Eugene nationals loom, but masters women’s 1,500 at risk
Last year’s Olympic Trials featured two masters exhibition races — a men’s 3000 with several dozen studs won by Tony Young and an exciting women’s 200, won by Donna Lawrence after coming from behind in the last 20 meters. A month from now, the USATF open championships return to Eugene, Oregon. And they’ll see masters as well. Or maybe not in the women’s case. As of this writing, only one woman — Aeron Arlin Genet — is entered in the masters 1500 exhibition. Five men are entered in the masters 400. (See the Status of Entries page.) Invitational events coordinator Mark Cleary isn’t quite sweating spikes, but he’s considering lowering the qualifying standards in both races to assure all lanes are filled. The current standards are 53.0 for men and 5:10/5:33 (1500/mile) for women.
Mark Cleary answered my queries on the Eugene events:
He expects all lanes of the men’s 400 to be filled: “I heard from Ron Potocnick and he is interested. I would love to hear from Eric Prince, Corey Moody and Neil Fitzgerald. I know (M50) James Lofton has a 53.18 time from last year and would be a possibility. Yes, we would ease the time standard to maybe 53.5 to cast a wider net. So I encourage athletes who have a sub-54 time to apply and they could possibly get moved up into the field.
On the women’s 1500: “Yes, I would love to get Alisa Harvey and Monica Joyce into the field. I know Tania Fischer and one of her teammates are interested and I expect that they will enter.”
Mark adds: “This is a tough year for athletes who are going to (Oshkosh) nationals and also to Finland for world champs. . . . We have never had to cancel an invitational event at either of the USATF Indoor or Outdoor Championships and I think this women’s event will come together. Please put the word out there that if athletes are resonably close to the qualifying standards to go ahead and submit an online application. Racing in front of the crowd in Eugene is the thrill of a lifetime.”
Consider the word out, Mark. Best of luck.
Here’s all the info on these exhibition events. Entry deadline is June 13, and the masters events are a little after noon Sunday, June 28.
15 Responses
Mark, should ease the standards and allow members from more the one club to participate. This is not a club event and there should be no restrictions placed on minimum standards met by individuals. This issue as well as other issues surrounding the exibition program can be improved by the next person who takes over Mark’s post by polling the masses and asking them what can be done to improve the process including event selection, standards, etc.
Yikes. We finally get Aeron Arlin Genet into a masters race, but she has no competitors! However, I just looked up and found that the deadline is June 13, and so perhaps it’s too soon to panic.
Also looked at the entries for Oshkosh — ooohh. Sanya Syrstad has entered the 1500, but she is the only woman UNDER AGE 50 to do so. Wow. There the regular deadline is June 12. I really hope things will change, as the results so far are scary, to say the least.
Last year Mark told my friend in an e-mail and later over the phone that he (and myself) were not good enough for the 3000m exhibition race in Eugene. Quote: “These are the best of the best,…”,..I spare you the rest!! Maybe he was a bit stressed…?
My friend ran a 1:11,50 Half Marathon about 6 months before this phone call,…I had run a 4:31 (road) mile a few weeks before.
I do have to admit that we didn’t have the 3000m qualifying time …since we didn’t know about the exhibition race until a month before the event.
Anyway…last time I’ve checked a 4:31 mile at age 42 or a 1,11:50 Half Marathon at age 41 are nothing to be made fun of…
Maybe you should follow his lead. For the 800m exhibition at Mt Sac you needed a 2:13.00. And only two members were allowed from one club. Mark put his time as 2:13.51, when he hasn’t broken 2:20 for three years (and was listed as the third member of So Cal).
The invitational qualifying standards are an arbitrary joke. Some years ago I contacted Mark about running the masters 800 at Stanford, even though I had not met the qualifying standard- I was just a bit off. He said no even though the field was not full and the meet just days away. I thought “fair enough- I didn’t meet the standards.” The next year, I still was just a tick off the qualifier, yet who called me asking if I wanted to run? Mark, of course! Then, to top it all off, I HAD made the qualifier for the following indoor master exhibition race in Boston. I applied, and he TURNED ME DOWN, even though I was willing to fly from the opposite coast at my own expense. He fianlly relented when a dear friend and teammate, who had been accepted, told him she would not come if I wasn’t running. Remember, I had made the qualifier, and the field was NOT full, yet I wasn’t “good enough.” Ridiculous.
The whole program needs to be given a fresh look, new people need to be give the change to work the invitatioinal program with a diferent view on how the program should bring the masters program to the front. Many would like to see a change. something fairer thing what is going on now…. One point is how is it a invite when you have to pay to run, that’s like me inviting you to my house and charging you for the food you eat. crazy
We are only hearing from anonymous complainers at this point. Let me address the acusation that I put myself in a race that I didn’t meet the standard for. The Mt. Sac meet put our events on Friday for the first time this year–that pretty much killed our events this year as far as getting a quality field ( Masters are not going to take two days off work to race at Mt. Sac– I was another body in the field–that being said I would never just throw myself into a USATF Masters Invitational race at the US Oudoor Champs never have and never will oh and by the way in non lane races with field sizes up to 12 you can have 3 athletes from the same team–so I did not violate the rules of the program that are spelled out on the entry information( oh and just because I didn’t report my 2:13 time to Masters Track.com doesn’t mean I didn’t run that time–next the person who says that the Stanford field was not filled is lieing to you folks plain and simple that field was full and this person did not meet the qualifying standard-so that’s really a non issue.I can tell you there are far more people who appreciate what I am doing and have done in the Masters program–the complainers tend to be the one’s always voicing their opinion on this site anyone who reads this blog knows that– so don’t take the word of people who are afraid to put their name to their comments-seek the comments of athletes that have actually raced in the program.
Futher explanation on Mt. Sac race– we had 3 entries-but had a scratch so only two people from the same club actually raced which meets the requirement–the info page should list 3 not two because the race was run in alleys for the first 100meters. Basically when the field size is larger and is not run in lanes 3 athletes from the same club can race. This rule was put in place so that one club did not dominate a field ( giving other top athletes representation). I hope this sheads a little light on the subject.
I would like to add my positive comments to the mix regarding Mark Cleary and the invitational races I participated in. I ran in the both the women’s 200 meter exhibition race in Eugene in 2008 and the women’s 400 meter exhibition race at the USA Indoor Championships in Boston in March 2009. In both instances, I found Mark to be extremely helpful and the entry process to be fair and straightforward. Mark did a great job in ensuring we had a full field in both races; what many people may not know is that runners qualify and sign up, but then make last minute cancellations due to injury or other life circumstances beyond their control. I originally wasn’t in the top 8 for the 200 meter race, but when two women dropped out only a week or so before the race, Mark contacted me as I was the next on the list, and I happily accepted his invitation to compete! There were no politics involved; I had the next fastest time, so I was able to go.
I don’t believe the qualifying times are arbitrary at all; rather, they reflect the top times that have been run by masters men and women that year, as they should. In regards to the women’s 1500 to be held at Eugene in June, I am sure that the qualifying mark of 5:10 is not too difficult; I can think of 5 or 6 women off the bat who have run that time this year. Rather, I think finances may be affecting people here…it is the reason I haven’t applied. But I don’t think we can blame Mark Cleary for that.
I feel honored to have competed at these prestigious meets and I thank Mark for the work he has done in getting us races at these events. No system is perfect, but constructive criticism goes a lot farther than anonymous mud-slinging.
No, Mark, I am not lying. I never said the fields were not full by the time the races took place. However, in each instance they were NOT full at the time of our initial contact. And, I made it clear in my previous post that I was fine with being turned down for not meeting the standard the first time I contacted you. I do have issues with the following year when you invited me to participate when I had NOT made the standard for one exhibition then told I couldn’t run in another when I HAD met the its standards. If that’s not arbitrary, I don’t know what is.
Are these always running events or do the jumps/throws ever get in these?
It’s very simple if I asked you to compete in an event that you were close to the standard, but had not hit — that’s because we did not have a full field. The event you qualified for and did not run in would have been because there were enough entries faster that you to complete the field.If this is the anonymous person I think it is- you went to meet management at Stanford and got a qualified athlete in lane one Mark Kibort bumped out of the race and yourself incerted into the race.I am not sure what lenghths you went to to get that accomplished but several hours before the event I had that reversed.I told you at that point based on your actions that you would not be welcome in any future Masters Invitational events.
“…if I asked you to compete in an event that you were close to the standard, but had not hit — that’s because we did not have a full field. The event you qualified for and did not run in would have been because there were enough entries faster that you to complete the field.”
Nope, wrong person, and actually, I DID run in the event I qualified for. Apparently you did not read the original post thoroughly? Again, what is the point of qualifying standards if they are “moving targets”? Arbitrary- period. Over and out.
I have competed twice in the USATF Masters Invitational program. What some commenters have identified as a lack of transparency in the selection process might instead be called a “personal touch.” Like any promoter-organizer-coordinator, Mark Cleary’s job is to assemble the best field on race day, and he has to take into account subjective factors such as who is likely to show up, what kind of shape they are in now (as opposed to a year ago, when the standard was met), just how empty or competitive the field might actually be on meet day, and so on.
In my case, I was missing the 800m standard by half a second when Cleary called, a month before the event, and asked if I might be interested. I said I was, but that I needed to know that the commitment was mutual before I bought a plane ticket. He agreed, and we both kept our word. I think I had emailed him long before that, asking about the program. I had also introduced myself to him the previous year at an out-of-state meet. So he knew who I was and probably got the idea that I would be likely to make the trip. If you’re interested in participating someday, I recommend getting on Cleary’s radar.
The best things about the invitational program: (1) the chance to compete against a tightly-seeded field, (2) meeting the top masters competitors in your event, and (3) watching some great pro track and field.
We have 6 entries for the Men’s 400m and 3 for the Women’s 1500m as of the afternoon of May 29th. I have contacted Alisa Harvey and would like to contact Monica Joyce–I don’t have her contact information –if someone can help me out on that it would be great–Mark
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