Contrary to Pete Mundle's list of "Athletes who enter a new division this month" in the May issue of National Masters News, Willis doesn't live in Azusa, California.

"My folks moved to Reno in 1992 when my dad retired from the Azusa School District," Ruth writes. "Unfortunately, he was diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease several years ago. His athletic training and competitive spirit have really helped with this. He works hard to stay as active as possible and, thanks to my mom, eats very wisely."

With masterful medical help and his own great attitude and diligence, Ruth says, her dad is "facing a challenge and is fighting it full-strength. He is still very active (all things considered), and doing very well."

In 1946, Willis was fourth in the 880 at the California state high school championships with a time of 2:01. He later attended Tabor College in Kansas, and in 2007 was named to Tabor's Athletic Hall of Fame "for his prowess in basketball and track and field, as well as his years as a teacher and school psychologist," said one citation.

Please join me in wishing Willis a wonderful birthday and the strength to deal with Parkinson's. He's one of our founding fathers.

Race Walking expert Jack Tregurtha dies

9/05/2008 10:06:41 a.m.

New Zealand walking stalwart and rules expert Jack Tregurtha of Hastings passed away last evening (Thursday) after a short illness. Tregurtha, aged 71, was the president of Athletics Hawkes Bay Gisborne as well as secretary of the centre.

He was the guru of racewalking in New Zealand, organising the national 50km walking championships in the Hawkes Bay each year. He kept meticulous records of walking events and individual records and produced and published an informative magazine/newsletter 'Race Walking Contact' throughout the year.

He was a keen walking competitor, setting a New Zealand M60 50km record of 5h 52m 7s in 1997 and he still holds the New Zealand 24 hour walking record for M60 of 153.670km. Tregurtha won numerous New Zealand age group walking titles.

Constitutions were Tregurtha's forte and he was currently in the process of re-writing his centre's constitution. He knew the Athletics New Zealand constitution and rules of competition backwards and he was always a vocal and at times entertaining speaker during any debate on the constitution and rules at Athletics New Zealand annual general meetings.

He was a committee member of the Hastings athletic club and club president Allan Potts said that he will be sadly missed.
"Jack was our photofinish expert, carrying out that role at Nelson Park for many years," said Potts.

Tregurtha's expertise in photofinishing was sought outside his centre being called on to officiate at the IAAF Area Permit meeting at Waitakere in February.

Tregurtha, a civil engineer, settled in the Hawkes Bay some 20 years ago after previously living in Wellington and Canterbury.

Lindenwood Last Chance & Open Track & Field Meet

Information: Due to problems with the timing system, this meet will be run as a field event mmeet. In addition to all field events (throws & jumps) there will be an open 5000m race and an open 4x400m relay event (NOTE:These will be hand-timed).

Date: Saturday, May 10th

Location: Lindenwood University Track & Field Complex

Meet Director: Richard Cochran
Office: 636-949-4801
Cell: 636-484-0175
Fax: 636-949-4636

Results: Results will be posted on the Lindenwood Athletics Website.
(www.lindenwood.edu)

Spikes: 1/8 or ¼ inch pyramid spikes only.

Entry Fee: $10 per athlete ($100 cap for each team {Men/Women separate teams})
Make checks payable to Lindenwood University Track & Field

Entries: All entries can be e-mailed directly to the following e-mail address:
pwright@lindenwood.edu

Deadline for Entries: Thursday May 8th, 11:00a.m.

Check-In: There will be an event clerk. Athletes need to check in directly with the official at their respective event 30 minutes prior to the start of the competition.

Meet Schedule: See Below:

9:00a.m. Men's Hammer 1:00p.m. Men's Triple Jump
Women's Discus
10:00a.m. Men's Long Jump Men's Pole Vault
Men's Shot Put
Women's Hammer 2:30p.m. Men's Javelin
Women's High Jump Women's Triple Jump
Women's 5000m Run
11:30p.m. Women's Long Jump
Women's Shot Put 4:00p.m. Men's 5000m Run
Men's Discus Women's Javelin
Men's High Jump
Women's Pole Vault 4:30p.m. Women's 4x400m Relay
Men's 4x400m Relay

High standards
By Don Doxsie | Thursday, April 17, 2008

You have to wonder what Wilt Chamberlain thought on that day back in 1957. Here he was, one of the most incredible athletes in the world -- the 7-foot star of the University of Kansas basketball team that finished as national runner-up and the star of the Kansas track team. He was in his best event (the high jump) in the biggest invitational of the year (the Kansas Relays) on his home track.

And this unimposing guy from a place called Clinton, Iowa, was showing him up.

Floyd "Bud'' Smith remembers the moment fondly. It's the day he beat Wilt the Stilt by 3 full inches and etched his name in the Kansas Relays record book.

The memories will come drifting back even stronger today when Smith and his son, Tim, attend this year's Kansas Relays and hand out the awards to this year's high jump winners.

"I felt great about being able to outjump the great Wilt Chamberlain,'' said Smith, 72, who lives in Clinton. "My intention when I went down there was to beat everybody there. I didn't care if their name was Wilt Chamberlain or what.''

Barefoot success

It was one of the high points of a track and field career that began back on his parents' farm near Mount Carroll, Ill. Smith spent much of his adolescence shooing chickens out of the barnyard so he had room to dive into a homemade high jump pit.

He had gone over to Savanna and picked up a bunch of sawdust. He usually used a bamboo fishing pole as a crossbar, occasionally switching to a 2x4 when he wanted to work on his trail leg kick.

When Smith began high jumping at Mount Carroll High School, the school did not have track shoes, and his parents didn't have any money to buy him a pair. So he high jumped in his bare feet. He tied for the Illinois state title that way in 1953. It's one of only two state track championships in the history of the now-defunct school, and the other was 102 years ago.

"The school had a grass track. We didn't even have cinders, so I just decided to totally jump barefoot,'' Smith said. "It gave me a good feel on the takeoff. When you take off, you want that lead leg to be as light as possible, and there's nothing lighter than a bare foot.''

When he began jumping at Northern Illinois State Teachers College (now Northern Illinois University), the wooden take-off boards they used at the college level bruised his feet. So he began using a shoe on his left foot only. He continued high jumping well into his 60s and never once did it with a shoe on his right foot.

His stay at Northern Illinois didn't last long. In his first meet, he set a national record for college freshmen -- 6-foot-8 5/8 -- but college wasn't for him.

"I was born and raised on a farm,'' he said. "I didn't have the mindset that I was going to go to college. I really wasn't prepared to go to school.''

He momentarily thought about transferring to Western Illinois, which would have afforded him a chance to train in South Africa the following summer. Plenty of other schools wanted him to transfer, too.

"But I chickened out,'' he said. "I thought it was more important to get married. So, I got married and raised a family instead.''

Life after college

He went to work for Clinton Corn Processing -- now ADM Corn Sweeteners -- and after 12 years switched over to work in a polyethylene plant in Clinton. He stayed there until retiring in 1997.

But he didn't stop jumping. He got in touch with Ted Haydon, the coach of the University of Chicago Track Club, and began competing for one of the premier amateur track clubs in the country.

Among his teammates were Ted Wheeler, who later became the head track coach at Iowa, and two men who represented the U.S. in the 1956 Olympics in Melbourne, Australia -- sprinter Ira Murchison and miler Phil Coleman.

Smith also took a shot at the Olympics in '56. The townspeople of Clinton and Mount Carroll took up collections to pay his way to the AAU meet in Bakersfield, Calif., but Smith didn't place in the top six and never got to the Olympic trials.

The gold medal ended up being won by fellow American Charles Dumas, who became the first man to top 7 feet and who went 6-11¼ in Melbourne.

Smith matched that height only a few months later at a meet in Rockne Stadium in Chicago -- the best jump in the world in 1957 -- and topped 7 feet although he didn't get credit for it. The take-off area at Rockne was uneven and the jump was measured from the highest point. Haydon measured it at the spot where Smith actually took off and found the height was 7-0½ from that spot. That would have tied Dumas' world record.

It was only a few weeks later that Smith went to Kansas and topped Chamberlain. The two men had tied in the event the year before, but this time Smith jumped 6-9 to Wilt's 6-6. His record stood for 18 years.

Still competing

Smith never did anything that spectacular again, but he continued to compete as the years passed.

"I always told my wife that if I ever got down to 6 feet, I'd quit,'' he said. "But then they developed the masters programs for jumpers over 40. I was going to be jumping against guys my own age so I kept on competing. Then they developed the seniors program for athletes over 50, so I kept going.''

As recently as 1993, at the age of 58, Smith set a record for his age group by clearing 5-2 at the Nike Illinois Relays.

Two years ago, plagued by arthritis, he had both hips replaced. He still goes to the Senior Olympics at Augustana College every year, but now he just does the shot put.

His jumping has taken him all over the world. He has competed in Senior Olympics in Italy, Great Britain and Puerto Rico. He went to Russia three times to help get seniors programs started there.

"It would never have happened if not for athletics,'' he said. "I feel very fortunate, very blessed for the opportunity I've had. God was good to me. He gave me the talent.''

Another highlight will be this weekend when he returns to the scene of one of his triumphs.

Tim Smith wrote to Kansas last year to get some sort of certification of his father's record. Officials there went a step further, extending an invitation for Bud to come back. They also sent him eight minutes of videotape from the 1957 high jump competition that Smith treasures.

"I'm excited about going back down there,'' he said. "I'm really hoping they have some kind of museum or hall of fame that I can walk through. I'm sure there will be things in there about Wilt Chamberlain and Al Oerter and people like that.''

And maybe -- just maybe -- there will be something about a guy from Clinton who out-jumped them all one day in 1957.

Here's Bud jumping with lead foot barefoot not many years ago:

He's using a walker right now. Docs aren't yet sure about the extent of neurological damage. Not sure how long his heart was stopped. Sounds like he's going to have angioplasty with stent placement within the next couple of weeks.

Carter is an artist, but his hands aren't yet steady enough for him to return to that. His sense of humor seems in good shape, however, as is his competitive spirit. The main thing he wanted to know from me (other than how I was doing) was date and location of the 2009 national outdoor championships. His goal is to compete there.

Carter is really quite a remarkable guy.

Section 1
1 Patrick Morgan Unattached 3:50.91
2 Tamas Kovacs High Point 3:52.13
3 Geoff King Unattached 3:52.41
4 Cory Nanni Duke 3:52.85
5 Travis Wray Lynchburg 3:52.98
6 Josh Lund Duke 3:53.20
7 Josh Houser Appalachian St 3:53.84
8 Bobby Moldovan Unattached 3:54.41
9 Geary Gubbins Duke 3:54.50
10 Greg Dame Unattached 3:55.06
11 John Hinton Carrboro AC 3:58.13
12 Tradelle Ward Duke 4:04.15
13 Johnny Baez Unattached 4:06.88

Men 1500 Meter Run
================================================================
Stadium: M 3:44.18 1989 Tregg Scott, ASU TC
NCAA Qual: * 3:47.80
Name Year School Finals
================================================================
Section 2
1 Sergio Gonzalez CS San Marco 3:54.56
2 Paul Limpf Eastern Wash 3:54.84
3 John Mering Unattached 3:54.99
4 Bryan Lopez UC Irvine 3:56.83
5 Matt Kiesz Cal Tech 3:57.01
6 Aman Bhatia UC Irvine 3:57.43
7 Travis Kuhlman Long Beach S 3:57.52
8 Colin Szehner Sacramento S 3:59.03
9 Guillermo Cazares Concordia 3:59.17
10 Chris Ogle Paupa New Gu 3:59.28
11 Luis Castaneda Unattached 3:59.50
12 Peter Magill Fluffy Bunny 4:02.01
13 Eddie Venegas So Cal RR 4:03.63
14 Steven DeCastro Long Beach S 4:04.14
15 Tawei Ma CSU Northrid 4:14.21
16 Gustavo Hernandez CSU Northrid 4:18.03
17 Fedly Bonneau Unattached 4:18.53

Ran a 1500 today, and God did I ever NOT feel like a 1500 runner. I felt slow and weak and in need of a whole slew of gears that I simply didn't have ... or didn't have anywhere other than in my memories. But it was a beautiful day down in Irvine for the meet. And the young runners look even younger and healthier this year than ever (it's a joy of middle-age to feel one's spirit uplifted just by observing the fitness of youth in all its glory).

Why is that 40-year-old man still flying upside down 20 feet in the air?

Well, it's an Olympic year, for one thing.

And pole vaulter Jeff Hartwig hasn't seen Beijing. Not upside down, not right side up.

And no one else that age has done what he's doing. Think Nolan Ryan. Think George Blanda. Think Peter Pan.

Hartwig has the credentials to earn his second Olympic berth (he made the team in 1996) heading into the 67th California Invitational Relays on Saturday at MJC Stadium. He was ranked No. 2 in the United States by Track & Field News magazine in 2007, when he won the U.S. Indoor, was second at the U.S. Outdoor and had a best of 19 feet, 2¼ inches. That made 11 out of the past 12 years he cleared 19 feet.

This past indoor season, he set five Masters (40-and-over) indoor world records, including an 18-8 in Germany, and set a Masters outdoor mark of 18-1 two weekends ago at the Drake Relays on a cold, windy Saturday in Des Moines, Iowa.

"This will be my last year," said the Jonesboro, Ark., resident who lives with wife Karol, 3-year-old daughter Heidi Kay, eight dogs and about 100 snakes.

"I have always said one year at a time, but I honestly never thought I would make it this far," Hartwig said in an e-mail interview. "The biggest things that kept me going was of course the chance to make the Olympic team, and the fact that I truly love the sport and the lifestyle of being a full-time athlete."

And Beijing?

"I have never been to China, and that is another thing that would make the Olympics special. (Asked if they should be used as a political forum, his answer is an emphatic no.) The side benefit to doing what I do is having had the opportunity to see so much of the world."

The American record holder at 19-9¼, he's seen a lot of Modesto over the years. He held the Modesto meet record of 19-5 before Toby Stevenson went 19-8¼ in 2004.

Stevenson also will compete Saturday, going for his fifth consecutive Modesto win. So will Derek Miles, who won at Drake at 18-4, and Sonora product Tye Harvey. And the last two Olympic gold medalists, Tim Mack and Nick Hysong.

Down the road is the Olympic Trials -- June 27-July 6 in Eugene, Ore.

Hartwig knows the Trials are a fickle lover -- he no-heighted at the event in Sacramento in 2000 and 2004.

Stevenson finished second to Mack in 2004 and went on to win the silver medal in Athens.

Miles got the third and final spot in the Trials at 19-¼. He edged the unfortunate Harvey, who was the first over 19-¼ on his only chance (he passed on his third jump after two misses at 18-10¼) but had to settle for fourth because of more misses.

Despite the adversity, Hartwig is up for his fifth Olympic Trials.

"Obviously, the Olympics is the primary goal, but it's not a must have," he said. "My main focus is on the Trials, but I have also set out to just enjoy the year and appreciate all the opportunities I do have."

And he said the Masters record thing has been "really fun."

"To be honest, I don't feel any older or different than I did several years ago," said the 6-foot-3-inch, 190-pounder. "I feel that I have done a good job dealing with the issues that usually affect athletes as they age. I spend a lot of time making sure I avoid injury.

"I jump twice a week when I don't have meets, but in those workouts I typically limit the number of jumps to 10 to 12, so I have to really focus to make sure the jumps are quality versus quantity."

That's not many jumps.

"Unfortunately, what is the most fun is also the hardest on the body, so it is more to save my body but also to allow me enough energy to work on the supportive training to avoid the injuries," Hartwig said.

Do his fellow vaulters kid the old man? Sure, they do. These acrobats tend to be an engaging group with an easy camaraderie and plenty of stories to tell.

"I get kidded a little but in a respectful way," Hartwig said. "I think most of the guys realize that being the old guy out there I am not quite at the level I was six or eight years ago, but it's all in good fun. It keeps me younger."

Maybe so, but his driver's license (or is it a flyer's license?) says he's not thirty-something anymore.

What next?

"That is a tough question at this point," Hartwig said. "I am so focused on this season, but I have several options that will keep me close to the sport.

"I would like to work with young athletes in some capacity but would also like to stay close to some of the older athletes on the professional level in the way of some kind of management or coaching capacity. I know that my experience would be a benefit in many areas to a lot of people."

Back home, he raises boa constrictors and pythons for sale to pet stores.

The dogs?

"I have a soft spot for the strays, and I end up rescuing them," he said.

Lucky strays. The great new Master becomes their great new master.

100M Masters Invitational
Aaron Thigpen 44 (10.60)
?(Willie Gault 47 (10.88))
Val Barnwell 50 (11.14)
Don Fields 43 (11.30)
Rod Jett 42 (11.31)
Jeff Williams 42 (11.40)
David Ashford 45 (11.40)
Marty Krulee 50 (11.47)
Steve Neubauer 47 (11.60)

Anthony Beasley 45 (11.61)
Tommy Baker 47 (11.68)
Peter Grimes 49 (11.70)
Ray Yeck 59 (12.74)

110M "Tom Moore" Legends Hurdle Race
Rod Jett 42 (14.10)
Karl Smith 48 (14.40)
David Ashford 45 (14.43)
Richard Holmes 41 (14.45)
Henry Andrade 42 (14.61)
Peter Grimes 49 (14.65)
Brian Conley 48 (15.5)
Michael Burke 45 (15.3)
?(Willie Gault 47)
David Bradley 44

At Sunday's Steve Scott Invitational at UC Irvine, Wille ran a legal 10.88 and 22.02 (out of lane1).

Kettrell Berry and Jai Black also were impressive:

Section 8 Wind: 1.9
1 Chanel Parker Hawaii 25.71
2 Jai Black San Diego Ma 26.42

Section 4
1 Ashley Manso Unattached 58.25
2 Stephanie Awanyai UC Irvine 58.78
3 Amber Waddell San Diego St 58.94
4 Jai Black San Diego Ma 59.14

Section 2 Wind: 0.5
1 Phillip Francis VS Athletics 10.67
2 Bradley Ike CSU Northrid 10.75
3 Willie Gault Unattached 10.88
4 Billy Walker CS San Marco 10.95
5 Brant Gilbert Double Pilla 10.96
6 Yik Chun Tang Hong Kong 11.06
-- Dominiqe Girdiler Great Britai FS

Section 2 Wind: 0.2
1 Dayne Comrie UC Irvine 21.36
2 Kelsey Caesar Long Beach S 21.59
3 Kenjamine Jackson CSU Northrid 21.61
4 Andrew Jacobson UC Riverside 21.67
5 Alex Goldberg Long Beach S 21.80
6 Everett Savoy Unattached 21.88
7 Willie Gault West Coast A 22.02
8 Nathan Winkler Concordia 22.12

Section 5 Wind: 1.0
1 Storm Huie Unattached 22.31
2 Hermes Ognsansoy UC Irvine 22.56
3 Mark Ilarnia UC Irvine 22.76
4 Terry Smoot Jr. UC Riverside 22.89
5 Justin Abercrombia Unattached 22.93
6 Cameron Jost CSU Bakersfi 22.94
7 Kettrell Berry Nike West Ma 23.82
8 Chris Wells-Anders Unattached 24.39

Section 6
1 A J Carillo U San Diego 53.36
2 Kettrell Berry Nike West Ma 53.94
3 Kyle Quintero La Verne 54.11
4 Jerry Davis Track West 59.36
5 Rudy Llavanes Track West 60.50

Section 2
1 Concordia 42.79
2 Cal Lutheran 42.83
3 Unattached 43.78
4 West Coast All-Stars 43.97

The (relay) team consisted of (1) Chris Faulknor (2) Cornell Stephenson (3) Kettrell Berry (4) Willie Gault. We had the lead until Cornell pulled 40m into his run. He hobbled in the last 60m. Kettrell and Willie made a valiant effort but . . . fell short. Willie ran a great 100m. Bad start but great pickup.

I'm not sure how serious it is at this point, but it is still very painful. I'm in prayer about it and if it is answered in the affirmative, I will be back out there in a month. My main goal after pulling was to at least make the handoff and so there was a silver lining. The team was very supportive immediately after and then again that night by checking up on my welfare. I felt that I let them down, but they had no such feeling. In fact, they wanted me to stop to avoid making it worse, but in my mind I just had to finish. If my season was going to be over, then at least I/we finished the race. Keep me in your prayers.

At the moment, Irene isn't listed in the 2008 outdoor rankings for "O."

Also FYI: John Freeman Todd has posted several dozen photos from the mid-March Bay Area Senior Games, including dozens of track and field. Great stuff.

Henry Rono, the former multiple world-record-holder who has been blogging for almost two years about his aim to take the 4:40 world mile record for masters from Nolan Shaheed, has now announced a series of races that amounts to a world tour.

While fans want to now if he is going to be in sub-17 shape for the Carlsbad 5k in a couple of weeks, as promised, Henry seems more focused on racing himself to world record shape. He says he will take the record by September, in Norway. So far this year his times have been average and he's still to get anywhere near 5 minutes, let alone catch Shaheed, the legendary West Coast-based jazz trumpeter who trains two hours a day and eats just once a day.

As far as I can make out from Henry's idiosyncratic posts on his dedicated thread on the Letsrun.com forums, he is planning a series of track events that will include 1-mile and 5k races or time trials, starting with a 5k tt on March 29 in Albuquerque, then on to California, then Spokane, WA and so on to Europe, four meets in two countries, and then to Norway - "later in the season by then I should have the mile record". He's calling it the "RonoRun Mobile Mile Run".

On May 1, Henry posted this note:

I am right here in Cincinnati, Ohio, Looking forward for Mobile-RonoRun-one mile tomorrow evening at 6:30pm May 2, 2008 Saturday I will take a day off then Sunday hit half-marathon hard. That could be my usual every weekend long runs. Come over to expose for a hand shake and run with me slowly not too fast.

Will wrote me a few days ago: "I can tell you with about 100% accuracy that any times at the East Alton summer meets were not FAT. They were definitely hand time."

And in a phone chat yesterday, Russ said the same. He said he knows Steve and is pretty sure Steve was hand-timed in 10.98, but that stopwatch clockings in the hundredths were recorded only to sort out who should win awards.

According to standard procedure, one adds 0.24 seconds to hand times to get an "equivalent" electronic time. So the best Steve might have run was 11.24 (after 10.98 was rounded to 11.0).

This isn't trivial, or merely academic. Mastersrankings.com is an official USATF seasonal listings site, and its marks are cited by reporters and statisticians worldwide. A good example is mastersathletics.net, the respected Austrian-based world masters stat site maintained by Martin Gasselsberger.

At the moment, the 2006 world masters rankings list Steven Bunn as having run 10.98 on June 8, 2006. That put him in the top 10 in the world in M40 -- behind only Aaron Thigpen and John Simpson on the USA list. But if his mark had properly been reported as 11.0, he would have been no better than 20th on the world list (or not listed at all).

Here's a screen shot of the 10.98 listing on mastersathletics.net, in case the mark is removed from that site as well.

On April 23, I wrote to Steve:

Another question:

Did you run the 100 in 10.98 in 2006, as indicated here:
http://www.mastersrankings.com/meetresults.php?pseason=Outdoor&cyear=2006&meetno=614
http://www.mastersathletics.net/Masters-Athletics-100-metres.87.0.html

If so, can you please provide confirmation?
If not, what will you do about the discrepancy?

The answer is Yes, the meet is correct as well. The Meet directers name is Ross Colona and he is an ISHA for over 20 years. I can get you his home number if you like. You will also find times posted over the 2007 season under the St. Louis Track club in the low 11s. As a 6 year veteran of masters track and field I am aware that most of these times are posted on the net so it is strange that I would fudge any of them. I am not sure why times I run would be referred to as "a discrepency" This seasons indoor times may be a little slower due to the fact that in August at the State games of America I suffered a complete avulsion of my semitendinosis. The surgery was performed on August 9th. So it is great just to be back.

Steve is fast, no question. I think he's also wiser to the ways of the digital world. Hand-times should not be submitted as electronic.

Now go kick some butt in East Alton, Steve. Russ Colona says the all-comer series returns as usual -- every Thursday in June.

From: Julia Ann Dudley [mailto:jad72@cvip.net]
Sent: Thursday, May 01, 2008 3:25 PM
Subject: T.R.A.C.K. Live! Update: PLEASE READ!

Dear T.R.A.C.K. Live! Trial Meet Contestants,

If you are receiving this email, then you should have received a confirmation number in a letter that was sent out to you more than two weeks ago. If you still have not received it, then please call our message line: 1-800-971-6498 and leave your name and number. Or respond to this email ASAP.

Please note that our server has been down for five days, which is out of our control. We have called the company several times. They claim they are working diligently to fix the problem. We apologize for the inconvenience. Meanwhile, you can send all correspondence to this email or to: lnajieb@yahoo.com. Also, some athletes are inquiring about travel; in your confirmation letter we listed our contracted agent Linda. Her information is also on the homepage of the website. We have also found that when you book hotel+air on Expedia.com, they seem to have the best going rate along with Hotwire.com.

Sign-ups!

It has come to our attention that not only is this the first track & field reality TV show combined with community activism like Oprah's "Big Give" show, but more and more athletes are still wanting to sign up to be a part of the competition. We were in Mt. Sac in April where many people were excited about being a part of T.R.A.C.K. Live! , so what we have done is taken off the deadline for the trial meet in Las Vegas. Instead we are charging an immediate fee of $20 for those who still want to sign up online until May 10th to be a part of the show; we charge this because we have to go back and hire production assistants to process the paperwork again, and the officials in Las Vegas are the ones doing all of the heat sheets. If there are athletes who want to show up the day of the meet, or who attempt to sign up after May 10th , then they will be charged an entrant fee of $40--again officials would have to reroute heats--so please pass the word along! However people that show up the day of miss the option of telling their story on camera, and they still will have to take the time to fill out an application and get checked by a trainer.

Please let us know if you have changed your mind about attending the Las Vegas trial meet; we need to keep our officials informed at all times of these changes.

Implements

Also, if you are a shot put or discus thrower, please let us know if you are unable to obtain your implement according to the master standards. This is important information for us to know ASAP. If you are a shot put or discus thrower who has implements, then it will be important to get these implements certified the morning of May 17th. They will be marked and used for the duration of the meet, according to USATF rules and regulations. (We took out the time of the implements being certified on Friday, from 2-4 PM).

About the Events and Races...

As it stands, all events will be aged appropriated; so do not count on the top 12 people in your heat or event as automatically accepted for the show. If there are not enough individuals in heats or enough women or men in specific areas, not a problem; we will narrow it down where athletes may be combined.

Reminders:

Please send us your 2-3 min. videos. Soon we will have our webisodes started; we are a little behind schedule getting that up, but definitely before Las Vegas, we will start those. Download or listen to the radio show we did for contestants on April 27th, which gives more detailed info. about Vegas and thereafter. Also, we encourage you to use any of the information on the website or press release to inform your local media and former high school of the project you are involved.

If you are a part of the mailing list, then please disregard the last email that will go out this weekend to all trial meet contestants. Please click "yes," you would like to be a part of the mailing list; this is so that all contestants know of updates, changes, information, etc., no other outside email. We do not share your email with anyone else; only the coaches.

Masters athletes are risk-takers by nature. Now they can take chances with their money as well. The Spokane masters nationals will hold the traditional athletes dinner at the Northern Quest casino, an arm of the Kalispel tribe. This isn't a first, however. Gambling could be had at 2003 Puerto Rico worlds as well. The Friday night athletes banquet at Spokane has a limit of 600, so you might take care of that soon. (They'll serve steak and salmon for $28. Chips are extra.)

Also, for those wanting to hit both the Canadian and USA masters nationals, Doug Smith writes:

Carol Lafayette-Boyd, one of the Regina organizers, had checked on bus charters, and found that a bus can be chartered for 47 people for about $190 per person. If you are interested in transport from Regina to Spokane, please contact Carol at saskmasters@accesscomm.ca