Missing from Kamloops: Earl Fee, Bob Lida and Doug Smith
The 60-meter prelims are among many events kicking off Kamloops worlds this morning, but several all-star sprinters won’t be awaiting the gun. Canada’s Earl Fee, always a threat at M80 records, wrote me last week: “Not going to Kamloops as planned as I am recovering from a calf tear, but will compete in Boston.” And M70 sprint champions Bob Lida of Kansas and Doug Smith of Southern California also have scratched from worlds. Doug has a deep tissue injury. “Had been having some excellent training sessions,” he wrote, “and felt really confident, but won’t be able to compete, after all. Such is the life of a sprinter.” And Bob, a new Masters Hall of Famer, says: “Kept waiting for my knees to come around. They’re better, but not good enough for world competition — and certainly not for a non-banked track.” Bob may compete at Boston nationals in three weeks.
Bob Lida, falling near end of Spokane 100-meter final in 2008, recovered in 2009 but still has knee issues. (Photo by Ken Stone)
2 Responses
If you take a look at the list of US athletes who took home Gold Medals in Lahti and Sydney, quite a few are not in Kamloops, such M40 high jumper Karl Hawke who took home Gold in both Lahti and Sydney. Crunching the Kamloops competition up against the Winter Olympics and thereby making Vancouver an impossible entry point to Canada is the reason that some US stars stayed home, I suspect. Bad planning.
I’m not sure what you mean about making Vancouver an impossible entry point to Canada. If you are driving from the states, you don’t go through Vancouver to get to Kamloops. From what I’ve been told, the Vancouver airport is also handling the extra volume very well. I also think that the Olympics might have brought more people here since some have come to watch the Olympics and then attend the masters championships.
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