My masters track fantasy: a database of everyone
A few years back, I volunteered to research members of the USATF Masters Track Hall of Fame and send the results to USATF webmaster Keith Lively for posting online. I got much of it done, then got stuck. I didn’t have nearly enough basic info to complete the job. So I dropped it (or rather punted it to some other folks). Now I’ve seen a way to revive the project. My inspiration is athletebio.com.
The site sez:
Athlete Bio is an innovative new website that allows athletes to create an online sporting biography, combining a brief personal profile with a detailed record of competition results.
The website also allows athletes to demonstrate their commitment to drug-free sport by publishing the results of their in-competition and out-of-competition drug-tests.
To join Athlete Bio, users simply register online for an Athlete ID code. Once they have registered, members can login and start adding results to the database.
Athletes’ personal and season’s bests are automatically calculated and used to generate online ranking statistics for each event.
One section has 70-plus track athletes.
Of course, this do-it-yourself site doesn’t help if you’re dead. Also doesn’t work if you don’t have Internet access or refuse to try.
At one time, I found lots of information online on elite trackfolk at a Finnish site called Tilastopaja But it’s a pay-to-play site now, and I’m too cheap to subscribe.
Anyhoo, USATF has its own Athletes Bio directory. But someone was paid to write these bios. Masters track couldn’t afford that.
But what it could afford is putting online a directory like athletebio.com, and let the members detail their own data.
Afraid of bogus information?
Not a problem. Have a “comment” function attached to the bio, and anyone who blows smoke will invite big-time flames. That should keep it honest.
Would be nice to start this venture with folks who deserve it the most — members of the USATF Masters T&F Hall of Fame.
One Response
I like the idea of utilizing the internet to create the database. The list will be incomplete for all the apparent reasons, but often the information will prove valuable beyond what was originally planned or thought. It is certainly worthy of discussion and a an effort to see how well it works. Progressive thinking.
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