Last weekend, Joplin, Missouri, was scheduled to host the USATF National Masters Decathlon Championships. But so far, I can’t find a Web site that hosts the results of this meet, which was to include visiting British athletes in a “decathlon challenge.” The list of entrants shows some superstars. Was the meet rained (or flooded) out? If anyone can solve the mystery of the missing deca at Missouri Southern State University, please let us know. Thankee!

Here’s a great little preview article of the meet, which ran a week ago in a Joplin newspaper:

Former top 10 athletes to compete at MSSU
Hughes Stadium on the campus of Missouri Southern State University in Joplin will be the location of the 8th annual Masters Decathlon/Heptathlon Championships and the Decathlon Challenge between the US and Great Britain. The two-day event, free to the public, will begin tentatively at 9 a.m., June 21, rain or shine.
Athletes aged 30 to 81 will compete in this biennial event first held in 1994 in Sheffield, England by a group of former top 10 world champs who in part wanted to develop a team concept. The Brits lead the series 5 to 3.
While the event has been played in Buffalo, New York, Tom Thorne of Neosho, a former participant and local event organizer, said that staging it in mid America hosted by the Decathlon Midwest Track Club and sanctioned by the USATF Missouri Valley would allow participants to “find out what the real US is like,” especially by staying in local host homes. A while back Dwight Douglas, a Missouri Southern Board of Trustees member and Julio Leon, Southern president, were convinced that the university’s superior track and field could be put to use for this event.
The participants, who must be members of the USATF or other IAAF member federation, compete in five year age divisions. There are no qualifying standards. Events scheduled for Saturday include the 100 yard dash, long jump, shot put, high jump and 400 metre; for Sunday the high hurtles, discus, pole vault, javelin and 1500 metres for men and 800 metres for women. While the Leggett & Platt Athletic Center on campus has been reserved for some field events other events will take place outdoors rain or shine.
Some of those carrying the banner for the British team will include Bruce and Jackie Charles. Bruce Charles is a frequent medalist in combined events in the United Kingdom and was a bronze medalist in the 2003 European Indoors Masters Pentathlon.
Jackie Charles is the current European Indoor Pentathlon Champion and, in 2007, was the silver medalist in the triple jump in the World Masters Championships in Italy and was awarded the bronze medal in the heptathlon. Recently she took silver in the pentathlon and triple jump in the World Indoor Masters Championships in France and bronzes in the 60-metre hurdles and the long jump.
Alastair Duncan also will compete in Joplin. In the 2007 BMAF Indoor Pentathlon, he has the gold medal in the decathlon, the silver medal in pentathlon, and bronzes in the 60 meter hurdles long jump.
Hazel Baker is the current British champion at heptathlon, the current British champion in the women’s (age 45 group) at the Indoor Pentathlon. She was fourth in her age group last year in heptathlon at the World Championships in Riccione, Italy. She also holds the silver medal in pentathlon from the last European championships held in Poznam, Poland.
Always a popular figure and superstar with athletes on both sides of the Atlantic, Snowy Brooks, who competed in the 1972 Summer Olympics, will attend the event, but injuries will prevent him from competing. Instead he will be on hand at all the events to meet and visit with old friends.
When asked why only two women have entered the event as opposed to 11 men, Thorne said that he guessed “the rest of us aren’t very smart” implying that women might have a more realistic notion of jumping hurtles after the age of 30.
Many volunteers are needed. If interested, contact Tom Thorne at (417) 451-7417. The deadline for registering for the events has passed. However, on-site registration is $50 and limited to time available.