Results being posted for WMA regionals in Mayaguez, Puerto Rico
After a couple days of the WMA regionals in Mayaguez, results are showing up here. Stefan Waltermann of the United States won the M60 pentathlon on Day 1, and won the javelin and took second in the short hurdles (behind Ozzie Binion) on Day 2. Team USA’s Mary Rosado won the W60 2K steeple in 11:22.82 among other events, which mostly were run as finals. M40 Don Drummond won the 110 hurdles in 14.70 with a legal wind. The M55 short hurdles was a solo race, apparently. But God bless Jose Ramos of Mexico for showing up. That’s what this sport is all about! Here’s a live stream video of events, when they are going on. (Click on the USTREAM logo at upper right):
13 Responses
Wow, some VERY thin events there. Guessing the location, timing, and the economy are all culprits. Also, as big a deal as Worlds seems to be, it sure seems as though Regionals doesn’t even get a sniff of the interest Worlds does.
Yes, some very thin events here. The European Championships are HUGE, almost as big as the Worlds. Our regional championships are small, indeed. But you should see the pride and the joy in the eyes of all winners and you might reconsider. They proudly display their flags on the medal stands, turn around to face their countries flag on a giant display board and listen to their National anthems. Its all good, believe me. It also posed the greatest problem on Friday and Saturday. It $%&*^#@ took forever! You finish your event at 10:00 AM sharp and hang around until 5:00 PM to see Old Glory being raised in your honor. Today, they figured it out. It went crisp and fast and took all of 30 minutes. No anthem but so be it. But they should have played “O Canada” three times over for the Great Earl Fee: 200 m Long Hurdles 36.95 seconds, new world record M 80!
Stefan, thank you for this report (I read your earlier report, which included remarks about the wonderful track and the nice scenery, with great interest).
Mellow Johnny, it would be worthwhile for a student seeking a master’s degree in sports administration to do a thesis on why when you go up a level from our nationals, in this case to the regional championships, a meet with the US, Canada, Mexico, and numerous smaller countries included, you go way down in attendance, not up.
In 1996, when I first announced this meet, it was in Eugene, the home of track and field in the U.S, and was positively buried in attendance by Spokane, a site that in three tries has never hit even 1000 entrants in our nationals. In 2000, the second and last time I announced this regional meet, the nationals just missed having three times the attendance of the regionals.
Why are the regionals not at least twice as big as our nationals? Would be interesting to have some student figure out the variables that have been important over the years.
Looks like another WR for M80 Earl Fee:
36.95 in the 200-meter hurdles, a new event.
http://www.atletismofapur.com/resultados/master_regio_2010/100903F116.htm
Mike Waller won the M50 100:
1 Michael Waller M52 UNITED STATES 11.67 -0.9
2 Lovell Butler M51 UNITED STATES 11.76 -0.9
3 Tony Fulton M51 UNITED STATES 12.23 -0.9
A Puerto Rican beat Marcus Shute by an eyelash:
1 Franklin Colon Torres M45 PUERTO RICO 11.73 1.6 11.725
2 Marcus Shute M47 UNITED STATES 11.73 1.6 11.726
Same in the M70 final:
1 Robert Stevenson M72 TRINIDAD & TOBAGO 14.30 0.3
2 Oswald Rodgers M72 TRINIDAD & TOBAGO 14.30 0.3
Kenrick Smith ran a great time into a wind:
nals
1 Kenrick Smith M61 UNITED STATES 12.76 -0.5
2 Terrance Skinner M61 TRINIDAD & TOBAGO 13.56 -0.5
3 *Alberto Phillips M60 PANAMA 13.78 -0.5
wow wanted to go so bad,did not have the funds,would have won the hurdles and long jump and pent if I I could have make it there owell maybe next time
This time around the poor attendance may have something to do with the fact that until VERY late there was no site, no date, no nothing.
As for why the European Championships are consistently so much bigger than our regional meet, consider the following set of hypotheses:
1. There are probably significantly more Germans in the German championships than in the European Championships. Ditto for lots of other countries — France, Italy, Spain, UK, etc., etc., etc. However, when you add up significantly less than at the national championships from each of 35-40 different countries it adds up to a very large number, especially when you add in a very large contingent from the host country. By contrast, when you add up significantly less than the number of Americans at our Nationals, Canadians than at theirs, Mexicans than at theirs, not to mention all the small countries in Central America and the Caribbean, it doesn’t add up to as many as there are Americans at our nationals. In fact not even close.
2. For strong competitors from many European countries with relatively small fields in their national championships the European championships are the biggest game around every two years. It’s their chance to be challenged by really strong competition not far from home. For Americans our nationals are the biggest game around every year, and the Canadians who can afford it usually show up at our meet too. It means that there are significant numbers of Finns, Swedes, Estonians, Latvians, Norwegians, Danes, Poles (need I go on?) who look to the European Championships for the kind of competition we have year in and year out in our nationals. So, they show up in significant numbers from a lot of countries.
3. Travel is easier and cheaper in Europe than it is between the US and the Caribbean/Central America.
4. There are virtually no visa barriers for Europeans traveling within Europe anymore. In fact there is a large bloc of countries (called the Schengen Group) that have a common external border and there are no border controls crossing between those countries. This year’s NCCWMA meet is in Puerto Rico, which means that non-US and Canadian competitors needed to get a US visa to participate. That is neither cheap (over $100 nowadays), nor is it easy for everyone to get one (you need to appear in person at the nearest Consulate when they give you an appointment and then you might have to wait around for a few days to collect your visa; some Consulates grant the visa on the same day, some do not).
5. There are many more masters athletes in Europe than there are in the NCCWMA region, probably several times as many. The total population is also greater, not to mention the total wealth and GDP per capita (outside the US and Canada).
Although the comparison may be flawed, it might be better to compare the NCCWMA regional meet to the Oceania regional meet. There are two countries that dominate (Australia and New Zealand) and the numbers are similar. Interestingly, Australia, with less than 10% of our population has about half the number of competitors at their national championships as we do.
Oh yes, and there were some remarkably slim fields at the European championships earlier this summer. Admittedly I only looked at the throws results, but there were an awful lot of the big names who weren’t there in Hungary and some surprisingly poor winning marks.
It doesn’t matter to me about the wonderful track and the beautiful local eye-candy. If the competition ain’t there, neither am I. If I’m going to pay that much to travel, I want to compete against the best. No disrespect to those who went and competed well, congratulations to them. But I’m not rich and I can’t afford to shell out big bucks for nice facilities and pretty girls. I might as well go on a cruise.
you got a good point tex,thanks jerry thats good info
For those of us that went, this was a very enjoyable meet. The weather, although warm, cooperated and there was little rain nor wind. The schedule started at 6:30 am and most events were completed by noon. As described earlier, the track was a new mondo surface and very fast. We all made use of the 200M warm-up track right outside the main stadium. Team USA was small in comparison but we won most of the sprints and relays. We also saw a lot of familiar faces from the prior regional meet in Florida. Brian Keaveney, Marilyn Mitchell, and Sandy Pashkin assisted the LOC, who I think put on a well-run meet. Hats off to those running the Call Room and the Medals/Awards tables – the two toughest jobs at the meet. Announcements had to be given in Spanish and English. Although there were many USA multi-event winners, standout Salih Talib won the M65 400, 800, 1500, and ran on the M60 gold medal 4 x 100 and 4 x 400 relay teams. Many photos were taken and will hopefully be shown at some point; I will forward any I receive.
Hey Ken
Sorry for not reporting back during the events. I only took my iPad on this trip. BIG mistake. We had a ball. Here is the link to a few videos and pictures. The videos are big and slow to load. I’ll convert them later. sorry.
http://131.94.77.189/mayaguez2010/
I wonder if we could hold our USA outdoor nationals there….EVERY year. 🙂
Thanks, Warren and Linda, for reporting on Mayaguez. Sounds like a wonderful facility and, from what I have read, it seems that a good time was had by all.
Would be good to have our nationals in Mayaguez in 2013, if that year is still available. Berea (Ohio) and Lisle (Illinois) should have good meets in 2011 and 2012, respectively, but without that special spice that you get in Puerto Rico.
@Texas Tornado
Save your coins for worlds in Sacramento as you will have some good competition. Win that meet and you can truly say you are the best in the world for 2011. With injuries and funds who will ever know who the best is?
At this level you can only run against who shows up. I know that thier are plenty of local guys in my area who could also be world and national champs, so I understand the financial side of this sport.
Good Luck in 2011!!!!
Texas Tornado:They were free rooms at Univ. and Police Academy.Spirit Arlines for less than a $100.00 (rt).Free transportation to and from ARPT.Free venue transportation daily and if you could find $6.00 you could have had a daily mealWhat Regional or National Meet would have had those cost?
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