London making bid to host 2015 masters worlds at Olympic Stadium
Maurice Doogan, a British masters official eyeing venues at the 2012 London Olympics, sends this fabulous news: “Yesterday was the closing date for bid submissions for the WMACS 2015. . . . After weeks of phone calls, e-mails, meetings, late-night visits etc., since my return from Nyiregyhaza, with stress levels off the Richter scale, I have finally got support letters from the Mayor of London and UKA. This has enabled me to submit bid documents, on behalf of a ‘ghost’ LOC, to Winston (Thomas) as secretary of WMA, for the WMA Outdoor Stadia Championships in 2015 in the Olympic Stadium in London. We have also received support from Ken Livingstone, a prospective candidate for the Mayoral Election in 2012, which will take the ‘new’ Mayor through to 2016 and the hope of hosting the WMA Outdoor Stadia Championships in this multicultural city that is London. I understand there are three other cities bidding for these championships.”
Masters competing on an Olympic track (even three years after the fact) is a fantasy come true.
But this dream meet still has hurdles to clear.
If UK Athletics wins the IAAF World Athletics Championships in 2015, all bets are off. And there’s still no ironclad guarantee that the track in the Olympic Stadium is retained. Another wrinkle: A 2015 London worlds would make it 4-for-6 in Europe over a short span — following 2005 San Sebastian, 2007 Riccione and 2009 Lahti. (Sacramento has 2011 and Brazil has 2013.) Britain last hosted worlds in 1999 — in the northeast cities of Gateshead and Newcastle.
A decision on London 2015 would be made at the Sacramento General Assembly in 2011.
But London would be cool! They even speak a form of English!
I’ll report the other bid cities when I learn them.
11 Responses
How about South Africa – Cape Town or Durban for the 2015 World Masters Champs, after the very successful World Cup Soccer event !
Oops, I forgot the bids have closed, well then maybe 2017 !
Another meet in South Africa would be great but as Pam notes – bids closed for 2011. I would love to go back to South Africa – just don’t wait too long – I am getting old.
RE – so many in Europe – right – and that is likely to continue esp for indoor worlds, however there are many who may note that Great Britain is NOT Europe! It has been a long time since the WMA was in Great Britain – I do not have a vote and have no clue who the other bidders will be – but I would vote for GB.
(reminder folks – the next indoor WMA is Finland in 2012.).
And the World Masters Games is in Italy in 2013 – conflicting a bit with the WMA in Brazil – not too many have the time and money to go to both.
Mary is correct. England is not even close to Europe. Remember the headlines: FOG OVER THE CHANNEL. EUROPE ISOLATED. But yes, England would be a wonderful choice. I’d swim over to Dover. Even in the fog.
Oh, I have to put my 2 cents in on that one:
I will be 80, hopefully still alive and kicking.
The last time I spent time in London was 55 yrs. ago.
Can we rent a room on Downing Street No. 10?
Try running on a previously used Olympic track in North America. 1976 Montreal, 1984 Los Angeles Coliseum, 1996 Atlanta Centennial Olympic Stadium (now Ted Turner Field). Where are those tracks now? All torn out to make room for more popular sports. The longest any of the three survived was 8 years (L.A.), Montreal and Atlanta didn’t survive a year. 1932’s track was replaced by 1984’s. And St. Louis 1904 is rather predictably gone too. Old might be an excuse, but remember the 2004 Olympics made use of the 1896 Olympic Stadium. Its just how we Americans (and the baseball influenced Canadians) protect our track shrines. Mexico City is the only one that remains. I got to run on L.A. and Atlanta before they were torn out (I also have run on the future 2016 track at Joao Havelange in Rio), I’m perhaps one of the few non-Olympians to get that opportunity. OK, enough of my history lecture. I hope London survives long enough to host a future masters meet.
Personally, I favor the out-of-the-ordinary. There are exotic venues such as Java or Borneo. Turkey would be super. There is a beautiful stadium in Tehran. It was new for the 1974 Asian Games. The people love their sports. Manila?? Of course,the coup would be Tahiti. Oh, yeah, I’d probably defect. One-way ticket, baby.Smartty
More out-of-the-ordinary – why not Beijing some day? All infrastructure in place and astonishingly inexpensive. I recently took a 10-day air travel and top hotel package to Beijing that was cheaper than 10 days in Finland and I live in neighbouring Sweden!
You guys are a little rich for my blood. I live 30 minutes north of Houston and for the NSG Nationals I’m saving my money up so I can take the tollway in to town.
Pam, where are you? I raced all over Africa. Connect. j9s1131@centurylink.net Smartty
John – I’m with you. Saved two years to go to Kamloops – nice place, but not exactly exotic. Realistically, doesn’t really matter for me. Not even sure if I can get the coin to find my way to Sac St.
Leave a Reply