Masters sprinters in New England, unite! (At least online)
One of my pet peeves is “track clubs” that are anything but. My favorite example is the storied San Diego Track Club, which began more than 50 years ago as a bunch of San Diego State University track alumni who wanted to keep the cinder fires burning. But for at least 20 years, the SDTC has been 99% devoted to long-distance running. Fine for the roadies, but not for the sprinties. So I was delighted to learn of a new masters track club that specializes in sprints.
Larry Libow, an M55 sprinter and computer maven in Springfield, Massachusetts, has launched a Web site catering to middle-aged fast guys. He calls it Mass Velocity.
The site is new, and has some growing to do. But already it’s a far sight better home page than many in our niche, offering an online forum, for example.
What I like most is its attitude.
Libow writes:
“There are running clubs for road racers, marathoners, cross-country harriers and joggers, but there are few clubs dedicated to the the purest form of running – the sprint. Welcome to the Mass Velocity Track Club. This virtual club is built around a core of about a two dozen Masters Sprinters from throughout Massachusetts, New England and the Northeast. Some belong to other running clubs, many are unattached, but we all share a camaraderie as sprinters. Hopefully Mass Velocity will allow us to keep in touch with one another between meets, share training tips, nutritional information and generally support one another.”
Just FYI: Libow is creating an online community similar to one I tried nearly 10 years ago. It didn’t last — mainly because of my failure to fan the flames. But the Webmaster Track Club still resides in the archives (and my heart).
Anuther thing I like about Libow: He’s not a world-class, freak-of-nature phenom out to stroke his own ego. In fact, he’s relatively mediocre. He runs the 100 in low 14s. Ran a 31.6 indoor 200 in January. Bill Collins won’t lose any sleep.
But my point — and I do have one — is that sometimes the best Web sites are those fashioned by the worst athletes. You KNOW they’re doing it as a labor of love.
Best of luck to Larry and his sprint pals.
Related posts:
- Masters sprinters are serious focus of Finnish dissertation
- Bloggers unite! Interview each other, and stay on track
- New online home for sprinters! But where are masters?
- New England USATF helps confuse masters records
- Penn Relays amounting to masters nationals for sprinters
