olympic silver medalist Ed Carruthers -- thanks for helping. You just witnessed my last high jump.

But the knee got worse. I fell walking down a couple concrete stairs on my front porch. The knee went unstable just by stepping off a 3-inch curb. Time to get serious.

So I arranged to have my left ACL replaced. (And thank goodness my insurance covered everything. The total tab was $14,000!)

With encouragement of many friends, including a couple middle-aged hurdlers who had undergone the same operation, I did what needed to be done. I took it slowly. I focused on quad strength. I didn't jog until my therapist said OK. I learned that the new tissue took six months to revascularize, which means grow all the blood vessels and other needed cells.

The major danger in ACL rehab is stretching the "new" anterior cruciate ligament. For it to work well, it must stay "tight." So I promised to be a good boy.

And I was. I tested my knee in practice -- sprinting first in flats. Then a week before Cerritos, I did a dress rehearsal -- sprinting in spikes at the Pasadena Senior Games (not entering a race but timing myself on the backstretch while my wife competed in other events).

Saturday, my turnover was terrible. My pickup was pathetic. I used a standing start rather than a "down" block start. After someone else false-started in the 100, I was even more careful not to jump -- lest I be DQ'd in my first track meet in more than a year.

But running 1.5 seconds off my 2006 season best was still a revelation. Now I see myself getting stronger, faster, more limber. Now I'm good to go for the Olympic Trials in Eugene, Ore., in early July!

Think I'm kidding? The meet has a pair of "rest days" -- with no elite events scheduled. The second rest day provides adults a chance to run on the Hayward Field track -- an all-comers meets for fans.

But I won't stop there. The USATF Masters National Championships are in Spokane, Wash., in early August. Look for me there. And if my progress continues -- well, then I'll just have to hop a flight.

Watch out, Beijing!

Tags: Comeback Track ACL

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Leon Joslin is like a 1950s pop star -- he keeps getting rediscovered every decade by a new generation of media types. In 1997, at age 85, he was profiled by Craig Smith of the Seattle Times, who quoted him as saying: "Golf is for old people. This is a lot more fun and more physical. . . . Throwing weights is good exercise."

Leon is a weight man -- but not  the usual shot, discus and javelin chucker. He hurls the hammer and ultra- and superweights -- implements as heavy as 56 pounds. That caught the eye of Seattle Times photographer Alan Berner in January.

Berner wrote of Joslin, then 95: "They call him 'Mr. Fancy Pants' at his West Seattle retirement complex because of the brightly colored fabric he added to the outside seams of his pant legs. . . . But Leon Joslin . . . takes it in good humor because he's used to standing out. This summer he earned the world championship in the discus for the 95-99 age group with a toss of 52 feet, 8 inches, beating the record by 4 inches, at a sanctioned meet in Redmond, Wash. He previously held discus world championships in other age groups."

Last Thursday, it was TV's turn. Michael King of Seattle station Channel 5 gave Joslin's story three minutes of air time -- an eternity in this medium. (You can find links to these stories and the video clip at my blog on masterstrack.com.)

Now 96, Joslin is shown heaving a superweight (a big iron ball with a triangular handle attached to a short chain.) But the venue's significance isn't mentioned. In early September, the site will play host to the USATF Masters Weight and Superweight Championships and the Ultra Weight Pentathlon Championships.

In the TV video, Joslin retells the familiar stories -- how he played on a Michigan state high school football championship team with a kid named Gerry Ford and how he shared laughs on the 1934 Ohio State track team with a fellow thinclad named Jesse Owens.

It's too cute by half. Reporter King -- a smarmy gent in his late 20s or early 30s -- is shown in a community room at Leon's retirement home, saying: "While Leon's cohorts are playing a rousing game of bingo here where he lives, he's out there heaving heavy metal."

King strangely errs at one point, saying Joslin "just eats right, doesn't drink much, never smokes (and) loves his wife, Betty." (But the January story in the Times notes that his wife of 67 years died in 2006.) Oh well.

Still, Leon eats up the attention and rocks on, pulling out his well-practiced quips.

"When I get older, I'm going to start playing golf," Joslin says with a chuckle. "I'm not old enough to play golf yet."

Tags: Weight Throwing Joslin

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By workday, Tony Young of Seattle is a mild-manered loan officer for small businesses at Venture Bank, "with a sprinkling of commercial lending." By weekend, he's SuperMiler!

He's young, indeed, especially after claiming his first individual world record over the weekend at age 46. It came at the Portland Track Festival at Mt. Hood Community College, which featured one of the fastest Masters miles of all time.

And Young, running in the orange top of Club Northwest, was the star, taking the lead after a half-mile and running four laps in 4 minutes, 16.09 seconds to beat the listed M45 age-group world record of  4:16.75 by New Zealand's David Sirl in 1987. (He also crushed the listed American record of 4:18.83 by Ken Sparks in 1990.)

"I knew the American record was 4:18 and the WR record was 4:16 something," Young wrote me after the race.  "Since it was only my second effort on the track this season, I had a couple of attainable (goals) first: Finish on both feet! Get under 4:20 if I can. Try and negative split the race (2:10/2:06). Hold off a fast charging Pete!"

"Pete" would be national cross country champion Pete Magill of South Pasadena, Calif. -- also 46. Magill helped set the pace the first two laps and finished in a superb 4:21.34. A little further back, 58-year-old Nolan Shaheed, the professional trumpet player from Pasadena, Calif., was ninth in 4:43.85 -- just off the 4:40.4 M55 world record by Australia's Jack Ryan in 1977. Shaheed still holds the M55 American record of 4:42.7, set a year ago in Canby, Ore. 

Dave Clingan of Portland, Ore., the race organizer, handed out prize checks as follows: $200 to Young, $150 to Magill and $100 to 36-year-old Jonathan Swanson of McMinnville, Ore., whose early pace-setting made the record race possible.

Clingan described conditions as "near perfect. About 70 degrees, sunny and very slight  breeze." In the stands, someone shot video of the race. A link can be found on my blog at masterstrack.com.

Most amazing thing about the video?  The meet announcer never once mentions a world record in the making. Typical.

Not so typical was Young's time -- which on the World Masters Athletics Age-Graded Tables corresponds to an Open (ages 20-30) mark of 3:51.20. The only question now is: When will John Hinton race Young? On May 17, Hinton ran the 1500 meters in 3:57.77 -- his fourth sub-4 of the year in the metric mile. That's roughly equivalent to a 4:16.5 mile.

But in the Young household, Dad is struggling mightily to remain the fastest miler. At the Washington State High School Track Championships the previous weekend, Young's son Mack (then 15) ran a 4:19.20 mile (actually 1600 meters) to take seventh. Mac is the No. 2 sophomore in the state.

Coincidentally, the elder Young's high school best was 4:19, clocked in winning the Kentucky state prep championship back in 1979. Born in Chicago, Tony grew up in western Kentucky and later spent five years in the Navy. He went west and ran track for Cal State Los Angeles and clocked a 4:00.8 mile split during a distance medley relay and ran a 3:43 1500 (equivalent to a sub-4 mile).

On the letsrun.com message board, Young on Sunday wrote: "Yes, my son (16 today) is shocked that I beat his HS times this week, but has told me that it won't last. I love it!"

And Masters are loving Dad's super world record as well. And it should last.

Tags: Masters Mile Record

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Masters track has a documentary film ("Racing Against the Clock"), a newly published novel ("That Masterful Season") and a monthly newspaper -- soon to become a glossy magazine -- called National Masters News.

You ain't seen nuthin yet!

A Fresno high school teacher and filmmaker named Julia Dudley Najieb has begun taping a reality game show for TV that revolves around Masters track. Athletes can win $5,000 cash prizes for their high school alma maters. Fox Sports Net, a second-tier cable network, has a deal to air at least one season. 

The show is called "T.R.A.C.K. Live!" and will feature several dozen track and field athletes from their early 30s to a pair of gentleman aged 70. (The Web site is http://www.tracklive.tv/)

The first taping took place May 17-18 at the University of Nevada Las Vegas, with temps topping 100 and a few athletes losing their cool. The event schedule was changed at the last minute, and at least one sprinter suffered a season-ending injury for lack of a warmup. My blog at masterstrack.com was buzzing with reaction and first-person accounts of the UNLV meet, taped by five cameras.

The downside was a meager turnout -- fewer than 60 athletes showed, and some of them came only for the meet. Maybe half them will proceed to meets in June, July and August in Fresno (with taped coaching sessions in the interim).

After the Las Vegas meet, Dudley Najieb wrote entrants: "Congratulations on making history for the first competitive track & field reality show to appear on Fox Sports Net! Everyone did a great job in Las Vegas; this is just the beginning.

"We appreciate your patience through all the show changes; that's entertainment for ya!"

Dudley Najieb also wrote me:

"There were some incredible backstories of people we filmed; there were very compelling accounts from athletes of their backgrounds, their stories, their perspective of the sport. So although there was a dismal turnout, what did turn out were diamonds in the rough who deserve recognition based on their talents and varied backgrounds. That's what will help uplift the image of this sport -- getting the personal stories of these incredible athletes.

"Although we had different expectations for the turnout, the great thing about the entertainment world is that there is always a Plan B, C, and D. We went with Plan D, which works even better. Some athletes who attended will be shocked of what they see in the first show. This is not boring stuff; there was much more than competition that happened that day.

"The athletes who were there do not know this because they were competing and focused. (Happenings will be revealed during the show and parts of the sizzle reel.)

"It is unfortunate that athletes signed up and did not show; this only makes it harder for them when Season 2 comes around because then we will have to charge the entry fee immediately upon sign-up to save officials the headaches and make sure the deadline is set with no exceptions. (They were quite disgusted with the extra work when athletes who had confirmed (but) still didn't show up at the last minute.)

"There were over 300 signups, but at least 110 people confirmed, even the week before! About 53 people showed up for the meet -- it's no wonder we complain about not having the spotlight for our sport when we can't show up to a TV show premiering our sport!

"Of course, we wish that athletes did not get hurt; however, meet schedules were changed due to the short heats and no-shows two days before the meet. Officials had to do what was best for the athlete; they told us that they did not want athletes waiting around too long in the Las Vegas heat, we agreed. That's another reason we wanted athletes to get in town early enough in case of schedule, event or heat changes -- we allowed a number of athletes to add and change events the day before.

"So now the 53 athletes will move on to training in Reedley (Calif,), as a TRACK Live! team, where the meets will be June 21, July 19 and August 2 in Fresno. The last meet may have only family members and the youth community from the challenges, due to contract disclosure issues.

"Athletes will not be eliminated but instead scored at the different meets based on the age-graded system, according to their events instead, because that is only part of the competition. They will also gain points based on their community tasks, team challenges and sportsmanship. By the final meet, there will be the top eight athletes who will win the challenge -- this is how producers and the CORE committee have changed it thus far.

"All in all, the meet was efficient and official; we posted the results on the website and the 2008 team members. We are very pleased with the athletes who attended and content with the footage we got, which will be interesting enough for an hour of reality show. The audience will not just be watching a track meet."

Dudley is sensitive to her critics. So she made an appeal:

"Please ask readers to have faith in what we are doing and know that we have filmed beyond the competition -- we are uplifting the image of the sport and premiering dedicated master athletes. (Remember we will also be highlighting track & field facts, our veteran coaches and judges and other aspects of the show to make it interesting.) The show is still a success, even with the low turnout. No need to worry! :-) "

Even so, several Masters athletes questioned the convoluted organization of the show, which mixed Oprah's "Big Give" charity work with coaching scenes and real competition.

But there's no question the athletes are the real deal.

Among them are former GeezerJock of the Year Bill Collins and two-time Olympic high jumper Reynaldo Brown. Rey Brown high-jumped 5-7 3/4 at age 57 at the Las Vegas meet, but Collins didn't make it to the starting line. Collins had to return home to Houston for a family emergency (but he'll be allowed to continue with the show).

And the celebrity coaches/judges are eye-openers as well. They include Olympic discus thrower John Powell, Olympic long jumper Ralph  Boston and legendary sprinter Tommie Smith -- he of the Mexico City award-ceremony protest.

If nothing else, I'll be tuning in for Tommie!

Tags: TV Track Reality Show

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Few sports are as strenuous as track and field. You're expected to go all-out, whether it be sprinting, jumping or throwing. This takes a tremendous toll on the joints, bones and muscle groups. Just to survive your event inspires pride of achievement.

And that's one reason why Masters athletes love this game. They've tested themselves and passed. Now comes another test -- with nostalgia as a draw.

Baby boomers of the LBJ years recall the Presidential Physical Fitness Award. Schools nationwide made kids 10 through 17 take a series of tests in P.E. And the best were awarded cool patches. It was an outgrowth of fitness initiatives begun under President Eisenhower and expanded under JFK. John Kennedy, in fact, stressed fitness for all ages, and encouraged members of his staff to join him in 50-mile hikes. (Some declined.)

Here's how The Associated Press reports the latest effort to prod Americans out of their flabby habits:

"If you didn't get a Presidential Physical Fitness Award in school, the government is giving you another chance to prove you're in shape. An adult fitness test is being introduced Wednesday by the President's Council on Physical Fitness and Sports. It will incorporate several of the exercises that millions of students undertake each year as they aim for a certificate signed by the president."

Like the tests of the 1960s, the new set involve three components -- aerobic fitness, muscular strength and flexibility. Specifically, you do a one-mile walk or 1.5-mile run. The strength test is push-ups (done until failure) and sit-ups (done for one minute). And a stretching exercise called the "sit-and-reach" is used to measure flexibility.

Scores from all four of the tests can be entered online. You also plug in your age, gender, height and weight.

"You won't get a presidential certificate," reports the AP, "but the results will then show where you rank among people of the same age. For example, if someone scores in the 75th percentile for push-ups, that means 75 percent of the scores fall below your score."

The Web site is: www.adultfitnesstest.org/

(You can retake the test later, too and re-score yourself.)

Masters tracksters, who rarely shy from a test of fitness, will likely crash the system with their flood of data. But the results won't tell them anything they don't already know.

Just running track at our age puts us in the top 5 percentile.

Tags: Track Award Fitness

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