Eurovets meet nearly triple the size of Landover nationals
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We’ll have nearly 1,000 entrants this weekend at Landover nationals. But you want a big turnout? Try next week’s European Veterans Indoor Championships in Ancona, Italy. Their five-day meet will have 2,872 athletes (2,149 men and 723 women). That’s a record for the event, according to the Eurovets Web site, which adds: “From March 25 to 29, the Adriatic seaport of Ancona will host veteran competitors, coming from 39 different European federations (a new record, too). (See the time schedule here.) The leading nation is the hosting country, Italy, with 1,214 competitors till Montenegro (1 athlete), Cyprus, Israel and Luxembourg (each with 2 athletes) at the end of the line of all participating countries. The biggest interest in events is . . . in the sprints: 517 athletes want to compete in 60m dash, even 569 are interested to run in 200m.” Of course, we’ll have a higher-quality meet, ounce for ounce. And our runners, jumpers and throwers are much better looking.
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They draw from a much larger population so the comparison is a bit thin Ken.
Maybe so, Mary. But what about 1,214 Italians? Italy has a population of 60 million. So if the USA had the same proportion competing at Landover, the meet would boast 5,000!
And the fact that Ancona is not very tourist friendly, being primarily an industrial port, suggests that most of the attendees are truly going there just to compete in track and field. I think a lot of Europeans came to the Riccione Worlds to experience the Myrtle Beach vacation.
Wait.. what?,… are you suggesting that track and field or athletics, as the Euros say, is more popular in Europe than it is in America?
Alert the media!
Why don’t we wait and analyze the results. We will see how many Europeans competed and how many went on a little ‘Eurotrash’ vacation.
Nothing like a bit of under-informed debate to get people going, eh?
You can all see the figures for entries here: http://www.evaci2009.com/news_one.php?nid=789
You’ll see that these championships, like Eurovets before them, have a cross country competition and a number of outdoor throws included in the timetable. Just under 20% of the entries are for these events – the events that some people possibly wouldn’t normally associate with an indoor championships.
Beyond that, are the numbers really much of a surprise? I’ll be there for the sprints in one of the hottest age groups (M55), but we only have six heats listed. Biggest list is the 79 names down for the M45 60m. Those heats might become a bore after a while.
Like any championship with entries due in more than three months in advance, there will be those who don’t show, due to injury in the meanwhile, etc. Again nothing surprising in that, is there?
Anyone implying that big numbers of Eurovets are going because the town of Ancona is the real draw has never been to Ancona!
Noticed they have some events that we do not offer:
5K, discus, javelin. I counted over 1100 participating in the discus throw. It would be interesting to throw the rubber discus indoors.
Mike, 1100? Have another look. It would be a real throwers fest if it was. The figure’s actually 232.
Well, when it is meant as a kind of competition between two continents, take the winners of both meets and see how they compare. I’ll do my best…
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