Missed opportunities at Mt. SAC Relays
The Mt. SAC Relays in Walnut, California, is a showcase event — attracting thousands of fans and some of the world’s best athletes to its Sunday finale every spring. So when masters are allowed to compete, you gotta capitalize. This year we didn’t. The event organizers — John Cosgrove and Stan Whitley — blew it big time. And pretty much admit it.
First Cosgrove, the longtime organizer of the masters women’s 100 handicap races and the 800 handicap races at Mt. SAC.
When I ran into John at Mt. SAC this morning, he explained that Meet Director Scott Davis didn’t want to stage a masters handicap 800 this year — a race in which the oldest runners go first, followed at timed intervals by younger runners with the goal of seeing them all reach the finish line at the same time.
Scott offered two masters 800 scratch races instead. (In fact, the meet schedule still shows two masters 800s on the agenda). There could have been a scratch race for masters men and a separate one for women. But John couldn’t put it together, so no masters 800 was contested today.
John took responsibility for the snafu. Give him credit for that.
I’m a little less forgiving of Stan Whitley. Today they held a masters 100 scratch race. As usual, the race was restricted to men over 50 (which included 59-year-old Whitley). Unlike past years, Whitley didn’t win. A Canadian did. Worse for Whitley, five lanes were empty. So the results show four runners in a masters exhibition that could have been the thrill of a lifetime for five more deserving M50 sprinters.
I asked Stan after the race: Who such a small field?
His answer didn’t satisfy me.
Stan said that in the past, he’d get a flood of calls asking him for space in his 100. Over the years, he’d sort through the entrants and fill the lanes. This year, the phone flood didn’t come. Stan was caught flat-footed. The result was an embarrassment to masters locally. (Look, Ma! They don’t have many guys running this year.)
I gently suggested to Stan that:
1) Membership in his M50 race shouldn’t depend on being an insider who knew Stan was the man to contact. (Dozens of M50s would jump at the chance of traveling to Mt. San Antonio College for the Relays — if they only knew.)
2) Next year I’d be more than happy to publicize the race and assure a full field.
I think he got the message.
On the bright side, a masters 200 organized by Whitley had a pretty full field — and featured a battle between M40 national champ Kettrell Berry, M45 champ James Chinn and Chris Townsend, a Canadian sprinter with world-class credentials. Berry won with a wind-aided (4.3 mps) 22.52, followed by Townsend (23.22) and Chinn (23.43).
And the masters women’s 100, partly organized by W40 star Elaine Iba (now a wide receiver for a women’s semipro football team), saw Nadine O’Connor outleg defending champ Kathy Bergen. (The results page fails to indicate that nobody ran a full 100 meters, however. The oldest ran the shortest.)
Despite those exciting races, I left the meet dismayed by the masters showing. We simply can’t let opportunities escape for showing off our best — on the same day the likes of Marion Jones, Maurice Greene and Tim Montgomery compete.
I realize that many exhibition races involve personal relationships between meet directors and race organizers. But I think these cozy deals lead to problems of perception and bad feelings. Over the years, several world-class masters sprinters have accused Stan Whitley of excluding people from his races if they have a chance of beating him.
This year was an exception — Stan got beat at his own game (by another Canadian, it turns out). But the system is broke and needs fixing.
The No. 1 priority is filling every lane with masters athletes.
The No. 2 aim is to throw as wide a net as possible to find the best athletes.
Both goals can be assured if the Mt. SAC masters exhibition races are widely publicized — and well in advance of the meet. It’s OK to have a waiting list. Many big-time meets fill lanes when expected entrants are no-shows.
Next year, I hope the men’s and women’s 800 and men’s sprints are filled with national-caliber masters. It ain’t often when masters take center stage at a world-renowned meet. It’s a thrill that shouldn’t be denied masters because of a failure to make the races known.
4 Responses
Hi Ken…great article..and i agree ..lets fill the field next year…..Greg Pizza…it was a thrill to run yesterday at the meet..
Good points Ken. Not sure of the politics involved, but what about adding the Mt. SAC races to the USATF Masters Invitational Program? Top masters runners usually run in these events organized by Mark Cleary.
It sends the wrong message about masters athletes when an event is on the schedule and has to be scratched because a lack of entrants.
Masters Track and Field may have trouble filling a heat, but open track and field has trouble fielding a meet.
The Oregon Track Classic, one of two elite international track meets held in Oregon has been canceled because there is no title sponsor. Adidas, sponsor since 1994, dropped out. That means in the entire U.S. there are just two IAAF Grand Prix events – May 30 at Stanford and the Prefontaine on June 14 at Eugene.
Meanwhile, Bob Walsh who, together with Ted Turner, brought Seattle the 1990 Goodwill Games with the Russians (and then announced that they would open one event to the public (hurray), but the one event was the Marathon on the hottest day of the year in Seattle (boo)) has announced that the pre-Olympic “Pacific Rim Sports Summit” in Seattle including a pacific rim track meet has also been cancelled. Rumors are swirling, but one has the Olympic Committee refusing to give Walsh any other date this summer then the one the University of Washington holds graduation on. Without the UW track there was no venue. There were other financial problems of course, but if true it is really sucky of the Olympic Committee to make the Summit a non-starter because of schedule.
Ken Stone, I am deeply saddened to read that you think that I would set up a race in order for me to win. People who know me, know that I am a humble person and would not engage in setting up a race so that I can become the victor. This was demonstrated a few years ago when Bill Collins defeated me at the Mt. Sac Relays. The Canadian runner that won the 100, Tom Dickson age 51, entered with a time of 11.62 and a world ranking of number 3 in his age bracket. My best time last year in the 100 was 11.98. If your scenario was true then Tom Dickson and Bill Collins would have been excluded from the races. Next year I will take you up on your offer to publicize the races and I will also save a lane for you.
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