Knut Henrik Skramstad of Norway won the M70 decathlon and pole vault at last year’s Riccione world masters championships in Italy. And he was appalled at how the meet was conducted. In an undated narrative he lists several outrages, including the observation that hand times in a decathlon 100 were converted to automatic times for the official results. Knut isn’t some nobody either. He’s listed as head of Norway’s masters track body. Click here for his original screed. Knut concluded: “This was a big event, but one should be able to require a minimum degree of competence of the organisers. . . I have only mentioned the things I have seen and heard of them when I was living with.”

Of course, this comes in the wake of WMA’s public admission that recent world meets have been widely accused of mismanagement.
Here’s a rough Google translation of the Norwegian site:

Italienere and WMA.
Random allocation of exercises in schedule.
In advance of such sued the English laglederen expressed a concern that this may be sued was held to fill up the empty hotellplasser. The basis of the statement was the random placement of classes and exercises, which gave the conflict for many practitioners. Example of a lack of insight was, for example, that two long run for a category was added with a day intervals. One had the two weeks available! In addition, it was taken little account of related exercises. Riccione. was at 16.05 in Misano and the second at 15.45 in Riccione. Avstand mellom banene var ca. Distance between the paths was about. 30 min med buss. 30 minutes by bus.
Busstransport.
In the invitation, we had not been informed of the large distances between the arenas. over 2 mil til San Giovanni), forstår en problemet. When a need to sit three quarter of an hour on the bus (to tilbakelegge over 2 mil to San Giovanni), understand a problem.
I wish only the buses went as planned, it would have been something more. But it was not always. Even coaches who went, reached not always the goal at the first attempt.A sjøfør was unfamiliar with the road and ran around to find. Small impressive even if it only was 10 min. forsinkelse. delay.
So, it was the buses that have not joined. One night, when most drills were phased out, had people waiting around. 1.5 hours on the bus. It had gradually accumulated the many hundreds of impatient waiting passengers.When the bus finally came, it was “squash to a thousand.” The bus had so many passengers that it was skakk and almost shuffle the way. Some took the rationale to grips went back out, or be a lot to try.
So, it was meksikaneren that is not allowed the time out to the second day of the 10-fight because he did not receive bus as expected. Not only that he came too late to the first exercise korthekken, but he was also refused to start in the remaining drills. Karen was tired, and we are active protested. He had traveled half the globe around to participate. Objections were taken to follow. He was so glad that he toll of some officials.
Uerfarne officials with little respect for the agreements and rules.
Let me take an example from the 10-fight that I personally participated in. It ravaged a storm on 100 km /time hadde blitt registrert. Vindhastighet of 100 km / hour had been recorded. This could not be appropriate for the promoter.
There was rain and surt on the path, in the morning, and most of them stayed on doene, when it was the warmest places, while they waited for a decision about sued was to be cancelled or not.
After some wait, and contact with meteorological it was decided to postpone the event in 3 hours. This was quite well and we took the long bussturen back to Riccione to eat and relax.
We arrived in the path about ½ hour before the start, enough to change and warming. But no, as soon as we showed us, we check their hands on and brought down to “call room”-the big tent. At first we registered immediately and sent on to start the 100m.
All the others in our class had løpt. We were asked to hurry us. Switch was carried out by startområdet with the butt of the little crust that found itself on the grandstand. An attempt to say that we lay 20 min lead the agreed schedule helped little. The start went virtually without heating. (M70-class, take a chance with the 100m without warming!)
Now, we made over surprisingly well, we thought. But overraskelsen came when we saw the times on oppslagstava. In the final heat, we were 6 each, and 4 from Scandinavia who know each other well.
We protestert at times that, in our experience was about 2. sec worse than we have ever recorded this year. In addition, we wondered at heatfordelingen. The organisers said that this was correct!
We delivered a written protest, which we submitted the jury in a timely fashion. We also saw that all the hours of the 100m ended with a 4-digit number. After the conversation with tidtakeransvarlig, a little later in the day, we know that we had received manual time. Hvem hadde tatt de tidene? Who had taken the hours? It turned out to be the man in the car with the online tidtakerutstyret. He said that he had added 0.24 to his time and posted it on the electronic system. He said that he alone was taken manual time in the first four and calculated for the next one. Amazing!
In the meeting with the jury the next day, we confirmed that all the heat had been manual time, but that these were added into the electronic system. In other words, the winner of each heat had the time posted, and data system did when the other times in målfotoet. It could, therefore, appear to correct times. The reason that we came up on the results in the second heat than those we had løpt, came to the fact that it had not been any communication between the secretariat and those who had filled up the heat after that people innfant them. Times was awarded to those who originally was set up in the heat.
All målfoto also had to be reviewed again, and participants had the time tidtakeransvarlig had given in to målfotoene.
(An analysis of video recordings taken of my son Trond, after we came back to Norway, shows that we at least should had approximately 1.3 sec better time than we had. one can see the timeline with a resolution of 0.1 sec. On the soundtrack also see an amplitude from the start.)
It is, therefore, ulogisk that we got so bad times. I think we got fictional time, inserted in the online computer system.The time between us medaljekandidater was correct, then we all ran in the same heat. We gadd not pay the 100 dollars and move forward in a stultus discussion that we are not so different solution than circulation.We had the information at the time reached the middle of tikampen, and so no way for rekordsetting. The English participant in the jury came over to me, for a fairly hefty discussion and visket me in the ear; “This would never happen in Norway or the UK”.
Decathlon who went to San Giovanni was also ill-planned as it was only the opportunity to jump stav one place. This led to the queue, and we had to wait a while. Last exercise 1500m, the M70, just before midnight.It was of course no fellestransport back to Riccione at the time of day !
Problems stuck on the path San Giovanni.
Wrong oppmålte kastsektorer and missing sikkerhetsbur and error.
One of kasterne told me that they had checked the narrow kastsektoren in vektkast. It was 1 m for the substitution on both sides by 10 m mark.
Nor was there any sikkerhetsbur for vektkast on the path. Participants helped with the promoter to find the safest place for dømming and resultatskriving.
Stein Fossen lost a long roll in vektkast in that the judges are measured from the wrong nedslagsmerke. Stein Stein said that he probably went missing out on 1.5 m and a better position in that the judges are not followed properly.
Diskoskasting in the dark.
On a kastbane lacked the light. Cars were therefore placed strategically to educate catchment. Having well-advanced, it became so difficult that one decided to cancel the competition. He was angry that led, and was not on medaljeplass the next day, when the competition was carried out one more time.
Moving konkurranseplass without reason?
According to the program should we compete in stav on the primary in Riccione.M70 would take stavmatte No. 11 in the program. M65 should be matte 10.
The difference between the paths was that we would receive medvind and the other headwind. But in M65, there were 3 participants from the United States. A man named Rex Harvey had decided that the classes were to switch. Now, pent wind over time, but, but….
Requirements for promoters and WMA.
This was a big event, but one should be able to require a minimum degree of competence on the organisers. A discontinue not a World Cup without a back up of electronic timing, surveying the appropriate sectors for roll and the use of sikkerhetsbur to mention a few. I have only mentioned the things I have seen and heard of them when I was living with.
I found the WMA should require and ensure that future organizers have the necessary expertise.Kretsdommere in Norway have better expertise are a most of these officials.
Knut Henrik Skramstad

Expect a better experience in Lahti 2009.