Pathos in Paradise — my Hawaiian Hall of Shame
Jerry Wojcik, editor of National Masters News, has a routine at nationals. He collars athletes and basically asks: “How do you rate this meet?” He’s looking for a hook for his lead article in the next issue — a consensus on whether the event trended toward dream or disaster. Near the end of the weekend in Honolulu, Jerry gave me a hint: It was a mixed bag . . . good officiating with poor organization. My view? The meet was well worth attending — but disappointing on many levels.
As usual, the outdoor nationals are a joyful reunion — a chance to catch up with fellow athletes we’ve known over the years and make new friends in all age groups. I stayed in a UH dorm, which made every cafeteria meal an opportunity to reconnect with other masters. With 160-plus athletes staying at the Hale Mokihana dorm, chance encounters with age-group record holders was the norm.
And the meet was held in Paradise, after all. To kill time at the Friday evening Athletes Meeting (while waiting Masters Chair George Mathews to return from his officiating duties), meet director Mark Zeug (pronounced Zoyg) told of how July had been the busiest month in the history of Hawaiian tourism and that August was looking to be a new No. 1.
No doubt about it, Oahu was magical. Many athletes took side tours, explored the world-class Waikiki Beach and shopping areas and went island-hopping. The weather was fine (despite some humidity), and the views were stunning. Even the Mokihana dorm had a 360-degree walkaround viewing area below the roof with stunning vistas of downtown Honolulu high-rises and Diamond Head. I snapped a photo of a rainbow.
But a tourist nirvana is not the only measure of a masters nationals. If Sandy Pashkin and Dick Hotchkiss of the Games Committee had been wired for sound, a listener might have gagged.
Pashkin and Hotchkiss were half of the Games Committee, actually — the national officials ?ultimately responsible for the conduct of the meet,? according to Mathews. Two other committee members were absent — Oregon’s Becky Sisley because of a herniated disc suffered on the eve of the meet and Ohio’s Rex Harvey, a WMA official attending to business at the IAAF Helsinki world meet half a planet away.
Sandy and Dick appeared to be in a perpetual state of unease — putting out fires not of their own making. At the Athletes Meeting, attended by fewer than 40 (compared with twice that number at other nationals), Sandy looked under the gun, and subtly shifted blame for snafus to the local organizers.
One example: Thursday’s opening events were delayed because power had not been turned on to part of the stadium. Then after juice was restored, an athlete tripped over an extension cord and the computers used for timing had to be rebooted. Another delay.
?We did catch up (with the schedule) by the end of the day,? Sandy said at the Athletes Meeting.
If that had been the only flaw, the meet would have gotten raves. Sadly, it was only the beginning.
Here are some problems I witnessed or learned about:
Distance-runners get short (and long) shrift
The first event on the track Thursday was the W50-84 5000-meter run. When the first results were posted, it showed this order of finish:
W80 5000 Meter Run
=======================================================================
80 USATF: * 29:30.02
80 Meet: # 30:21.85 1987
Name Age Team Finals Points
=======================================================================
1 Davidson, Gerry W84 Unattached 26:13.09* 8
2 Lachman, Helen W80 Unattached 44:46.43 6
The asterisk after the 26:13.09 denotes a USATF record — an American W80 best.
Later, when final results were issued for Event 102, the order was shown thusly:
Event 102 W80 5000 Meter Run
=======================================================================
Name Age Team Finals Points
=======================================================================
1 Lachman, Helen W80 Unattached 44:46.43
— Davidson, Gerry W84 Unattached NT
NT stands for no time. Why NT?
On Friday, Sandy attributed the problem to a grainy photo from the finish clock. On Saturday, she told Gerry something else: She ran a lap short.
Gerry told me Saturday that she knew she hadn’t run all 12-plus laps but didn’t challenge the officials? order to stop. She was mad at herself, but it’s understandable. Exhaustion can play with your mind.
Had Gerry kept up her 2:20-a-lap pace, she would have lowered her own American 5K record from Brisbane 2001 worlds and threatened the world W80 record of 28:32.67 by Germany’s Johanna Luther in 1993
If being ordered to stop a lap short was bad enough, however, several men in Saturday?s 10K track final were told to take another lap.
One runner, 53-year-old Randell Sturgeon of Folsom, California, opted not to fight the extra-lap order at the finish line but loudly made his objections known to the finish line referees. He said the race was on tape and declared, “Never again” to this race at nationals. He said this was the third time in the nationals he’s been ordered to run an extra lap.
Lap counters nearly made a bad situation worse in the same race, won by 42-year-old Brian Pope in 32:50. One exhausted runner, seeing Pope finish, thought he was on the last lap as well. He wasn’t. He was told to take his final lap, which he did. But when he came to his real finish, an official motioned for him to keep going. He balked, and the referee saved him from damage by letting him step off the track — where he soon was on the ground with his extremities packed in ice and an ambulance on the way. He was taken to a local hospital, but was reported in good condition by Zeug that night.
Where’s the medical tent? Way over there
More than a few athletes — including some with health and medical backgrounds — objected to where the medical tent was located — about 150 meters away from the finish line, across the track.
Traditionally, medics with ice bags and other gear are as close as possible to the finish line. In Hawaii, the finish-line shade tent outside the track was given over to an officials area. At least one injured athlete had to hobble across the track to get medical attention.
I was told that ice was available immediately upon request — with all major officials equipped with walkie-talkies. But athletes also were observed pulling hamstrings and no officials calling for aid.
In addition, officials didn?t bring water to athletes at the finish line — instead just motioning them to the tent and saying water awaited. That doesn’t wash. Even folks just finishing the 100 should be handed cups of water in their lanes. Any good meet would have a handful of volunteers bringing cups to the athletes, not let them pant and pour drinks for themselves.
Snake-bit sprints and special allowances
The M60 final in the 100 included a strange sight. Everyone was in their blocks except 60-year-old Melvin Fields of Glenarden, Maryland. Then the starter called everyone up. Then Fields comes rushing to the start area, quickly laces on his shoes and is allowed to take his marks. He took third in the race.
On Sunday, an official gave Marty Krulee’s rivals in the M45 200 final an unfair advantage.
Krulee — a 48-year-old former world-class sprinter from Rocklin, California — had won the 100 two days earlier but was in Lane 1 for the 200 final. As he tells it, Krulee was rounding the turn when he saw a USATF official standing on the rail, or taking up space on the inside of his lane. To avoid the official, Krulee abruptly pulled up to avoid a collision. As a result, he lost so much time he jogged to a stop, seeing his chances at another medal evaporate. He is listed as DNF.
The worst call of the meet — excluding Lindgren
When I came to the track Friday morning, I was stunned but delighted to encounter a small, squeaky-voiced man sitting behind a folding table at the registration area under the baseball stadium. It was Gerry Lindgren, recently inducted into the National Track & Field Hall of Fame for an athletic career in the 1960s that saw him change the face of American distance running. He is, in short, a giant of U.S. running. He was selling his self-published paperback autobiography (which I read in three hours on my flight home).
Knowing history when I saw it, I set up my camcorder and started to tape an interview. Knowing that he had recently competed in some road runs in his home of Honolulu, I asked whether he would ever compete in masters.
Then he shocked me by saying he had tried to enter these very nationals but was denied entry — because he called too late. Gerry admitted that he was tardy, but explained that he had been injured earlier in the year and didn’t think to enter until he felt his condition was good enough.
At the Athletes Meeting, I asked how deadlines were set for nationals. Sandy Pashkin said it had to do with setting up schedules and printing meet programs. If lead time isn’t built into the entry process, athletes wouldn’t know whether they would have heats to run, thus potentially affecting travel plans. She also said late entries risk producing a meet program that left out names.
A few minutes later, meet director Zeug took me aside and said Lindgren had called him July 23 — a week after the close of entries — and that he had told Gerry about the nationals deadline at last December?s Portland national convention of USATF.
The next day, I mentioned these remarks to Gerry, and he said he has no recollection of having talked to Zeug at Portland. In any case, he acknowledged that Hawaiian runner and coach Ron Pate had informed him of the deadline a month in advance. So Gerry basically admits flubbing it.
But when I mentioned to USATF masters media chairman Bob Weiner that Lindgren wasn?t allowed to run at nationals (which would have been his first national championship meet since the late 1960s), Bob’s face went ashen. Bob was distraught at the missed chance for promoting the meet with a legend of distance running. He said something to the effect, “A little fudging would be good for masters track.”
And when I discussed the Lindgren situation with Graeme Shirley of San Diego — a USATF official known for going by the book — he noted that Lindgren would not have forced a change in the meet schedule no matter how late he entered, since runners like him in the 1500 and longer races no longer face heats. Graeme suggested that national meets have two deadlines — one for sprinters/hurdlers and 800 runners whose fields might require prelims and a much-later deadline for everyone else.
And who cares if a name is left out of the meet program — especially if it means the inclusion of a distance great like Gerry Lindgren?
Mark Zeug told me that 35 people tried to enter the meet late (and were denied), but justified his actions by saying 800 other athletes followed the rules.
Another world renowned Hawaiian master also failed to show at nationals. But it wasn?t the meet’s fault. Mark told me that former world record-holder Erwin Jaskulski, who clocked 36.49 for 100 meters at age 100 in November 2002, has effectively retired. He turns 103 in September and recently underwent cataract surgery, Zeug told me, but has opted against competing despite improved eyesight.
Now THAT would have been a sight for the ages. But Gerry Lindgren?s presence in a race at nationals would have been HUGE.
I flew 5,000 miles and all I got was this lousy T-shirt
If you failed to win an individual-event medal and thought your last chance was in a relay on Sunday, think again. The meet ran out of gold medals. Lined up 50-deep at the end of the meet, many athletes were turned away. I guess names and addresses were taken, but the thrill of winning a gold and having your picture taken on the medal stand with three friends was denied a number of athletes.
Donold Leis of Pasadena, California, and his M70 4×4 relay teammates apparently were the last to score gold. As teammate Jim Selby described the scene, Donold and a member of a ladies relay team arrived at the medals table — and were told that there weren’t enough golds to go around. So they flipped for the golds. Donold called heads and won.
The ladies went away empty-handed. Meet organizers have some ‘splainin’ to do.
8 Responses
Ken makes some interesting observations about the meet. I did not participate in this nationals due to an injury (or “condition” as one might say at 60…. patella tendonitis).
I do not expect water brought to me after a race. I don’t know where Ken gets this valet concept. Perhaps he has too liberal of an expense account. Hardly a legitimate criticism.
Gerry Lindgren lives in Hawaii. He also should know about deadlines. He particpated at a high level and understands this. However, I posted earlier here about the ridiculous early deadline for nationals and world championships. It takes 60 seconds to make an entry into HY TEK which our meets use to manage entries. Why don’t we recognize this? Heck, I almost made a late entry, and I would have been miffed if I were denied and Gerry were accepted as Ken and Bob Weiner would have endorsed. I don’t have Lindgren’s world class credentials of 40 years ago, but I have 11 years of current masters competition at a high level whereas he has demonstrated zero support of masters competition. He is selling a book, however. Why should we kowtow to him? Kudos to the LOC. Press attention to Lindgren draws from the attention to legitimate dedicated masters competitors, and we have a lot of those.
We should allow last minute entries. No one cares about being listed in a program at the expense of not competing.
As for the medals shortage …. impossible to anticipate the requirements when the fields are so shallow. Take a look at the count of golds, silvers and bronze and you will be surprised. Probably twice as many golds as bronzes needed, mostly because of the relays where you have one entry in each age group and seldom have three.
I have been in a race where a ghost competitor suddenly appears like Melvin Fields reportedly did. Who knows why he was late? Maybe some official said the race was delayed. It is hardly an advantage to arrive late and scramble to lace up your spikes. Anyway, Melvin wasn’t going to beat Steve and Don and the other guys were not going to beat Melvin. I know these runners. You could also turn it around and write a similar squawk if Melvin were to have been denied his lane after spending his own money to fly to Hawaii to experience comradarie and friendly competition in masters track and field. It worked out properly.
And did Graeme Shirly really say there were two deadlines, depending upon which event you were entering? Isn’t he the rules ghuru? I really doubt he said that. Perhaps he would like to respond. I bet there is really one deadline for all entries.
As for Marty Krulee, I am glad he missed clobbering the official. That can happen when you get lane one and other events are being contested. I saw that watching the meet in Helsinki where you would expect the ultimate in officiating. Avoid lane one. Run fast in the heats and submit a fast seed time. However, you do get a nice view of the race.
And I can’t believe there was a mention of humidity as a criticism. Give me a break!! The track was as wet as Baton Rouge, LA in 2001 from the pictures I saw, and I remember the crap posted about that (my home state). Masters track is a summer sport and includes heat, humidity, thunderstorms, lightening, and wind. If you can’t handle it, pick a new sport. Or move to San Diego where everything is perfect.
I agree with the criticism about not allowing late entries into national meets but OTOH – when there is a deadline, athletes should accept responsibility for meeting them.
as for the lap counting in the 5k, to call it poor is an understatement. the lap counters did not identify themselves to the runners, no effort was made to tell the lapped runners what lap they were on, when I finished the offical asked me if I were finished – “are you done?” and then looked over to the lap counters for confirmation. Knowing that lap counting in the 5k with multiple age groups is often poor, I try to keep track of my time and lap while still focusing on my race. if it is entirely my responsibility, then stop the nonsense of having lap counters and just leave it up to the runners. The same mess occured last year in Decatur with lap counters not telling runners what lap they were on once the lead runners had finished.-and in Boise in the 3k where there was terrible lap counting and no clock for splits for any 3k runner after they stopped the clock for the first finisher and the officials refused to give verbal splits. Thankfully the finish line clock worked and splits were given at the 400 meter mark as well.
Gerry Davidson was done out of a record in Boise because of the lack of a working finish line clock and this time by sloppy lap counting. One can become paranoid and suspect that for the older and slower runners the attitude is who cares if and when they finish. And NO WATER for the 5k. While it was not that hot for my race – we had rain, clouds and sun only towards the end, water should be made available to runners in races over 1500m or a mile when it is hot.
Overall the meet was ok – LOC disorganization was very evident and it was also evident that without the assistance of Sandy Paskin and Dick Hotchkiss the meet might have imploded.
Next time someone makes a presentation to the masters to hold a national masters track meet on a pretty colored track in a location with nice beaches, how about looking at the credentials and experience of the race director, and the conditions of the venue. And how about providing some time on the track to warm up – we were held in the clerking place and then marched out to the track to the start line with the officials telling us there was no time to warm up, just line up and get ready to run.
There are two constants at national championships. Who gets injured and off-beat stories of meet malfunctions. The first are tragic, the second are often comic (unless they happen to you). I suppose we are so use to watching major league sports on TV which go off like clockwork (mostly) that track and field screwups often look like Laural and Hardy by comparison. For the most part, I’m willing to give meet organizers, officials and volunteers some slack given that national meets tend to rotate around the country, often to places that have not hosted before and when they do return to a premiere place like Eugene, it can be after a lapse of several years.
Plus, disruptions during meets is nothing new. Check out what happened when warfare broke out during the 364 B.C.E. Olympics:
In 364 B.C. Elis actually attacked a nearby town that was hosting the Olympics during the festival. According to the historian Xenophon’s first-hand account of the day-long battle:
‚ÄúThe horse race had been completed, as well as the events of the pentathlon which were held in the dromos. The finalists of the pentathlon who had qualified for the wrestling event were competing in the space between the dromos and the altar… The attacking Eleans pursued the allied enemy… The allied forces fought from the roofs of the porticos… while the Eleans defended themselves from ground level.‚Äù
News at eleven, as they say. See my “FALSE START” column posted at:
http://www.geocities.com/ortmanmarchand/fs12.html
Although I take a somewhat perverse amusement in reading about meet screwups, I am dumbfounded that some “simple” tasks such as lap counting continue to elude us in the 21st Century. Cripes, even the Greeks could count.
My one suggestion would be for Ken to post the National Meet Hosting Manual on-line. I am sure that us athletes might have some suggestions which could improve the quality and experience of national championship meets.
Hi All,
Al here, photographer for the Master’s Meet. I just found this site – super place for us track lovers.
I found it interesting that Ken listed officiating as a strength and then listed so many officiating problems. I’ve been going to meets (local) for about 8 years. I admit I’ve never been to a national meet before but as a track coach and participant I’ve been close to the meet organizers and get some feel for what they must do and the problems they must overcome. I also had the privilege of communicating with Mark Z over the few months leading up to this meet.
Yup, it wasn’t perfect, but I don’t think you can find anyone as dedicated to making this meet as good as possible as Mark. I was there every minute and saw a lot of things work very well. I’d rather concentrate on those things and realize that in any event this big there will be some problems. Nature of the beast.
As for water at the finish line – Mark wanted 30 youngster volunteers at all times. In the first 2 days I think there were about 6. You may have seen 2 teenage girls RUNNING (sprinting, and I was worried about them missing their workouts!) constantly from the official’s tent to the main scoring area. Those were my daughters. They ran because they were so shorthanded (of course they like to run.) It was a shame there weren’t more volunteers but a lot of schools were already in session. The weekend did bring out more volunteers.
On the medical tent – I agree, I don’t know why it wasn’t put near the finish line. There was plenty of room on the field in that area.
Anyway, I had a great time and from the comments I received I know a lot of other people did too. I hope the Nationals return to Hawaii some time soon.
Al
superb photographs – online at the meet website – best I have ever seen for a National Masters Meet. Hundreds of photos, and almost all the events got some photographic coverage. I have been to numerous national and some international meets and the availability of “action” photographs at the Hawaii meet is the best I have ever seen. Even more amazing is the abiity to send copies by email to friends and family without having to purchase the photo. Already I have bored several friends and my family with photos of my “sprint” finish in the 400m. And I will buy a couple for souveniers. Many thanks to Al the photographer for his hot work in the sun. Also thanks to his daughters for dashing around helping out. Many more volunteers were needed, and that was part of the problem.
And it was not until the last afternoon that I discovered that there was a medical tent!
I was the “lady” who lost the coin toss for the gold medals for the last 4 gold medals for the 4 x 400 relay team. Perhaps we will get them in the mail. In Boise the back of the medals was engraved with the name of the meet and the year, the ones handed out in Honolulu were not engraved, more could have been ordered and if not used, returned. On the list of could of, should of, would of, running out of medals is at the bottom of my list. Being able to warm up before the race, having water available, and medical help nearby rank at the top. Lap counting – as mentioned – here it is the 21st century and lap counting is still a problem. How about using the chip? that way our laps can be counted electronically – and even projected on a large screen at the finish line – the lap counters can go back to the tent and read their books, and the electronic gadgets will do the work. The shame of it for Gerry Davidson is that she turns 85 next spring – I believe, and will have very limited opportunities in the next few months to take a crack the the 5k outdoor and 3k indoor W 80-84 age group records.
Mary Harada: please email me at allinsky@earthlink.net.
I tried to email you at the above address but it was returned.
Thanks, Al (photographer at National Masters Meet)
IN RESPONSE TO ALL THE COMPLAINTS THAT I HAVE READ THUS FAR I WOULD LIKE TO SAY THAT ALL RACE
DIRECTORS REALLY HAVE A TOUGH JOB AND I’M SURE
THERE WAS A LOT OF WORK AND CONCERNS OF MAKING
THIS EVENT A VERY SUCCESSFUL ONE I THINK WE HAVE
LEARNED A LOT HERE BY HOSTING A NATIONAL LEVEL
EVENT AND I’M SURE WE CAN IMPROVE ON ALL AREAS
OF CONCERNS NEXT TIME.
if you are in an apartment that is confined, then folding tables would be very well suited for you ‘:,
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