The USATF Rules Committee has spoken. We now know the fate of the nearly 20 rules proposals affecting masters track and field. Besides the John Keston rules discussed earlier, we can tick off the results of the other votes. And several might tick you off: Steve Vaitones’ proposal to make national championship patches optional — instead of mandatory — was accepted, overruling the sentiment of the masters delegates. (And Steve’s proposal to ban “all-star” LDR teams was accepted as amended.)

USATF Rule 341.10 now reads:
Regulation USATF medals shall be awarded to first, second, and third place individual in each age division and to the declared members of the first, second, and third place teams in each team division. Championship patches may be awarded to the winners of each age division and to the declared members of the winning team in each division.
Here’s how USATF Rule 341.7 now reads:
Teams must represent current member clubs of USATF. USATF Association, Regional or National “all star” teams are not eligible to compete in Masters Long Distance Running Team competition. Team members must be affiliated with the club they are representing on their USATF membership record prior to entering the competition.
Another semi-surprise: Carroll DeWeese’s plan to insure two-thirds U.S. representation in the finals at nationals was accepted (overruling the masters delegates):
USATF Rule 332.2(g) now reads:
At National Masters Track and Field Championships, the athletes advanced to the final in every event shall consist of at least 2/3rds who are USA affiliated as determined by WMA. If adjustments are needed to meet this requirement, then the reduction in guest finalists shall be determined by performance with no consideration to place. Those USA affiliated athletes that were advanced to the finals by place shall retain their position and the additional USA affiliated athletes that will be added to the final shall be selected by performance with no consideration to place. The number of finalists shall not be increased to include additional non-USA affiliated athlete finalists.
Still, in almost every case, the recommendations of the masters delegates at the Indy convention last week were accepted by the Rules Committee.
Here goes (with the masters verdict followed by the Rules Committee action in bold):
Item 46: George Mathews’ tweaks of weight specs. YES ACCEPTED AS AMENDED
Item 53: Dave Clingan’s proposal to allow records made in handicap races as long as record-holder ran the scratch distance with proper timing: YES (Remember the John Keston affair?) ACCEPTED AS AMENDED
Item 55: Clingan’s proposal allows masters and youth records to be set in running events with cones. No longer requires curb rails on tracks for masters/youth records: YES ACCEPTED AS AMENDED
Item 59: Clingan’s proposals to protect certain record categories — especially the indoor and outdoor mile and the outdoor 3,000 meters: YES ACCEPTED
Item 84: Mathews proposal to have separate indoor throw records for “soft” and “metal” implements: NO REJECTED
Item 85: Steve Vaitones’ proposal to allow duplicate ribbons for only top three non-American finishers, instead of the current top-6: NO REJECTED
Item 86: Mathews’ proposal to take the indoor and outdoor pentathlons out of the masters national indoor and outdoor meets, and put them in another locale: TABLED TABLED
Item 87: Mathews’ proposal to require the weight throw and superweight throw events at regional and association masters meets: NO REJECTED
Item 91: DeWeese’s proposal that requires age-graded performances of 65% to count toward points for a club championship: NO REJECTED
Item 92: Bob Fine’s proposal that, in championship meets, athletes can compete for a club only if they are member of the association that club is based in. In other words, no clubs with members from farflung associations: NO REJECTED
Item 94: Vaitones’ proposal top allow the 800 in outdoor championships and the 400 and longer events indoors to be timed finals: NO REJECTED
Item 96: DeWeese’s proposal that at least two-thirds of all participants in the finals of a masters nationals event be U.S. citizens: NO ACCEPTED
Item 100: Becky Sisley’s proposal to change the M80-plus hammer and shot weights from 4 kilograms to 3 kilograms to make them agree with WMA specs: YES ACCEPTED
Item 101: Mathews’ tweak of superweight implement weights: TABLED ACCEPTED AS AMENDED
Item 104: Vaitones’ proposal against all-star relay teams: NO ACCEPTED AS AMENDED
Item 105: Vaitones’ proposal to allow meets to drop national championship patches: NO ACCEPTED
Me again:
National championships patches may not be doomed if we speak up. The meet directors at Orono 2007, Spokane 2008 and Clermont 2009 should be told that WE WANT PATCHES! But the folks (including Vaitones) running the Boston indoor nationals in 2007 and 2008 may be a lost cause. Don’t count on taking home patches there. Sigh.

Patches should stay. The mile record should stay. But overhaul masters hurdle specs and spacings? Not this year. These are among the recommendations of masters delegates at a long meeting yesterday in Indy, where USATF delegates got to say yea or nay to a slew of rules-change proposals that the wider USATF Rules Committee will take up this weekend. The masters delegates pretty much guarantee a rule change involving masters is dead meat if it doesn’t get support in the masters meetings.

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