Masters may be invited to inaugural women's deca
On Aug. 30-31, 2008, a women's decathlon will be held at Eugene, Oregon's Hayward Field in a meet called the Belladeca. It's being touted as the female version of the fabled Gotzis and Talence men's deca meets. The Belladeca Web site still isn't up. But the event has triggered lots of chatter on the T&FN message board. But here's the really cool part: Coach Dan Steele, a track assistant at Oregon who is running the meet, writes: "We are considering have a small field of masters women, but no more than one heat (of hurdles at the same distances and heights). We have to make sure we have a manageable field size to put on a terrific event." So if you're interested, contact Dan.
Of course, this wouldn't be the first decathlon for masters women. They've done it several times before, as I've noted.
The Belladeca should be well-run. And it's just a couple weeks after Spokane nationals, so our geezergals might consider it.
Comments
I was happy to see that there are some who remember some of the early attempts at getting a female DECA going in the early 80's.
Being from Ventura, I attended a couple of those early women DECA's. As I recall some excellent athletes were there there!
Then a high school athlete @ Ventura's Buena High, Sharon Hanson did quite well. She would later be ranked at least 5 times in the top ten nationally in the HEP - with an Olympic berth in '96. Also, Joan Russell who was ranked a couple times herself nationally, competed at least once.
Of course back then, Larabee stadium was blessed with a dirt track that more resembled a desert than anything suitable for fast times. But thanks for not forgetting those back in the day!
Logan Culp
Posted by: Logan Culp | October 28, 2007 4:58 PM