2017 National Senior Games awarded to Birmingham, Alabama
The NSGA website says nothing, but The Associated Press (and Alabama media) are reporting that Birmingham will host the 2017 National Senior Games. The 2015 Games are in the Minneapolis area. So for the first time since 2007, when Louisville played host, the daddy of all Senior Olympics will be in the Deep South. “Competitions will be held around the Birmingham area at venues including UAB, the Birmingham CrossPlex, Pelham’s tennis center and Oak Mountain State Park,” the AP says. UAB, BTW, is not the Crimson Tide school. That’s in Tuscaloosa. This Alabama cheers the Blazers. I’m not sure where the track meet is, but here’s the facilities page.
7 Responses
I worked in B’ham after college – late 1950’s – I bet the city has changed a lot since then. UAB was just starting way back then. I bacame seriously addicted to southern fried chicken, black bottom pie and key lime pie and it showed.
June dates for track and field now specified:
http://nsga.com/media/documents/printable-comp-schedule.pdf
Track and Field venue it Samford University (not to be confused with Stamford University). It is in Homewood a suburb of Birmingham. I toured the facilities when I was in Birmingham for the NSG Annual Conference.
The facilities seem to be fine -9 lane track -it is a track and soccer facility- but there is no shade, no covered stands, -they promise to have something,, and there is neither housing nearby nor public transportation. University dorm facilities are not being offered. One will have to stay in a hotel at a bit of a distance and have a car. I asked about shuttles from the main city hotels and suggested that some athletes cannot afford car rental and some of us are at the age when car rental companies really do not want to rent to us and frankly some of us should not be driving in unfamiliar areas.
They seemed surprised by that. The same will be the case for a number of other sports. Only those sports that will be held at the Civic Center in downtown Birmingham will be convenient to the main hotels and public transportation.
As for morning/evening events for track and field (it can be very hot and humid in early June) – they have lights for the field but will the schedule be split? I am guessing they will run the longest events in the middle of the afternoon when it is very hot – as happened in St Paul last summer.
http://samfordsports.com/sports/2012/6/28/GEN_0628124808.aspx?id=14
I overlooked news that 2019 National Senior Games are going to ABQ:
https://www.abqjournal.com/806525/abq-selected-at-site-of-2019-national-senior-games.html
Mary, there are probably a thousand hotel rooms within a few miles of the Samford Track. I have officiated at many youth and masters meets at Samford and the facility is excellent. You are correct about the shade and NSG has promised tents at every event.
Homewood is bounded by Birmingham, Mt. Brook and Vestavia. All three have hotels close by and relatively inexpensive. If you stay in the “meet” hotels you do have a 10-15 minute drive.
Having lived and worked in Birmingham – decades ago – and having visited there last January for the NSG meeting – I am familiar with the location of the Samford Track. The issue for me and it could be – for others around my age , is that I do not want to rent a car (and car rental agencies are not eager to rent to folks my age) so this 10-15 minute drive by car is not an option. There is no public transportation to the university track either. I asked specifically about a shuttle being available last January. The answer was – in brief -Huh”. Now I see in the latest NSG newsletter that there will be a shuttle to nearby parking lots. That is no help for those who do not have cars. If I do not participate in the NSG in Birmingham this will be the main reason why I am not there. Waking to the track from the “nearby relatively inexpensive hotels” is not an option. There are other venues as well that will require participants to have transportation by car – Tennis, Swimming, etc. These are things that should be addressed in the bid process or dealt with by shuttles.
For Mary Harada and others, using Uber or Lyft is another option instead of renting a car. It may actually end up being less expensive than a car rental, once you total up the costs.
Leave a Reply