National Senior Olympics schedule finally posted (and we have it)
Here’s the schedule for the National Senior Olympics, which came out today — only seven days before the meet opens. That has to be a record for causing frustration. No friends made here, but once you’ve paid your entry fees, what choice ya got? Here’s a link to entrants. They’ll compete, you’ll remember, at Humble, Texas — not Houston. The meet honcho’s explanation was given here.
Meet was switched to this venue because of problems with original site.
27 Responses
Any schedule for us older folks, for the second week?
Did I miss it?
No, Christel, I don’t think you did. Cause
I’m still looking too.As of Sat.morning June
11th.
Phyllis Provost
Take a look at the morning of June 19: looks like there will be split finals for both M60HJ and M55HJ. Strange things happen when the people organizing a track meet have never actually attended one before.
@Ed Baskauskas
Hi Ed, I forgot to qualify for the games in Houston, but I might come out and take some pictures. Good luck and I hope for 157 cm or more for you.
Milan
Thanks, Milan. It’ll be good to see you.–Ed
Milan:If that happens again, you can go to ANY STATE’S National games that allows non-staters to compete.ie,LA,OK,FL,OH, but NM.and represent TX or any other state.You’re not required to represent the state in which you’re a resident.
Wow! 400 prelim followed by 100 prelim. Followed by 400 semi and 100 semi. All between 8:35a and 12 noon on the first day of competition… Good thing we’re not old!
🙂
2panama kid
Thanks for the advice. Kind of a silly situation, he games are in Houston, I live in Houston, but i cannot compete. On the other hand I am sure there are several high jumpers that are not too sad about this 🙂
@Michael Waller
Michael, we will keep the temperature at 98F so you dont have to spend too much energy to keep warm between the events 🙂
Hey Waller: Run like you did in Puerto Rico,then run to your car and turn the AC on until the next event.
I sort of wish they had not posted the schedule. Mens 50-54 throwing events are at 7AM each morning. I know distance runners do this all the time but I’ve never thrown that early! I guess someone was trying to be kind and let us throw while it was cool? I’ll take the heat of the day over 7AM anytime!!
This looks like the last time I’ll ever venture to the NSG. I made flight arrangements when I registered, three months ago. I arrive Friday night at 6:40pm.
Now the schedule is posted one week before the competition with the shot Saturday at 7am.
Registration is from 7a-7p each day, so I’ll miss it on Friday and can’t possibly make it Saturday morning.
I called today and talked to the track coordinator. I was told there was nothing that could be done, no possibility to register at the meet site, which I surmise is a good distance from the registration head quarters.
And I paid an outrageous entry fee for this, not to mention the travel costs?
Hey Don,
I know they say we can’t do it, but ask the track coordinator if I can pick up your registration packet on Thursday when I get mine. You can promise to stop by after you throw the shot put and officially prove whatever you need to prove.
Yes, it’s probably 30min from registration to the track venue.
Don:Add my name to list,I live in Houston.I can pick up packet any day IF YOU GET THE OK, then let me know thru this forum and I will give my number OFF LINE
Heats and prelims for the 400m 3 hrs apart! The organisers must be joking or incompetent. I am inclined to come down on the later.
Are we going to get a schedule for the second week or must we wait till next year? Wasn’t the entry deadline far enough away to have this figured out by now?
I finally found the schedule.
Three big meets this year: the Sr Games in Humble, Texas, the Worlds in Sacramento, and the Nationals in Berea, Ohio. I had time to look at only one event, the 100 dash, and I looked at women only (50 and up, of course, because Sr Games does not go below 50).
Here is what I found in terms of entrants:
Worlds: 211
Sr Games: 167
Nationals: 6
I should note, however, that the deadline for Nationals (unless you want to pay a huge penalty) is still 18 days away (July 1). When all is said and done (considering past experience) I expect Nationals to draw at least 22 women in the 100 dash among competitors 50+.
The Sr Games is a much-maligned event, but I saw many, many stars as I pored through the lists: Phil Raschker, Kathy Bergen, Jeanne Daprano, Flo Meiler, Audrey Lary, Amanda Scotti, etc., etc. In addition, presumably all 167 women had to qualify in some way, as easy as that might be in many cases.
Why would so many women choose Sr Games over nationals? Of the three venues, I believe that Berea, Ohio (nationals), will be the best for the 100, and it is certainly the only venue of the three for which the average high is not in the 90s.
There are messages to take away from all of this; I wonder what people think.
Folks, I have been in direct contact with the Chairman of the NSGA regarding several issues with the schedule. I was hoping that I would have a response regarding the competition commmittees reconsideration of the schedule by now. In order to attempt to recover my expenses I needed ample lead time. I fear I may have reached the threshold for recovering most of my expenses.
During the last Senior Games in Palo Alto, the track and field schedule was posted in Septermeber of the preceding year giving all athletes ample time to make a decision or appeal, as I did, to the NSGA for a change in the schedule. This time, howerver, the final schedule was not posted showing the extra heat of the 400 on Friday until very recently — well after the deadline for registration. That a number of athletes are planning to drop from some of the sprints should not surprise the NSGA officials, but it seems it has. As of this hour I am waiting for a return call from the NSGA regarding the competition committees reconsideration of the schedule. I was told that a return call would be made today.
Below is some documentation regarding the last games in Palo Alto. As you can see they did not learn from their previous mistakes. All they need to do is use the same schedule that was used in Louisville in 2007. The reason that I was given for their confusion is that they have an entire new staff and did not know of this problem, nor did they have the schedule from Louisville.
Partial transcript of recent correspondence with the NSGA…the most critical issue is with having a semi-final for the 400 on the same day as another 400 and the other sprints. As I stated in our phone conversation, Louisville’s track and field organizers chose to give relief to the sprinters by reducing the 400 meters and the 200 meters to one preliminary round even though there were, if memory serves me, 45 entries in the 400 and many more for the 200. Their solution was to spread the runners evenly throughout the preliminary heats and take the 8 fastest qualifiers to the final after a day of rest using Fully Automated Timing. They also did some other things that helped, but I would have to look through my records to see what I can find. On one thing about Louisville’s schedule I am confident — there were no days where a competitor would have run more than one 200 and one 400.
As for the apology and promise that the schedule would be developed in a manner that would facilitate optimal performance while reducing the risk of injury, I recall that it was made by phone after the thread of emails was sent to NSGA officials. I wish I had asked for a letter, but at the time the call was very sincere and I had no cause for concern about the 2011 games in Houston. One thing that I do recall is that the schedule for the Track and Field was posted much sooner for Palo Alto than the one for Houston.
I feel badly that you inherited this problem without having the history of the problem available for your review. Any relief that you can provide at this point would be appreciated. I maintain that at this late date, the only way to provide relief is to eliminate the extra round of the 400 providing your managers can properly seed the runners so the heats are as even as possible. I hope my archives and this message adequately captures the most critical issues regarding the Track and Field schedule for the sprinters. As for the future, I recommend that you have someone find the Louisville schedule.
There is more, but I will wait for a response before going public with what transpired the last time and what several orthopedic surgeons have said about this schedule. I hope for a positive outcome, but I am not feeling good about it.
Nicely said, David. You have raised some very important concerns, especially for an event to be held in Texas in June.
Agreed, very nice David! At M50 there’s only 27 entrants in the 400m. That would be 4 heats of 7, with the winner of each heat and the next 4 fastest times advancing to the final. No semi needed.
Waller:Nothing wrong with that,BUT not all of us are as FAST AS YOU AND COMPETE IN THE 1,2 AND 4. Let me get more than two heats per meet for $140.00
For sure Panama! Where are my manners? My bad!!!
Waller:I will be seeking some more TIPS from you when we meet.Side note,Be ready bro.It’s mid 80’s by 9am
I finally got a call back from Jay Hall, the registrations director for NSG.
He’s keeping registration open until 9pm, he made it sound like there were a number of issues of this sort.
Now we’ll see how a 7am competition works out….
Thanks to Marty and Panama Kid for the offers of help!
Don:No hay porque=dont mention it. Say HOLA, I’m in the 60-64,1&2.Bring the AC with you.
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