Latest on Oshkosh packet pickup: starts Wednesday p.m.
A masters mole shares this latest info on Oshkosh event check-in and packet pickup, saying a meet official sent this note: “We will have an early packet pick-up for participants at the stadium
right next to the weigh in room from 4pm to 6pm on Wednesday July 8th.
At this table, participants will also be able to declare for the 5000
meters which will take place the next morning. ” Earlier comments left the impression that check-in wasn’t happening until Thursday.
The USATF Web site has been confusing as well, saying here: “Packet pick-up will be at the Festival Foods Ticket Booth located at the front gate of the stadium from 6:30am-1:30pm Thurs-Sun of the meet” and then five paragraphs later saying: “We will have an early packet pick-up for participants at the stadium right next to the weigh in room from 4pm to 6pm on Wednesday July 8th. At this table participants will also be able to declare for the 5000 meters which will take place the next morning.”
14 Responses
Sounds like the LOC is being flexible and very accomodating to the athletes. Again, since they bailed out Clermont at the eleventh hour, I think they’re doing a great job thus far.
My only concern is more with the time schedule which I’ve been told is not the task of the LOC.
Last year’s steeple was 2 hours late (Friday). This year is appears they may not have given certain races enough time on the schedule (again) so we may have the same issue. Would be nice if they’d finally put the steeple in the a.m. to start things off as it’s the longest distance event that is in the middle of the day (but wait, “you have water to jump in!”)
Yes, the LOC is working very hard on this one, unlike some other LOCs I can recall. But I have an innovation that will be very “athlete friendly” and want Mellow Johnny and Mary Harada, among others, to comment on it.
The 5000, the first running event of the meet, is already set in stone. First race will be at 7:30 (men 65+), and the next race is at 8:15 (women 50+). BFA (before foreign athletes) there are 21 in the men’s race and 18 in the women’s. So why do we need declaration? Just check off the names as the runners pick up their hip numbers and then let them proceed to the starting line.
Can’t do this is in a race like the 200, because there we need to set up trials and assign lanes. The 5000, however, is firm and involves no trials. I suggest that we dispense with declaration for the first two sections so that the runners do not have to get up at 4:30 in the morning just to declare, knowing that they are not running until 7:30 (men 65+) or 8:15 (women 50+). We already know their names; what’s not to like?
I realize that we are now offering Wed. declaration for these runners, but many will not know about this. How about giving “no declaration” a try? Big benefit to runners, no loss to the meet.
I like the idea a lot, PT. No reason that can’t be done in the distance events. Those who show up race and those who don’t, well, don’t. Simple and straightforward.
I know that for the steeple, I don’t want to be there well before I race sitting around in the heat or trying to find a way to stay out of it. So I’m currently planning on picking up my packet and declaring on Thursday then going to the hotel. Upon returning to the track Friday, I’m set to go. But would be easier just to show up on Friday and race.
Glad you’re with me, Mellow Johnny. Some of these athletes entered months ago, and we have had weeks to study the lists. The schedule is not going to be changed now, so if the first race has the full 21, scratches to 17, scratches to 19, it doesn’t matter. Those runners will go to the line at 7:30. Post entries will not be accepted.
Weather predictions still a little hotter than I would like:
Thursday (July 9): 67 to 80
Friday : 69 to 83
Saturday : 68 to 83
Yeah, that is a touch hotter than I would like as well. And that’s a bit hotter than your last post for Friday so hopefully that trend doesn’t continue.
Peter that was my original idea but USATF wants to stick with the same format for declarations as they will be doing at worlds. Hence I originally wanted to only make athletes in the 800 on down who had prelims check in. I agree it would be a lot easier seeing as how the 5k is up right away but I also see the point of staying consistent so that there is no question you must declare for all events. In the end it eliminates issues with not knowing if you need to declare and for many athletes who are in a bunch of events both distance and mid distance it saves them some confusion. Hopefully a lot of athletes take advantage of the early packet pick up wednesday night from 4-6 especially the 5kers. One week out!!
Jason-
Thanks for being involved in the blog posts. I think you guys have done a great job and am looking forward to the meet. You’ll never please everyone, particularly a group of masters tracksters!
If you can control the weather, please tone down the predicted temps just a tad for next Friday.
See you in a week.
no declaration for the 5k and 10k for that matter makes sense. The distance races are just a mob scene for the most part. We have a waterfall start and all head for the curb – no lane assignments – and sort outselves out by the 100m mark.
I am far more concerned about the lap counting than declaration sheets but as mentioned by others – including master announcer Peter Taylor – why are we turning up hours prior to an early mob race to declare? Either we are there or we are not – and that can be figured out when they give out the hip number.
They are going to do hip numbers aren’t they – how else will the lap counters keep track!!!!!!
Yes I emailed the LOC today about the alleged no packet pickup – and was told that it was on the USATF website and so it is.
Gary Synder later emailed me that he accepts responsibility for that as he as told them to have it only on the USATF website.
Ok- my apologies to the LOC – you have to do what you are told.
As for USATF website only – seems shortsighted to me – last place I would have looked for that info – WMA – for example -does not put anything about a WMA meet on its website except the url for the LOC website. So – my bad – I guess – but then I am old and grumpy –
Thanks Ken for putting this up where the Blog readers can easily find the info –
And my thanks to Oshkosh for the rescue from Clermont – I will keep that in mind when I find something to complain about next week- it could have been in Clermont, Florida! arghhhhhhhhhh
omg and all that stuff. It is going to be a good meet and the temps indicated sound ok to me – Florida in July is a sauna.
Thank you, Mary. Frank Levine, who now lives in Florida, I believe, will be flying in for the 5000, the first race of the meet (7:30 a.m.). As I recall, he entered about 1 and 1/2 months ago. Frank is 95, and thus I had to check the record for the M95 5000 in case he’s feeling frisky and wants to break it.
Ten years ago we (the general public, the announcer, etc.) would have had no idea until shortly before the race that Frank was in it. Now we know for a month or more, and we (and Frank) know for a couple of weeks when he will run. So……there really doesn’t seem to be any reason that Frank should have to get up well before dawn, have a hurried breakfast, then take a cab to the stadium simply to indicate (through declaration) that he will be running. If he doesn’t pick up a hip number (should be no. 21), he isn’t in the race.
Per what Jason has said, dispensing with declaration in races longer than 800 (they are all finals and are not run in lanes) is out this year, but it would certainly be nice to see it instituted on an experimental basis in 2010 (Sacramento). Another great idea would be to dispense with the 800 trials. Mellow Johnny, I want to bring you in on this one, are you there?
You’re a high school teacher, Mellow Johnny. How would you like to have an annual 2-day conference in Bend, Oregon, for which you had to pay out of your own pocket? You go there, dutifully, to the Days Inn in Bend (the conference hotel), only to find in most years that the conference was called off but no one was told (including you).
That is the case with our 800 trials; in recent years the majority of 800 trials that were actually listed on the schedule were not run (they rolled over to a final), and the 800 runners then had to wait until Saturday for a final. As you know, Mellow Johnny, the trials are listed for Thursday. Furthermore, the trials, when they are run, are never necessary, as there is too much spread in talent. Simply put, the 10th runner is never anywhere near the best runner in speed and thus could be put in a second section.
A third reform would be to accept records that were set at major championships (Aaron Thigpen’s 10.60 FAT, wind legal, at the Mt. Sac Relays; Kay Glynn’s world record in the pole vault at the Pacific USATF championships; John Hinton’s world indoor mark of 4:20.18 at the Hartshorne Mile, and a host of others). That would be a nice reform.
Peter, as an 800 meter runner, I agree totally about trials in the 800. I wrote a letter to the National Masters News several years ago to that effect.
You will love the facility, complete with a 400 meter warm up track adjacent to the main track. I ran at Oshkosh in the 60’s when we had cinders in the middle of a residential area.
It’s ironic that the busiest airport in the world during the Experimental Aircraft Association’s annual convention doesn’t do commercial.
Hope you all enjoy your stay.
Right you are, Stan. I looked at the M60 field for this year’s 800 (of which you are a part); trials are totally unnecessary for this group but are scheduled to take place on Thursday. The reason why trials are unnecessary for M60? There is a large spread in abilities from top to bottom. This is not NCAA,where the top person might run 1:46 and the 20th person 1:48.50. There you need trials.
I looked back at Spokane (2008). Trials in the 800 were listed for Thursday morning for M40, M45, M50, M55, and M60, meaning that the entire fields in those events had to fly in on Wednesday. Whoops. Of the five groups, only M45 and M50 actually ran trials, and both were unnecessary. In fact, there were only 15 runners total in M45 and 14 in M50. They could have run both as single-section finals. Had the fields been a bit larger they could have run two-section finals by ability.
Think also, Stan, about how many hundreds of entries have been lost over the years, as 800-m runners who have work commitments or can’t afford 4 days of hotel have eschewed the event because they have to come in Wed. afternoon or evening for trials on Thursday. Oh, well. The trials are bad for the meet treasury, bad for officials, bad for the athletes, and not exciting to watch (the majority of runners advance). And yet we have not seen them taken off the schedule.
Hey PT-
Since I live in Bend, I wouldn’t be all that upset =) but I wouldn’t be happy at all to travel anywhere to find out that the money and time was for naught to go a day early. I am with you 100% on this one. Dispense with useless phantom trails.
We’re paying our own way and anyone else who makes as much as I do can’t afford to be spending money on hotels and eating out for no reason.
On another topic, talk at the Portland Masters of a proposition to lower the barrier to the 33″ height for men 50-59. Great idea as well barriers have this setting that I’ve seen but they aren’t using it. Going from 59 to 60 and going down 1/2 a foot AND shortening 1K is distance doesn’t make much sense.
PT? Your thoughts?
Had no idea you that you live in Bend, Mellow Johnny. Let’s make it different — how would you like to travel from Bend, Oregon, to Fayetteville, Arkansas (University of Arkansas), on a Wednesday to come in on time for a “phantom trial” on Thursday in the 800?
“Phantom” in the sense that it would most likely not even be held. This would contrast with coming in on Friday or even Saturday if the 800 was late in the schedule. Thus, we are really talking about 2 or even 3 days early ($ out of your pocket). From what you have said, I know you think it’s a bad idea.
Re the steeplechase, I think it should stay at 3000 through age 79 (not through age 59 as at present). Could see dropping the barriers 3″ for those age 50-54 and 55-59.
Totally with you on the phantom trial. Wouldn’t want to spend money for extra costs for a phantom trial at all.
Like your idea with the steeple. Keep the 3K distance but lower the barrier to 33″ for 50-59 then down to 30″ – I would like to see the distance dropped to 2K starting at 70.
In Minneapolis now so will be making the way over to Oshkosh on Thursday. See y’all there!
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