Huntsman World Senior Games come and go (yawn)
The track and field portion of the annual Huntsman World Senior Games concluded a week ago, and results from 10 track and field events are posted as PDFs. As usual, we’ve seen complaints about Utah meet’s management, including a male thrower who ripped ’em a new one. The thrower writes: “Just returned again from the track meet at Saint George. What an experence that was again. The first day we got rained out and so on Tuesday noon we were going to throw the shot. When we got to the shot put pit we were told it was going to be an open pit and we could throw whenever we wanted to throw.â€
The thrower continued:
“How do you throw when you have no idea what every one else has done? The line to throw was well there was 30 people ahead of me and I was cold and not warmed up at all when it was my turn to throw again. ONLY THREE THROWS AGAIN.
“Three throws seems to be the going thing any more. The discus was not rained out but did not close the event until about three hours after the event was over. (just in case someone else wanted to throw) I returned to Saint George after three years thinking that by now they would have things improved. No way. I will not ever be going back to that meet again.
“I never did get my medal in the shot put as I had to get on the road to Montana and as told they were going to hand them out tomorrow. But Living in Montana and working for a living I had to get back to Montana and could and would not stay over night again just for a medal.
“I hope you don’t think I am just sour grapes, cause I am not. Everything else about the meet was great. They just don’t know how to run a meet.â€
Me again:
The only Montana medalist listed in the shot results was M55 champion Bruce Jones of Livingston, Montana. His fault is having been spoiled by throwing in USATF-sanctioned meets. He’s been a finalist at several outdoor nationals.
But his point is taken: Don’t patronize meets that don’t treat masters trackfolk well.
5 Responses
My one and only experience at the Huntsman games was in 2004, and it was negative as well. I am also a thrower, and I too have vowed never to return to the Huntsman Games for many of the same reasons noted in this post. It was so bad in 2004 that I actually thought one of the throwers was going to come to blows with one of the officials. I’m very sypmathetic to the long hours the volunteers put in at these events, but given the high entry fees and the cost of travel and lodging, competitors deserve a well-run meet.
I participated in the Huntsmen “world” games several years ago and I found it to be like the original amateur hour. There were very few officials and they were mostly locals who did not seem to know the rules. Some high school kids helped out – nice of them to give up a day for that, not so nice for the athletes. There was little real competition, some very nice women from an Asian country were there – apparently they had gone to school together many years ago, they walked in the race walk – as in “walk” not race walk, jogged slowly in the track races, making it look like a field day at the local park.
I have no clue why this meet claims to be “world” games, and aside from the opportunity to go to Utah and sightsee, I would not recommend it to any even semi-serious track and field athlete. Frankly I would be suspicious of any American or World record someone claims to have set in that meet. Is it sanctioned? How on earth could it be sanctioned?
I had planned to throw the discus at the Games but was told to skip the meet by other throwers. It looks like I was given good advice.
We spend a lot of money going to these competitions. Occasional glitches are expected but making the same mistakes every year is inexcusable.
Several years ago, I entered the Senior Games in Pasadena. I flew from to LA from Sacramento, rented a car, and stayed in a hotel for two nights in a hotel. They cancelled the discus because they didn’t have the key to the cage. Many of us take the sport very seriously. We deserve more than poorly run meets. Don’t put on a meet if you can’t do it right.
Perhaps the folks at Eugene should publish a guide to hosting track meets. Those people know how to run a track meet.
I will start by saying that the comments previously posted do have some merit, but I feel compelled to say something positive about the Huntsman World Senior Games. I have been to this track meet for the past 4 years and some of my greatest memories as a “rookie” track and field athlete have occurred there. Their opening ceremonies are magical and I will never forget how I truly felt like an “olympic athlete” when I was at the Huntsman World Senior Games. The reason they can legitimately call it the “world” games is that they really do draw contingents from around the world. The athletes from Barbados grow in number each year and so does their level of competition. There are numerous athletes from Canada who participate, and this year there were competitors from Trinidad. I have not yet had the opportunity to compete outside the United States and yet because of these games I have experienced international competition. No it is not your typical USATF masters track meet, and there is room for improvement, but I think some of the problems that occurred this year were due to the weather and thus beyond their control. As a thrower I share your frustration with 3 throws, (personally my best marks usually occur on the 5th attempt), but I don’t think their original intent was to limit our throws. The rain and lightning on Monday forced them to alter their meticulously planned schedule, and most of your complaints are about their best attempts to allow all of our events to take place. In closing I would say that Huntsman does many things right at their games and I also feel certain that they would be more than willing to correct what “serious” track and field athletes feel they do wrong in order to improve their track and field competition.
Although I am anot mature enought yet to participate in the Huntsman World Senior Games, the organizers do their best and does an excellent job in my opinion. I did the 2001 USAT&F masters meet in Baton Rouge and found their meet lacking in many respects. If you have a problem(s), Huntsman World Senior Games does have a website http://www.seniorgames.net. Please let them know of your concerns and ideas for improvements. You cannot control the weather. My mother has been to the games in the past five years in road races (running) and track events and enjoy the competition and many good folks around the world. She made many friends from Barbados and Brazil plus others. By the way, congratulations to Linda Cohn for her records at St. George. If more of you folks that are die-hard competitors go there and compete, maybe the competition would be tougher. But anyone who wins at St. George deserves it and do not be small-minded. If you are better, go there. In the meantime, be quiet and respect others.
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