Be prepared for a rush at Landover: tight nationals schedule
Record turnouts are great. But the Landover masters nationals this month will be severely tested, if the detailed meet schedule is any indication. At Penn Relays, we’re used to seeing an assembly line of races — one after another by minutes or less. But at masters nationals, events usually arrive at a more leisurely pace. Not this time. “For example, the M40 400 on Saturday has 17 runners (16 in listed entries plus 1 foreign),” writes a friend. “That event is given a total of 3 minutes on the schedule. I doubt that even the Penn Relays could run three 400s in less than 9 minutes. Three minutes. Wow.” So be forewarned: Be ready for anything at Landover — meet delays as well as zero-tolerance for people checking in late. Hope they can squeeze everything in!
Here’s the sked for Sunday, March 22 (with times starting in the morning):
9:30 W55 200m 1st round
9:34 W50 200m 1st round
9:36 W45 200m 1st round
9:40 W40 200m 1st round
9:44 W35 200m 1st round
9:46 M75 200m 1st round
9:48 M70 200m 1st round
9:55 M65 200m 1st round
10:05 M60 200m 1st round
10:15 M55 200m 1st round
10:21 M50 200m 1st round
10:33 M45 200m 1st round
10:45 M40 200m 1st round
10:50 M35 200m 1st round
10:55 M30 200m 1st round
11:00 W55-84 800m final
11:05 W50 800m final
11:10 W45 800m final
11:15 W40 800m final
11:20 W30-39 800m final
11:25 M75-94 800m final
11:30 M70 800m final
11:35 M65 800m final
11:40 M60 800m final
11:48 M55 800m final
11:56 M50 800m final
12:04 p.m. M45 800m final
12:12 M40 800m final
12:15 M30-39 800m final
12:20 W70-84 800m final
12:23 W60-69 800m final
12:26 W55 200m final
12:29 W50 200m final
12:31 W45 200m final
12:34 W40 200m final
12:37 W35 200m final
12:40 W30 200m final
12:43 M85-94 200m final
12:46 M80 200m final
12:49 M75 200m final
12:52 M70 200m final
12:55 M65 200m final
12:58 M60 200m final
1:00 M55 200m final
1:03 M50 200m final
1:06 M45 200m final
1:09 M40 200m final
1:12 M35 200m final
1:15 M30 200m final
Fifty races in less than four hours? This will be interesting.
11 Responses
I guess this is why they call it a challenging meet. Three 400s for the M40 group in 3 minutes, including calling them to the line, checking their hip numbers, having them tinker with their blocks, pointing out where they can all break for the pole, etc. Giving them three commands, then watching them run for 52 to 60 seconds or so.
That is truly a challenge — as I will be the announcer for track events I will be watching all of this very closely indeed. More realistic but still very challenging is the M70 400, which requires two sections. The two races together were given 3 minutes. Again, I hope that meet management can pull it off.
I have been to a number of indoor national meets, and my experience is that this schedule goes beyond very wishful thinking. I was looking at the hurdle schedule with the same reaction.
An unrealistic schedule contributes to even greater problems such as inevitable delays, increasing congestion at the start, huge crowds around the clerk, confusion, short tempers, and an unpleasant experience for all concerned.
A couple of false starts in an early reace would sink the schedule for the entire day, rendering the schedule useless and irrevalent except for the order of events.
Perhaps the organizers, if they are not familiar with the very real issues of herding geezers into position, will accept the guidance of the masters committee who should review the schedule and point out the hazards of trying to put 10 pounds of races into a 5 pound bag. We should use the experience of previous meets and avoid recurring problems. No one, including the LOC, wants a fiasco.
I propose a redo. I would rather finish later than not have a realistic schedule.
I second the comments by Cortland Grey. An unrealistic schedule will just raise the temperature all around.
I note, for example, that 15 min is alloted for the women 50-74 3000m race. Most of the competitors will finish well below this time but 2-3 will not. Already the schedule will be off – unless the officials declare that at 14:30 any competitor still on the track will either be dragged off the track or forced to move to the outermost lane to compete their race. This will happen also with the older men. Already the meet is likely to fall behind schedule and this is on Friday with the 3k for pete sake – not with multiple heats of sprinters. And on Friday afternoon there is time to recover with races running late into the afternoon -while on Sat and Sunday – lordy
And ..it just blew me away to see the 3k starting at 10:30 am – when usually the 3k heats start in mid-afternoon. How many will be unable to make their start time because they assumed they could arrive sometime around noon on Friday and still compete. Folks make travel plans more than 10 days in advance of a meet. To make a morning race will require some to take Thursday off – and on very short notice which may not be possible for some.
But – this is nothing compared with the mess to be made on Sat and Sunday.
Like the saying – be careful what you wish for – they wished for a record setting number of competitors and they got it. But I think they forgot about the part of being able to cope with the numbers.
Having participated in the Penn Relays I have some understanding of the organization required to get athletes on and off the track in an efficient manner. Those officials have had years of experience and it is a grand dance to watch. Good intentions are not the same as expertise.
We all need to pack an extra bag of patience for this meet.
Another question for which I haven’t seen an answer is the check in deadline. It’s been a while since I ran indoors, but I remember check in deadlines being an hour before the first scheduled race of your event. My heat of the 3000 is scheduled for 3:15 pm, but the first 3000 heat is 10:30 am. Do the M30-45 runners in the 3000 need to check in 6 hours before our race is scheduled?
I haven’t been to an indoor nationals before, but last year the schedule had the first 3000 meters starting at 4:00 PM. Now it’s starting at 10:30 AM. The rest of the Pentathlon events are not even listed in the schedule. When are they going to be held if the 3000 meters starts at 10:30 AM and end at 3:40 PM?
I just noticed that the W65,W70, and W75 for the 200 meters is not on the schedule at all. There are 8 of us in this category. I sent an email to the meet website to alert them but where/how are they going to fit us in??
Margaret: It looks like the W65 and W70 200 (finals) are scheduled for 12:23 pm on Sunday. The schedule erroneously lists them as an 800.
However, since the meet has hundreds of people in the 800 and hundreds of others in the 200 you must expect a substantial delay (in other words, I don’t see how we can move so many legions of people through the meet in the time allotted). Looking forward to announcing you.
P. Taylor
Mary Harada: Your 3000 (W50 through W70) is now at 12:45 pm on Friday (I think it was at 10:45 in the earlier listing). The first of the 3000 runs will be at 10:30 with M50 only. I believe that women 30-49 will run at 10:45.
Margaret Kaufman: Correction has now been made to W65 and W70 200 (scheduled for 12:23 on Sunday as noted).
For those of us multi-eventers who are genetically programmed to enter as many events as possible after traveling thousands of miles to a meet, the indoor schedule presents a different set of problems. It’s not so bad if you are a sprinter or a jumper. But if you are trying to be both it is certainly a challenge on Saturday to run a 60m at 9:20 am, then start the high jump at 10:00 am, and with luck in making the final, another 60m at 10:49 am. Or on Sunday start the Triple Jump at 9:40 am and then stop to go run a 200m at 10:15 am. Come to think of it, not keeping to the schedule might turn out to be a blessing.
Thanks Peter for the info re the time change for my event. This meet is looking to be one big cluckfuster – how on earth is one to keep tabs on the time changes? For those who do not read this blog (where all the masters news that is fit to print – is printed!) are likely to have NO CLUE about these changes. The younger men running the 3k may turn up hours after their heat is over not knowing that the schedule has been changed. My prediction is that many may miss the 3k because of the early start times and the inability or unwillingness to change travel plans, take more time off from work, or not knowing that the heat times are being shuffled around.
What a mess – and the meet has yet to start!
Thank you, Mary. Just a brief update to my post above: The M50 3000, which as I note above had been moved into the 10:30 AM slot (originally occupied by the W50+ slot, I believe) has now been moved into the 12:30 pm slot. The M55 3000, whose original placement eludes me, has now been moved into the 10:30 am slot.
The M40 400, which is what caught my attention originally, will require three final races and continues to occupy 3 minutes on the schedule. Apparently, that will not be changed.
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