Championships in July.
,” meaning a fuller version will come out later. Burns writes: “We’re going to go with a split-day schedule as a precaution if the weather gets really warm. We’ll have more details on the precise times of the split schedule, but the objective is to not have any competition going on during the hottest part of the afternoon.” Yesssss! The brochure goes into greater detail, but this is fabulous news. (And I think adviser
After much deliberation, the Sacramento LOC recently decided to implement a “Split Day Schedule.” If the 2011 WMA Championships attract more than 5,000 competitors, it will be in the athletes’ best interest to avoid running on the track between 2 p.m. (1400) and 5 p.m. (1700).
To provide the most optimal temperatures for ultimate performances, the 2011 World Masters Athletics Championships will feature a morning and evening schedule. Each morning session will run from approximately 8 a.m. (0800) to 2 p.m. (1400) and resume with the evening schedule from 6 p.m. (1800) to 10 p.m. (2200).
This decision was made for several reasons, but primarily to avoid the potential heat of the midafternoon. If the number of entries spikes beyond our anticipated 5,000, we will have three tracks in full use for the multievents.
The LOC also has arranged to cover a large section of the west (finish-line side) grandstands at Sacramento State, the primary competition venue for the WMA Championships. This tenting structure will run over 350 feet from start line to finish line and will be 20 feet deep. This should help spectators avoid sitting in the direct sun.
The final time schedule will not be determined or announced until late May after entries have closed and all the events have been seeded by our timing company, Finish Lynx. In the meantime, click wma2011.com/en/events.htm to see what day your event(s) will be held. The specific times of the events can’t be determined until entries close.
27 Responses
Unusual common sense. Hope it really happens. Gonna make for some long days for us competitor/photographers!
Can you spell S-I-E-S-T-A? Good time to clean lenses and take naps!
Sacramento ARRIVIAMO 😉
Great that they are also going have a grandstand covering for spectators.
Sacramento Nationals had exactly zero spectators because nobody wanted their bottoms fried on the metal stands.
Great news. I will be able to watch others compete and not fry like last year.
I applaud this action, and if Rex Harvey had a hand in it I extend him my thanks on behalf of the athletes and potential spectators.
Minor points (it’s easy to carp after the fact):
1. The tenting structure should be described as running over 106 meters from start to finish line and being 6 meters deep. This is an international meet, after all.
2. The schedule in the dining rooms should be adjusted to the times for the meet. This year the dining room closed for service at 6:30 PM on 3 of the 4 days at nationals and before noon on the other day. The 6:30 time was tough for those who were at the stadium all day, and closing the dining room for lunch and dinner on the other day was a burden.
For Worlds, the dining room should be open from 5:45 AM to 10:00 AM, from 11:30 AM to 3:00 PM, and then from 5:00 PM to 11:30 PM. Easy for me to say.
3. The original brochure (3rd paragraph) says “…our warm days and cool nights create conditions that are conducive to standout performances in the sprints, hurdles, distance races and field events.”
This update contradicts that statement, as it suggests that the days are not optimal for competition (certainly in the 5,000 and 10,000). Thus, the 3rd paragraph should be changed.
These minor points aside, this is welcome news.
I see lights in the photo of the primary venue, which will certainly help keep things going into the evening. This was done for the WMA meet in Puerto Rico in 2003, which turned out to be the most enjoyable time of the meet – more spectators attended and filled the grandstand.
Darn! I was really looking forward to competing in 100+ degrees.
That is great news! This is a good sign that management is trying to make the event both participant and spectator friendly!
If you think it is going to be cool at 5:00pm in Sacramento in July, think again! A much better re-start time would be 7:00pm, with competition well into the evening under the lights.
Great news again from someone who practically lives on the track for the whole champs capturing as much action from behind my lens as possible. The break is much welcomed as 12-14 hours straight off taking photos as well as competing is tough.
Looking forward to being there and you will see me in a few more events than before.
Well done LOC Sacramento for this change.
Off topic, Barry, family of THE Warmerdam, the pole vaulter?
I’m with you, Weia. I spotted the Warmerdam name instantly. Famous name from The Day. Slip us a clue, you. Smartty
12-7 is very warm in summer in Sac. Hope the 800 counts as a “distance” race and most of those races are in the PM instead of the AM.
Weia and Jerry: to answer your question, Yes. My father was Cornelius Warmerdam, former world record holder in the pole vault. I’m his youngest son. In addition to his athletic feats, he was a great dad and a rock-solid person. He passed away in 2001 and I’ve definitely missed him. Thanks for asking.
Glad they finally got this right. Even though several of us wanted this last year at Outdoor Nats, it obviously took them going through it and seeing the issues themselves to change it. Happy for those of you who are old enough to compete in Worlds that they’re doing this!
Barry, so your grandparents were Dutch. Most likely you are not fluent in dutch, but in case you are: het ga je goed!
Weia: Ja, ik spreek wel Nederlands. Mijn grootouders waren inderdaad Nederlanders maar ik moest Nederlands leren, in de jaren tachtig. Daarna woonde ik voor een jaar in Nederland (het schooljaar ’91-’92). Ik wil, op een goed dag, terug naar Nederland komen! Misschien in 2012…
Stupid – Stupid – Stupid:
“The final time schedule will not be determined or announced until late May after entries have closed and all the events have been seeded by our timing company, Finish Lynx. . . .The specific times of the events can’t be determined until entries close.”
WMA is charging $36.25 per event. It looks like three days would have conflicts between events on the track and events on the field. Without an event schedule I can’t tell if there is any hope of trying to participate in both a track event and a field event on the same day or whether I would just be wasting my money.
Stupid – Stupid – Stupid way to treat masters athletes.
That’s nice Barry, you’re welcome! There are nearly 2300 Warmerdams now: http://www.meertens.knaw.nl/nfb/detail_naam.php?gba_lcnaam=warmerdam&gba_naam=Warmerdam&nfd_naam=Warmerdam&operator=eq&taal=
@ David O.
Yeah, I was wondering about that. I’d like to do the 200m and discus throw, both on the 11th.
It would be nice to know if they’re going to overlap or not.
As a pale northern european, only adapted to cold wet summers, I am very grateful that the worst heat will be avoided in Sacramento.
Thank you for saving me from heatstroke.
Thank you, Mellow Johnny (no. 18) and H. (no. 22). I am still a bit confused about the original language in the brochure: “…our warm days and cool nights create conditions that are conducive to standout performances in … distance races…”
That kind of language made me think that an extensive night schedule was originally planned for distance races. Surely the days (at least after 10 AM) could not have been considered conducive to standout performances in the long events. After all, we are talking about mid-July in Sacramento.
What puzzles me is that the new schedule is supposed to involve a major change, which means to me that “cool nights” were not originally seen as time for competition even though they were noted in the brochure. Oh, well.
@Barry –the brochure says evening start time of 6:00, not 5:00 p.m. I’m thinking the organizers are trying to have consideration for the officials and volunteers who may have first worked that morning, then turn around and work into the night, then possibly have to come back the next day for another morning session. Anything after 10:00 p.m. would be past my bedtime!
I hope they start the 5k, 8k and 10k events at 7 am – when it really is “cool”. It was lovely at Nationals last summer to be running the 5k and 1500 at 7 am. By 9 or 10 am it is getting more than warm – more like really really hot.
As for the 800 – my 800 was scheduled for 12:50 last summer – I did not run it – it was in the 90’s and the track surface hot enough to burn one’s feet. Frankly I am too old for that sort of stuff. And the Steeplechase – how about having that at a time when the water in the water jump is not boiling hot?
Hopefully the evening events will start around 7 pm – when the sun is going down as the SAC sun is truly hot.
While the proposed split schedule looks promising – the devil is in the details. Will there be shade for the field event competitors? Will there be cover in the stands at the secondary venue – where most likely the older competitors for the 1500 and up will be running? Or are we expected to bring our own shade -like last summer? How about water for spectators – inflated prices for bottled water? And how about food that athletes want to eat at the venues and not just crap?
@ Liz – Well, 6:00pm sounds better than 5:00pm; thanks for pointing that out. And who knows…maybe there will be a nice delta breeze in the evening! Your point about officials is quite significant. A track meet is completely dependent on effective officiating, so their concerns need to be taken into account.
Agree with Mary Harada (above) about those cool mornings. Wow. Mary, you refer to your 800, which you decided not to run. The low that day, per AccuWeather, was 57. Nice. That had to be in the morning.
The high that afternoon (your race was scheduled for 12:50) was 96. For the four days of our 2010 nationals, which ran from July 22 to 25, the lows were 53, 56, 57, and 55. When they make me king I would run the worlds from 7:15 to 11:00 in the morning and then from 6:30 to 10:30 in the evening.
Of course, to get the meet done in 9 days of competition under such a schedule would require some changes, which are certainly feasible (will not detail what they might be because they would not be instituted anyway).
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