Latashia Keys (in red between Andy Hecker and Mary Trotto) told why she should be chosen active-athletes rep. She won.
By a vote of 28-26, Albuquerque beat out Winston-Salem to host the 2017 masters indoor nationals in a contest of geographical loyalties. Since more West Coast delegates were able to attend the Anaheim annual meeting of USATF, New Mexico had the natural advantage in Wednesday morning’s general session meeting. And SoCal TC’s
Mark Cleary, the West Coast regional coordinator, noted that in the past 26 years, the West has hosted outdoor nationals only six times. It’ll be the third time hosting indoor nats for Albuquerque, which did it in 2011 and is on deck for 2016. The
JDL indoor track complex in North Carolina is hosting 2015 indoor nats.
Craig Longsworth, son-in-law of the JDL owner, said afterward that Winston-Salem hadn’t planned to bid for 2017, wanting to see how its debut indoor meet in 2015 goes. But he said USATF Masters site search folks urged the bid (probably for sake of a choice). JDL will likely bid for 2018. Baton Rouge, which hosted
the meet in 2001, won 2017 outdoors by all but two hand votes since no rival turned up. (Mt. San Antonio College east of Los Angeles would have been a bidder, but Mark Cleary told me the state wasn’t prepared to sign off on it because of uncertainty on stadium remodel being finished. Mt. SAC will likely bid for 2018.) About 20 active athletes (including moi) became voting delegates, and they chose between two-year incumbent
Mary Trotto and
Latashia Key as their rep on the Executive Committee. Latashia, a W40 runner and president of the Indiana USATF association, stood amid the delegates and gave an energetic talk on her plans as active-athletes rep, and won the ballot.
Martha Mendenhall (left) and Joy Upshaw sign ballots for 2017 indoor nationals.
12 Responses
change is good, and it is good for the indoor nationals to move around the country. For myself however, I probably will not go to Albuquerque as the altitude is just a killer for me. It is great for sprinters, throwers, jumpers but for middle distance athletes who live a sea level it can be difficult. It is a good venue – good track , nice people, nice place , but when the meet was there before, even 800 meters was tough for me, never mind the mile and 3k.
Glad to see competition for locations and leadership.
O M G Im going to both and if I can’t compete Ill watch because I love the ALB venue and I HAVE to go to BR!!!!! thanks kids!
Also at this session:
Mark Cleary, chair of the Masters Invitational Program, announced masters exhibition events for 2015 indoor and outdoor open nationals.
Indoors, we’ll have masters men’s 1,500 and women’s 60.
Outdoors, we’ll have 3K for both men and women.
Details on qualifying standards will eventually be here:
http://www.usatf.org/Resources-for—/Masters/TF/Programs/Masters-Invitational.aspx
The following is part of a letter I wrote Masters T&f in Sept.-The four mast well attended Outdoor Nat.since 1989 were on the West Coast .Why then have 18 0f the last 23 Indoor and Outdoor Nat.including this year been held East of Denver ? – 2017 makes it 19 of 24 .Ken suggests that Albu. edged out Winston-Salem for 2017 because the meeting was held in Annaheim .Are these meetings normally held on the East Coast , leading to the obvious E.C. bias as suggested above ? How many voting members are there and are they fairly representative based on geography .Do they have to be present to vote on venues . If so ,why ? Do we actively look for new sites for bids ? Finally why the recent fixation on Winston-Salem particularly for indoors champ. when their flat track makes it a less than ideal venue ?
Personally, I like the idea of Baton Rouge for the ’17 outdoor nationals since LSU (I assume it will be there) since for me its only 85 miles up I-10. This assumes I’ll still be able to toss the spear then as I’m having a knee replaced in 2 weeks and if that goes well, will probably get the other knee done toward the end of next year. No cartilage left in either one. But on a macro level, what about the West Coast athletes? Most of the outdoor meets in the last 10 years have been held east of the Mississippi and Olathe in 2013 wasn’t very far west. Winston-Salem this year and each of the sites for 2015 thru 2017 will be east of the Big Muddy. I realize that there no other bidders for 2017, but it seems to me that every effort should be made to get some of the outdoor nationals after 2017 back out West so athletes in the West can make the meet without either spending a bunch for airfare or driving for days to make the meet.
I’m counting on Mt. SAC to be a bidder for 2018 outdoor nationals.
Bert (no. 4), I guess the masters world has changed, and not entirely for the better. As a student of US masters history you know that in the 12-year period beginning in 1989 and ending in 2000, 25% of outdoor nationals got more than 1400 entrants. From 2001 to the present, exactly one nationals (Sacramento 2010) has broken the 1400 “barrier.”
I have often seen Eugene mentioned as a possible site, but the last time for that city was 2003, and I really doubt that interest in 2018 will be forthcoming from Oregon.
Of all the outdoor nationals I have attended since 1998, Louisiana State University (2001) had the best site, with Oshkosh (2009) ranking second. And yet the attendance at LSU in 2001 can only be described as shocking. Only 811. What?
I see that the meet will return to Baton Rouge in 2017, but will the meet organizers be able to get even 750 entrants? Let me put you on hold to check the current and 2000 U.S. populations, will be right back.
OK, since 2000 the US population has grown 13.5%. Eugene 2000 had 1503 entrants, and thus if the nationals were held today we would need 1706 entrants to keep pace with population growth.
Personally, I doubt that Jacksonville (July 2015) will get more than 970 entrants, but what do I know.*
It’s too bad we don’t have the funding for a full-scale marketing and development office to test a few hypotheses. As causes I favor (a) economic issues, both the price one has to pay for travel and meet entry and the economic conditions in the country, and (b) fatigue with the whole idea of masters T&F. “I did it once or twice, why should I do it again?”
* I believe I am still in the running to announce Jacksonville 2015, and I hope to see you and Kathy there.
Peter
Thanks for that information . Certainly economics are an issue when you are flying 2 people East on a regular basis . I can’t imagine Jacksonville without you .Kathy is ageing up ( as if you don’t know that ) so we are going everywhere …except Winston-Salem . National Indoor Champs. need to be on banked tracks in my humble opinion . We will find an indoor meet with one .
As a minor footnote, Bert, although you know this already: In the long history of the masters T&F program in the United States, every nationals that drew more than 1400 people took place in one of two states: Oregon or California.
Thus, I should have added “locations outside of Oregon or California” to my list of possible causes in my post above.
Ken,
Regarding point #3 above: Did you mean to say masters invitational events for 2015 (not 2014)?
Peter, yes, I meant to say 2015. I fixed it.
Peter
I didn’t know . Also I’m surprised I didn’t get some answers to what I consider the very reasonable questions I asked in # 4 from the many people ” in the know “.
I will try again .
Bert
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