Mt. SAC is candidate for 2009 masters nationals
Mt. SAC stands for Mt. San Antonio College. The springtime Mt. SAC Relays, a three- or four-day affair east of Los Angeles, is one of the best meets on the April calendar in the United States. In 2009, it could be the home of the USATF masters nationals as well. That’s the hope of the Southern California Association of USATF at least. Mark Cleary of SoCal writes: “The LA bid is structured to be an evening meet from approx. 4:30 to 9:30 p.m. over the four days. Azusa (Pacific University) was originally chosen because Citrus College is about 200m away and both tracks would be used. Azusa is now plan B. Mt. SACis plan A using Cal Poly Pomona across the street for mainly preliminaries.”
Mark continues (in a comment posted on another entry):
“Cal Poly also has their own hotel on campus (they have a Hotel Management major) and the rates are outstanding. In regard to the hot smogy weather the last gentleman was talking about, even the meets that are held in the LA area during the day are not bad at all and trust me those that have survived Charlotte, Orlando and Baton Rouge over the years will think they are in heaven with conditions that an evening meet will provide in California.
“Evenings in Southern California are very pleasant and the wind dies down for calm conditions. We have had to wait until the National office paid Mt. SAC the $4,000.00 they owed them before we could proceed and that was just done at the end of last week 4 months after the Open Club Nationals were held there. We are moving forward now and should have more information shortly.”
Me again:
The Mt. SAC Relays have been accommodating to masters events (mainly handicap and scrach sprints) for years. The track is fast, and the amenities wonderful. And if the event is held at night, under the lights, the August conditions should be paradise.
Mt. SAC is a superb site for a masters nationals. It also would get a ton of local press, especially if all our great stars show up. It would have a good chance of breaking the 2,000-entry mark, which has been a Holy Grail in recent years.
Hope this bid pans out!
4 Responses
“It was warm last July at Mt. SAC, but by 7pm the entire track was cast in shade and temps were down. Dry and still, nearly ideal conditions for 800m and 1500m runners.”
– Mark Alexander
This is great. Its about time that we get a venue that will have comfortable conditions and will be contested at night. After the nightmare in Charlotte, andthe hot humid conditions that there will be in Orono and Spokane, I hope that MtSac gets it. It will be nice to finally be able to drive to a Nationals from Arizona.
Also as far as conflicting with other meets, For us active and retired Police Officers and Firefighters, The Vancouver World Police and Fire Games are being contested during the end of July and Beginning of August. How about if they have Nationals at the end of July so the Senior Olympians can go to Sacramento and compete, and the Cops and firefighters can go straight to Vancouver after Nationals?
Just a thought
Tim, right now we have proposed dates of July 30th-August 2nd.We will cross promote our Nationals with the Senior Games Nationals to be held August 1st – the 15th in San Francisco.They don’t have their Track & Field competition in the first couple of days, so an athlete could contest our Championships and go on up the coast and get a second National meet in San Francisco the next week.We are trying our best for a win win situation with the Senior Games folks. Stay tuned. I will head up the LOC and I am working on the 2009 Bid.
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