The mysteries of the Millrose Games relay dispute
Mark Cleary, Wendi Glassman and others have been carrying on a lively debate about whether Shore AC’s entry in the Millrose Games 4×4 relay is kosher. But many questions are still hanging, most notably: Will the Shore AC masters women run Friday night? Here are some points I’d like to see resolved, and soon.
— Why is Mark Cleary, who lives thousands of miles away, so invested in this dispute? Yes, he’s the USATF Masters Invitational Program chief, but he has no official role in this event. He’s not Mary Rosado’s boss or mentor. Why is he so wrapped up in defending her?
— Why no peep from Mary? Can’t she defend herself?
— Why are the women’s teams under such a microscope but not the men’s teams?
— Shouldn’t Job One be filling the lanes at Madison Square Garden? Leaving Shore out just makes the field more anemic. Empty lanes suggest we don’t care — and threaten the masters from being disinvited in the future.
— Who does Mary answer to? How did she come to coordinate these exhibition events?
— Does the USATF Masters Executive Committee have any say in this matter? If so, why haven’t we heard from the leadership?
— Why can’t USATF leadership step in to resolve this situation definitively?
— More important: Why can’t Shore get its act together and pull in one direction?
— What’s the attitude of Millrose Game organizers? Do they think Shore AC should be excluded? Might they instead prefer that Shore run — for competition’s sake?
— What’s the worst thing that can happen if Shore runs?
This relay was supposed to be a showcase of all that’s good in masters track. Instead, it’s devolved into acrimony over minutiae — displaying what’s bad about masters track.
10 Responses
Ken, the Milrose relays were made part of the Masters Invitational program this year. Mary is in charge of this event,but it is part of the program–that’s why I have tried to clarify some things that were not understood.Mary is very busy and can’t drop eveything like her work at this time to repond to every arguement being made by people outside the situation.She delt with the club president of Shore A.C.–It’s only because Mary Championed the cause that the Masters women’s 4 x 400 relay is back in the meet this year– people oh her a lot I would say that folks should be a little bit more careful what they say about her.
Thanks for clearing up that question, Mark. I searched the USATF Web site and found your name as a contact for this event:
http://www.usatf.org/events/2007/MastersInvitationalProgram/entry/Millrose.asp
The entry deadline is still listed as TBA, however, and I never heard your name mentioned as a contact person until now.
Also: I spoke to Jim Reilly by phone a few days ago, and he never brought your name up. When was your name added to the contact list? Perhaps some of these issues might have been resolved earlier had Shore AC known you had authority in this area.
I just used archive.org to see what the USATF Web site said about the Millrose Games masters events. According to the USATF Web site preserved for April 28, 2006, Millrose is listed as a Feb. 3 masters event.
Your name is listed on this as well. But I don’t recall having seen this:
http://web.archive.org/web/
20070131235312/http://www.usatf.org
/events/2006/MastersInvitationalProgram
/entry/Millrose.asp
Yet you say in your comment above that the Millrose Games relays were added to the masters invitational program this year for the first time.
Finally, my blog post of December 2005 contained the contact names of only Reilly and Rosado for the 2006 Millrose Games masters relays:
http://masterstrack.com/blog/000591.html
No mention of your name on this form — despite its presence in the 2006 and 2007 Millrose Games application info sites. I’m confused.
Ken, Mary is in Charge,Jim works on the Men’s fields.I don’t want people coming to me with any issues from this meet–Mary has the authority to make any final decision having to do with this event. I do not work on this event–but we felt it was a quality event and adopted it into the Masters Invitational Program. I have to be at all the other events in the program and do not have time in my schedule to fly to the East Coast two times in one month–I will be in Boston two weeks later for the U.S. Open Champs for the Masters Invitational 800’s–anything else call me I have spent way too much time on this blog this week.
It seems to me that situations like these should be referred to some kind of Masters Track & Field arbitration board. As far as I know, no such thing exists, but maybe it’s time to create one. Perhaps a three person group under the auspices of the MTF executive committee could do the job. Get the facts, hear both sides, make a ruling, and move on…
Whatever the review process might be, one thing seems obvious–it should never be left to an athlete participating in the event.
Hey Wendi .. NO i did not break my fingers…and as you MAY know im ALWAYS open to giving my opinion UNLIKE 90% of masters athletes. Ive been “listening” and its really interesting. Im glad to see a few people actually “found their voice”..bravo for them. We sure learn a LOT more when things are brought OUT INTO THE OPEN. MY FEELING is that the Shore AC womens team was CHEATED. I felt that way when you first brought this situation to my attention and i feel that way now even stronger. Rosado “got you off the track” rather plain and simple. Mark Cleary can say anything he wants about the “hard working”..”well respected” Mary….it does not mean his statements are accurate. Mary has significantly limited a contender for a precious Millrose medal from the race SHE WILL RUN IN…wow…lets hear how people get around that REALITY.Mary felt “red flags” went up with the Shore AC application??? that is INCREDIBLE coming from a person whos team the NIKE CENTRAL PARK TRACK CLUB has a history ( i will be happy to provide dates)of “not being honest” in relay events. This is all very very interesting. A point everyone seems to ignore is the one Ed Gonera made….only 2 of 6 teams were/are legal..they had NOT in fact registered with USATF. Non withstanding Mark Clearys “explanation”…this is total BS. Louise not running tomorrow night is a TOTAL disgrace to the entire program. Mary got her way…but she has to deal with the truth REGARDLESS if she ever recognizes it. That seems to happen a bit too frequently in Masters track..”administrators” get to “create” reality. I have fought for YEARS to get recognition for records my team Sprint Force America has set..in NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS..and have gotten just about NO support from the athletes…seems they had “broken fingers” regarding this subject. When ANYONE of us is cheated WE ARE ALL cheated..thats how i feel. Im not much of a “politician” or a “lawyer” im just a sincere athlete. I spent over 18 months trying to make Millrose better for WE athletes i was dismissed…and so it goes. Ed Smalls coordinated the event for many years and it did just fine. In conclusion i want to THANK KEN STONE for this forum…where we who have opinions can freely state them.To all those “too busy” you dont fool anyone..
All together now:
Let Shore Run!!! Let Shore Run!!! Let Shore Run!!!
Good idea Dave on an Arbitration Board. One that could be convened almost immediately whenever necesary. And as Wendi points out, where an involved athlete, and a lawyer at that, would automatically recuse themselves from the actual decision making process.
And maybe the Board could also handle appeals for records that have been denied or just ignored for no apparant cause. Sprint Force and others have tried for years now to get seemingly legitimate World and American Records approved yet get no explananation for their exclusion and no course for their remedy. So what else can they do? What recourse do they have? Maybe the Board would offer at least some explanantion and provide more accountability.
— Why is Mark Cleary, who lives thousands of miles away, so invested in this dispute? Yes, he’s the USATF Masters Invitational Program chief, but he has no official role in this event. He’s not Mary Rosado’s boss or mentor. Why is he so wrapped up in defending her?
Good ?????? Bi-coastal relationships never work out
— Why no peep from Mary? Can’t she defend herself?
New Seasons of Law & Order, Boston Legal just released on DVD
— Why are the women’s teams under such a microscope but not the men’s teams?
Ten Letters You Figure
— Shouldn’t Job One be filling the lanes at Madison Square Garden? Leaving Shore out just makes the field more anemic. Empty lanes suggest we don’t care — and threaten the masters from being disinvited in the future.
Empty lanes – how about empty seats in the thousands
— Who does Mary answer to? How did she come to coordinate these exhibition events?
????????????????????????????????????????
— Does the USATF Masters Executive Committee have any say in this matter? If so, why haven’t we heard from the leadership?
Have not checked USATF.org for updates
— Why can’t USATF leadership step in to resolve this situation definitively?
They show up at 8:00pm
— More important: Why can’t Shore get its act together and pull in one direction?
Timing or lack of
— What’s the attitude of Millrose Game organizers? Do they think Shore AC should be excluded? Might they instead prefer that Shore run — for competition’s sake?
There’s a masters race on the program????????
— What’s the worst thing that can happen if Shore runs?
They will cancel the Wanamaker Mile and Mary will have a match race with Kozo Haraguchi in the 60m dash
lots of spleen being spilled here – lets kill all the lawyers – no lawyers should have anything to do with masters track – if you are a lawyer – and Mr Schiro is signing himself “esquire” so – maybe that includes him – no athlete should have anything to do with administering any masters track event – so – who is left – the Indianapolis flunkies -gee that should make everything just great.
That there are any masters relays at Millrose is not a given – and maybe it will not happen again – who knows – the men’s team from Shore AC seemed to be able to get itself registered without any public dispute – what is the problem with the Shore AC women’s team? Did other women’s teams have problems? Is this a personality conflict between Wendi and Mary? Huh -could be ? And what does all this have to do with the constant complaint about the lack of official recognition of some relay records – in past years?
I suggest that if there are to be relay teams at the Millrose games next year that Wendi be put in charge of it. Or just cancel it entirely – or change the rules and let all-star teams run – and watch the recruiting wars.
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