Americans already winning gold at Costa Rica WMA regionals
Rob Jerome, masterful masters photographer, writes Thursday from Central America: “Thought I would touch base with you from NCCWMA San Jose, Costa Rica. The action starts early each day (7 AM) and concludes in the early afternoon in order to avoid the daily late afternoon rains. Temperatures during competition today were in the 70s. Very comfortable. The stadium, built in 2011, is fantastic. It has a retractable roof. However, according to Sandy Pashkin, … it cannot be closed to ward off the rains because the meet would then no longer be considered ‘outdoors.’ The track dries quickly, but the sand in the jumping pits remains wet and heavy so long jumpers and triple jumpers are likely to be less than satisfied. Other than that, things look great.” [Results are posted here.]
Ed Hearn hears national anthem at Costa Rica stadium at WMA regionals.
Rob continues:
Winners get the full Olympic treatment. They are led to the podium by young ladies carrying the national flags of the winners; officials in native dress place the medals around the necks of the winners, and the gold medal winner has his or her national anthem played.
Early gold medal winners for the U.S. were Lee McCabe in M75 shot put with 9.32 meters and Ed Hearn in M65 shot put with 12.59 meters.
Lee McCabe also won shot gold on Day 1. Photos by Rob Jerome
10 Responses
Ken, this is very helpful, especially the link. I was able to find the results for the women’s 2000-meter steeplechase earlier today, and I see that Debra Cane of the U.S. was a big winner in W35 with a time of 9:06.94. As you may recall, Debra was a silver medalist at nationals with a time of 8:50.95, but now she is a regional champion.
Rob Jerome is clearly a very good reporter, Ken, as well as a masterful photographer. Thus, I am passing along a few questions for Rob through this site.
1. How’s the announcing?
2. What’s the stadium like in terms of comforts? Are there sufficient restrooms? Enough shade?
3. How are the food stands? Are there vendors hawking their wares as well as stationary stands? Are the prices good?
4. Are the spectators loud and spirited, or are they more subdued?
5. Any problems with language, or are you fluent in Espanol?
Gracias, amigo.
Do I read the results right? James Smith M55 100m 10.92?
Isnt that somesort of a record?
Joseph Smith M57; that cannot be right; wind?
Hi Peter,
To respond to your questions…
1. The announcing is of course in Spanish, which I understand to some extent, and it seems adequate. It is keyed mostly to what is being shown on the Jumbotron, which includes many of the awards ceremonies, so sometimes event reporting takes a back seat to reporting the awards.
Among the athletes, however, the awards ceremonies are a great hit. Debra Cane, whom you mentioned, told me that it was the first time in her athletic career she had received an award while the national anthem was being played, and she was delighted.
2. Stadium comfort: Very comfortable. Could use a few more restrooms. Shade isn’t an issue since it is overcast most of the time and quite cool because of the elevation of San Jose.
3. Food stands: I didn’t see any at the stadium and no hawkers, but there are fast food restaurants (including American fare) right across the street from the stadium.
4. Spectator spirit: Very spirited and nationalistic with a few of those blow horns that are popular in South Africa.
5. Language problems: None that I have heard of. Most events have at least one official who speaks some English in addition to Spanish.
The early-to-start, early-to-finish schedule seems to work well. The schedule was a little behind today, but nothing to drag things into the late afternoon.
Muchas gracias, Rob. You are indeed an exceptional reporter. Now I will create a separate comment to respond to Prof. Jamrich (above).
Pedro/Peter Taylor
Joe Smith M55 10.92? That would be a huge WR….if not windy.
Prof. Jamrich (comments 2 and 3):
Yes, you read the results right; they credited an M55-59 sprinter, Joseph Smith, with a 10.95 in the 100. As you know, a former great at Texas Christian University named Bill Collins has the world mark for M55 of 11.44 seconds. That mark has withstood all challenges from sprint stars around the world since Bill set it at the Penn Relays in 2008.
Thus, Milan, my best guess is that they credited Smith with a time that he did not run. Note also, Milan, that a high jumper with whom you have competed named Dr. Ivan Black of New York City was a big winner in the 2000-meter steeplechase today (M65) with a time of 30 minutes, 59.22 seconds.
Yes, Milan, Ivan barely broke 31 minutes, even though he and the other steeplers had to run only 5 laps. In other words, he required over 6 minutes per lap. Thus, I would say, Milan, that we have to distinguish between what people are credited with running in this meet and what they actually ran.
I am sure that Ivan is not happy with being credited with a time of 30 minutes, 59.22 seconds, but that’s what they gave him, and so I guess he will have to live with it.
Perhaps we will get some clarification in the coming days.
My error, gentlemen. They credited Joseph Smith with a 10.92, as you say, not a 10.95 (visual acuity frequently declines with age).
Note that the second finisher, one Wayne Marcano, also broke the world record by running 11.41. Hmmm … Maybe we had two people break the world mark in the same race, but I very much doubt it.
I hear it rains a lot – maybe it is aquaplaning 🙂
We are having a great time down here. I loved it how the meet director had someone at the airport to pick us up. I enjoyed the opening ceremony. They have a daily video cast : http://sinart.go.cr/component/allvideoshare/video/latest/resumen-de-las-actividades-del-mundial-de-atletismo-master-22-8-2014.
I must say that the meet ran a bit late today, but the athletes have been treated with great respect. The stadium is beautiful and you feel almost obligated to run fast in it. The awards ceremony were first class. However, the fans have cheered on everyone not just the winners. I enjoyed watching my girlfriend make her first masters appearance and she received a big round of applause when she finished.
All in all, a very satisfying experience so far.
Leave a Reply