Results delayed from Hayward Masters Classic
The folks at the Oregon Track Club Masters pride themselves (rightly) on putting on one of the best masters meets in the world. Their annual Hayward Masters Classic attracts hundreds of age-groupers from around the country to the University of Oregon’s famed Hayward Field. But the meet was held over the weekend (Saturday and Sunday), and I’m afraid of this being another year with results trickling out late. What a shame, especially if records were set.
This deprives the media office at USATF Indy, other press outlets and fans across the country of important information. In an age where results are often posted within minutes of an event’s completion, this is unacceptable. I’ve written to the principals at the OTC Masters. Hope they’ll respond expeditiously.
This year’s meet was moved up five weeks from its traditional late-June dates because of field work required for the 2008 Olympic Trials, which Eugene is hosting.
In the meantine, if you were a witness to the weekend’s action at Hayward Field, let us know by adding a comment to this blog entry. Thankee!
3 Responses
The 2007 Hayward Classic was perfection as usual. First-class clerking and announcing. Close to 75 officials by my count. Every masters trackster in the US should compete at Hayward at least once if possible. No lap counting snafus here — more lap counters than competitors.
Attendance appeared to be down on Sunday, perhaps due to Mother’s Day. Conditions were constantly changing: one minute it was windy; the next, nearly still. If you arrive early, check out some of the events you don’t compete in. I watched the weight and superweight for a while, and it helped me relax before my event.
The M40 5000 was a battle between Scott Pesch (Humboldt) and Joe Dudman (Team Red Lizard). In the stands, Pesch’s toddler-age supporters chanted GO DADDY GO! GO DADDY GO! whenever he came by. Pesch led until the final 600, when Dudman pulled away decisively. Pesch’s cheering squad was momentarily put off: “Why is that other man in front? He wasn’t there before. Daddy always wins!” Dudman ran a smart race and finished in 16:00 flat. By the time Pesch came in for the finish, his young fans had forgotten about the usurper and cranked it up full volume: GO DADDY GO! Future runners, let’s hope.
In the M40 800, Vaughn Kastor (SoCal) took it out in 30, 61. Mark Alexander (Pacific Northwest, Seattle Frontrunners) hung with him through 600, then tied up, finishing three seconds back of Kastor’s 2:04.
In the 1500, Club Northwest’s Michael Allison ran 4:43 and change, breaking by three seconds an M55 meet record set by James Boughter eight years ago.
Ken, I share your frustration about the delayed posting of results. The Hayward Classic is far from the only offender in this area, of course. Even major road races routinely blow this detail. The parting experience for participants should be a positive one; that’s just good public relations for next year’s event. It would be great to hear the perspective of organizers. Is it a question of resources? Volunteer burnout / post-meet fatigue? Technical difficulties? Or just not being considered a priority? When they will not be able to get online results immediately, they could post an announcement on the event website indicating the expected day/time of posting. Do this before the meet. Then follow through. Another commonly-missed opportunity is to email participants once results are posted online. Many meets, including Hayward, gather email addresses on the entry form; few use them for any obvious purpose. I can’t recall whether Hayward has done so in the past. In any case, these are minor gripes about an otherwise fantastic opportunity to compete.
The Northwest Regionals are hosted this year by the Portland Masters Classic in late June. I heard that the 2008 Hayward Classic may be held in late July, shortly before nationals in Spokane, to avoid a conflict with the Olympic Trials.
Well Ken, since you invited input, I’ll add mine from my limited perspective. As you know, I’m a “one and done” guy (at least so far) and my event is the vault. The weather was a little cool, but we vaulters had a moderate tailwind much of the time. Of course we like that. There were two pits/competitions yesterday. The first was going on while I was warming up. In that competition I believe Terry Cannon set a meet record for his age group (M65?). Wish I could give you more, but my focus was elsewhere.
I started out rather poorly requiring 3 attempts at each of my first two heights (3.70 & 3.80). My right quad was acting up and I decided I should save the jumps I might have left in me for what I really wanted. So I passed at 3.90. 4.00m was measured for me and I was able to get off a good jump on my first attempt and made the height. Having achieved my major goal, and since I didn’t want to further my leg injury/soreness, I then dropped out of the competition.
There were plenty of officials to sign the forms to submit for record application. As it turned out I personally walked them up to the press box and turned them in to Sandy who said that was all that was needed. So, barring any unforeseen problem, this should be accepted as a new outdoor American and World record for the M60-64 age group, bettering my previous record of 3.96m.
I dedicated that jump/record to Keegan Burnett, a friend and college vaulter who suffered a vaulting accident about 12 days ago. He is still in a medically induced coma although the medical staff are finally in the process of bringing him out of it. All vaulters are hoping he will recover completely and that he will be able to return to the sport he loves so much.
– John
Sandy Pashkin writes:
“Results will be posted on the haywardclassic.org website this week.”
Ron Bellamy of the Eugene Register-Guard writes:
“We will run those on our community sports page on Monday, May 21.”
Nice sense of urgency by all, huh?
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