As promised, I shot questionnaires to the two candidates for chairman of the USATF Masters Track & Field Committee. Both replied this weekend. I didn’t give them a maximum or minimum limit, so take that it account when you read responses from Hall of Famer Rex Harvey and world-class long sprinter Robert Thomas. The biggest revelation of my Q&As is the eagerness of both to use social media to communicate with masters tracksters. They also are open to using Web tools to survey members on national site locations and other issues. I won’t be endorsing a candidate, but I welcome your questions and reactions. The candidates also are invited to interact with y’all here. Enjoy the exchange — listed in age-before-beauty order. One will be elected to succeed Gary Snyder in a couple weeks at the Orlando annual meeting.

MASTERSTRACK.COM: Is USATF Masters T&F doing the best it can to find hosts for nationals — especially from parts of the country not beset by high heat or humidity? How would you improve bid recruitment?

REX: In my opinion, organizing and conducting the national championships is the single most important thing that MTF does for its members. MTF has done the best it can to find championship sites – given the time and effort that has been put into the process. But I think it is obvious that the time and effort has not been adequate and that more can and should be done.

Being retired and getting a recent unexpected life extension by the arrestment of my cancer, I have the time, energy, experience, knowledge and desire to organize and lead, extensive work on this and many other items. I definitely will see that much more is done to seek out bids. By virtue of my 45 years as a T&F competitor and 50 years as a T&F official (obviously not sequentially), I know a lot of people and places and, more importantly, they know me, and in most cases, respect me as I respect them. My background as a combined events competitor, administrator and official gives me a real understanding and appreciation of almost every aspect of our sport. Although I admit a weakness in the case of race walking, but I do have good advisers.

Working with the MTF Executive [Committee] and other experts, I will have a bid information booklet prepared for prospective bidders. It will outline the commitments and potential benefits that a MTF Championship entails. Such things as a sample championship budget will be included. Historic and prospective entry numbers and other pertinent facts will be given. And beyond the championship budget itself, the related economic activity that is generated in the community, including such things as hotel, restaurant, local shopping and local attractions will be emphasized to make bidding more attractive.

As far as the bid itself is concerned, years of on and off work has been done on it. And the one we have now I believe is the best ever. But reviewing it, I see literally hundreds of things that need to be, and should be, done to make it better. These things range from misspellings and internal inconsistencies to major omissions. The bid document is not a MTF controlled instrument, but rather a USATF document. And a lot of what we ask for and need is changed or omitted by the USATF event management and legal departments who do not know, and can’t be expected to know, the details of our branch of the sport so well. But by persistence, which I have a lot of, I’m sure that both USATF and MTF can get what they both need by a concentrated and ongoing effort which I pledge to see through to the end.

Even more important than getting bids, I will see that the bids will be completely evaluated. This will be done by a Site Selection Team using a detailed checklist prepared by the MTF Executive and other experts. This Site Selection Team would compile the facts about each prospective site, good and bad, and publicize it online so that a survey of the membership can be taken before the selection voting takes place at the annual meeting. This will be a big improvement over what we have right now, where only those that can afford the time and money to attend the annual meeting make the choice of championship sites, albeit with some influence from their absent peers.

In the past, single people have had the responsibility of site evaluation. No single person can know everything that is needed. Past evaluations have concentrated mostly with the technical aspects of the bids. I will add an organizational wing of the Games Committee that will be expert in and plan and conduct the organizational aspects of our championships just as the current Games Committee plans and conducts the technical aspects of the championships. Organizational matters would include such things as accommodation, transportation, athlete services and information services, etc.

ROBERT: I would improve the bid recruitment by working with the association masters chairs and/or their local masters clubs to contact facilities in their state, nearby states or within their region about hosting a national championship. I would inform them of the bidding process, site criteria and communicate with them quarterly.

Many athletes are frustrated by the tardiness of meet schedules being posted. Hourly schedules for nationals also vary in accuracy and timeliness. What timeline would you commit to?

REX: Tardy is a relative thing, subject to one’s opinions and knowledge. The way MTF is organized now, the daily schedule is to be published six months ahead of the championships. This I believe is a little excessive but should be no problem from now on as the Games Committee and event management at USATF after almost 50 years of experience, and two recent years of experimentation have developed templates for our indoor and outdoor championships. These templates were developed with the purpose of making the championships better for the athletes, the officials and the administrators. Never can everyone be happy, but what we have I believe is the best that we can do overall for everyone as a whole at this time.

The templates are just that; suggested daily schedules. They are not set in stone and will vary by site peculiarities. And as we go on, we will learn more and no doubt there will be changes that will improve the championships even further. And who knows what events will come and go? Who would have predicted the popularity of the throws pentathlon? Certainly not me, even though I was put in charge of the organization and conduct of the first WMA (WAVA at the time) Weight Pentathlon exhibition at the 1993 Miyasaki, Japan, WAVA World Championships.

The detailed schedule is delayed by many reasons. Primarily because it cannot be made until the entries are all in, and the late entries are in, and the foreign guest paper entries are entered into the computer by the event management people at USATF, and the mistakes that we have made in the entries have to be corrected. All of those delay when the detailed schedule can be made. And the schedule cannot be made early because additional entries can cause you to redo multiple things more than doubling the time required each time. Making the detailed schedule is a full-time three-day process even with no changes as there literally are hundreds of things that have to be done to get the schedule into the database properly and thousands of interactions that have to be considered and decided upon in doing it.

I will work with the Executive and the Games Committee to brainstorm and introduce some changes to the existing process that will allow the detailed schedule to be published sooner as I know that is a concern to some people. They know what day their competition is on and even whether it is in the morning or afternoon, but they would like more detail.

ROBERT: The current timeline we have is effective. We just have to do a better job of meeting our deadlines. You speak about the accuracy and timeliness of the schedule. I think what many athletes don’t realize is we typically have a 20 percent to 30 percent no-show of members who sign up to compete at our national championships. The schedule in its current format is built off the number of athletes that register for the championships. My proposal would be to look at the amount of athletes that have competed in past championships and based the schedule off the average amount of athletes that actually show up. Once you start to crunch to numbers, you can see a pattern of which age groups and events have the highest level of participation and attendance. You can even see which areas of the country attract the most attendees.

At nationals, how can field events be organized to avert long waits before jumps and throws? Would you consider throwing or jumping by flights, based on “qualifying” mark?

REX: We are not only considering it but also doing it. The problem is starting to be addressed in the new championship templates. Here are the pertinent notes for next year’s indoor championships in Albuquerque.

Throwing events of 12, or less, reporting will be conducted in a single flight.

Throwing events of 13, 14, or 15 reporting, the competitors have the choice of one flight or two flights based on seed marks with best last, then top 8 will go to final.

Throwing events of 16 or more entries will be scheduled as two flights.

If this is successful, there is no reason, other than lengthening the day’s competition, that the horizontal jumps could not be treated the same way.

The vertical jumps have long waits because of the greatly varying ability levels. A good jumper does not get to jump for a long time. But they know it and the wait is all at once and when they do start they proceed at a normal pace. And in the PV, there are special masters rules that allow periodic warmup opportunities.

ROBERT: Since this is not my area of expertise, I would work alongside our field experts and other knowledgeable committee members in what would be the best for the athletes and officials.

I would consider anything that benefits the athletes without putting our officials in jeopardy of being out in the sun or on their feet any longer than they need to be. We have to keep in mind that our officials are volunteers and without them we can’t host events. I would have to look at the age groups and performances and see if flights make sense or are we not using flights because we have a low number of participants with ranging levels of talent.

A relatively small group of delegates to the annual meeting make decisions on behalf of thousands of masters athletes who can’t afford the trip or convention costs. Would you support a mechanism to survey USATF masters members on major rules and bylaw decisions, and elections?

REX: Absolutely, and I have already mentioned one such thing in the matter of choosing future championships sites in Question 1 above. Official business decisions will still have to be done at the annual meeting, but modern technology (surveys, etc.) makes it very easy for the membership to be intimately involved in most, if not all, decisions now made by a relatively small group of people who may or may not have sufficient background knowledge.

ROBERT: Absolutely, I think it is very important that our members feel like they have a voice. I have tried for years to convince members that they need to attend the annual meeting, so they have a better understanding of how decisions are being made that directly affect their participation in the sport.

Earlier this year, I put together a survey that I asked the national office to distribute to all masters track and field members. I only got back 500 responses, but from those responses I learned a lot that I didn’t know before the survey. I would also be in support of having a post-event survey for our members to tell us what their experience was like while competing at our national championships and what can we do to improve on that experience. I also would be in favor of asking the members for topics that need to be discussed during the annual meeting.

Even with TUEs an option, masters athletes fear drug tests that would result in bans based on doctor-prescribed medications. Masters track has “exceptions” such as lower hurdles and lighter implements. Should masters track have a smaller set of banned substances than that used by USADA and WADA?

REX: A smaller set of banned substances would seem to be logical. And an even smaller set based on advanced age would also seem to be logical. But given the time, expense and liability of developing such a list makes it impractical, and probably not even possible. As to “doctor prescribed,” you know as well as I do that anyone who tries long and hard enough can eventually find a doctor that will prescribe you anything you want. The process is easier if you are a doctor yourself.

As I have stated before, fairness is my main concern and banned substances are banned for a reason. They give an unfair advantage to those that use them, prescribed or not, on purpose or not. Without absolute fairness, our sport loses all credibility and honor.

ROBERT: Obviously this question is a fireball at the moment. Let me start by saying USATF isn’t the only game in town. There are plenty of other track and field competitions around the world that do not do drug testing. So if an athlete is taking medications that do not allow them to participate in a USATF or WMA championship, this doesn’t mean the end of their track careers. I think you also have to consider that there are records being kept. Do you think it would be OK if an athlete suddenly was prescribed a medication and they started winning and breaking records? One suggestion I have is to enlist the help of our masters members who work in the medical or pharmaceutical research field to assist with a study that medications have on athletic performances and aging process. This is not an easy question, but one thing I know for sure — it’s not going to be solved overnight.

Are you satisfied with how masters age-group records are vetted and noted? Can pending USATF records be posted online immediately, instead of having to wait for the annual meeting?

REX: Records, being the coveted things that they are, have always been a source of contention. My observation is that records are too big a job for a single volunteer to do. I would take steps to organize a records panel consisting of a head and several other people each with responsibilities for a small section of records, something that they each have a great knowledge and interest in, and the time to administer accurately and promptly. This panel would set up the Internet means of publishing the current status of each record application and keeping it continually current. That is relatively easily done with current technology and will be done as soon as possible and I will monitor the setup closely.

ROBERT: We do live in an age where technology should make many tasks faster and easier. However, the records procedure is not a quick process. A criteria and follow-up when a record is submitted needs to be confirmed prior to any posting. Also, having two individuals, Sandy Pashkin and Jeff Brower, have made it better since they are able to share the workload. Many may not realize it, but there is an enormous amount of record applications being submitted. It takes time to confirm the accuracy and integrity of the information submitted. Keep in mind everyone involved in all levels of masters track and field is volunteering their time. The keeper of the world records is appointed by the WMA and American records is appointed by the chair

It is not a perfect system, but we have made some changes and we want our record-keepers to protect the integrity of the records. I believe if we have a firm timeframe and date of when the records will be posted and if it happens to be in December, then I would like to stay with this as I am unaware of any advantage that is afforded to an athlete by posting records right away.

Given the high share of USATF members who are masters, will you push for a bigger share of their fees being funneled into the USATF Masters T&F budget? The current USATF Masters T&F budget is $190,000. What should it be?

REX: Membership fees are only a small portion of USATF income. Like it or not, USATF has one 400-pound gorilla in the room – to produce Olympic and World Championship medals. If USATF did not do that, the U.S. Olympic Committee would tale away their franchise.

Most USATF income is from sponsorships, and most of that money is given for a purpose — for the giver to be associated with a team that produces Olympic and World Championships medals. So towards that end most of the money goes, as it probably should. WMA and MTF have made great inroads to showing the IAAF and USATF how important masters are to this process of producing Olympic and World Championship medals. I will continue to point out that masters are more than mere athletes. They are the coaches, trainers, doctors, parents, officials, fans, financial supporters and volunteers for our sport. The fact that masters are essential for the continued good health of our sport is obvious to us, but not necessarily to some upper managers who see us as old farts, fooling around. In my 30 years of intimate involvement in Masters T&F, I have changed a lot of minds. And in the position of chair, I would continue my efforts with enhanced credibility.

ROBERT: You state “bigger share of their fees,” I am not certain if you understand the fees that your USATF membership goes toward. Currently 50 percent of your membership goes back to your local association and 50 percent goes to the national office. If elected chair, I would propose a budget of 2 percent of the national budget for MTF.

What areas in the USATF budget deserve more money? What areas deserve less?

REX: The new teams, panels and enhanced committees that I have mentioned above would require funding. That would be an increase. But I would not seek to reduce any budgets, unless any reorganization, or re-emphasis, would change the mandate of any of the existing committees and subcommittees. Our increased visibility and new USATF president, and continuing success internationally coupled with the increasing awareness of the importance of masters to the overall program, has and should continue to increase our allotted funds from USATF to cover any expansion of our program.

ROBERT: First, I want to look at all of the areas that need financial assistance and then discuss with the executive committee the areas that we need to strengthen and those that might need less funding. Also, I want to continue to send out surveys and understand what the athletes are looking for as a USATF member specifically, as a masters athlete as to where we need to focus our funding. A few areas I would like to focus on are association championship venues being at quality colleges and travel assistance/stipends for officials working national and WMA championships

Even athletes in the older age groups use social media. How would you — or the Masters T&F Committee — use Twitter, Facebook and the like to improve the reach of our sport?

REX: There is absolutely no question about it. Masters needs a full presence in current social media. I feel that, in addition to an active and informative website, Facebook and Twitter are the minimum of what MTF should use to reach our membership. Not for social chit-chat which members can do on their own but for meaningful and widespread masters information transfer. That adds further (volunteer or perhaps expense reimbursed) personnel, which adds to our budget needs.

ROBERT: I would use them all. Most individuals have a smart phone today. With that, we have immediate access to social media. We could even have a short tutorial during the championships from our more advanced users of social media to teach the rest of us how to use it. I just recently set up an Instagram account and linked it to my Facebook account. I posted a couple of things while in Perth about my performances and, bang, it was mind blowing to see the amount of responses you get instantly from family and friends. We cannot depend on mainstream media only to support masters track and field. We have members among us that would be perfect to take the lead on some of these social media platforms.

Who do you support for USATF president — Vin Lananna or Jackie Joyner-Kersey — and why?

REX: They are both outstanding world-class persons and both have a deep concern for the success of our sport. Even as a combined events person who worships Jackie as a unique American Hero, I lean toward Vin Lananna primarily because of his administrative experience. I have worked for him several times when he was at Stanford, watched him administer when he was in Ohio at Oberlin, and worked for him many times in Eugene. I had extended conversations with him in Russia at the World Championships three years ago, and again directly communicated recently in Houston as the U.S. Olympic team organized under him for Rio at Prairie View University. I think he truly has the best interests of the overall sport at the top of his priorities and he is very aware of the masters program and is supportive.

ROBERT: Good question and I am going to defer my answer to who can provide the best direction for track & field and who has a short-term and long-term plan for the entire organization and the various entities under the umbrella of USATF. Vin has been all over social media and I just recently met with him as he was in town for the NCAA Cross Country Championships. I have yet to have an opportunity to hear Jackie’s platform, so I think it would be premature to make a decision at this time.

Under Gary Snyder, USATF masters at worlds got Nike uniforms, and he spread money around for first-time nationals entrants. He also found travel grants to a few Perth entrants. What are some of your ideas for supporting our elite masters athletes?

REX: First time nationals entrants are usually not elite masters athletes and two are very few, but they were a very good two. As the chair appointee on the Executive, I thought all those programs were good, and I supported them all. There have been many other good suggestions, and I would be open to many if I thought they would be good value for money. But things like that would have to be decided by the entire Executive armed with surveys of the membership. I have administered similar programs when serving as the WMA Regional president and that experience will help me to advise the Executive and the membership.

ROBERT: My ideas for assisting masters athletes during our national and world championship events are not an exhaustive list, but here is what I would like to see implemented:

• The funds we have in our budget would not be for elite masters athletes only. Travel stipend for masters athletes who meet a set criteria established by the executive committee.
• Review of the travel stipend for Perth has not been discussed yet.
• Trainer Fund (athletic trainer and massage therapist): Set a minimum needed (2) and maximum (6) depending on athlete group size for our national and world championships
• Uniform Kit: Would need to be confirmed if free uniform will continue indefinitely and the substantial discount of additional pieces if that has a time limit (How many years? Need to be determined by USATF).
• IAAF Masters Exhibition Event: Confirm and agree upon the commitment from USATF what they will provide the USA masters athletes that are selected.

Turnouts at masters nationals and USATF regional and association meets have declined for years, partly thanks to competing events such as Senior Olympics and masters games. How would you reverse the trend? How could USATF masters meets be made more appealing? Would you consider combining USATF masters outdoor nationals with the now-annual USA Masters Games?

REX: I object to the implication that participation in MTF is decreasing. I think that we are holding our own with ups and downs coming and going. Regional and association meets are very dependent on the quality of their meets and some regions and associations are much better than others. It takes a lot of personal sacrifice to organize and conduct successful meets and in some areas people have not stepped forward to make that sacrifice. Also, many associations are organized around their youth athletes, and masters are a second thought, if at all. With the administrative problems that youth are having, it is a good time to point out how well masters events run in general, but there are loads of improvements that we can and should make.

We need to make sure that everyone gets something at our championships. Only one person wins and the rest are left with less. As a bare minimum, we need ribbons and award stand for the top 6. I will introduce suggestions from the membership and brainstorm with the Executive and the Games Committee on how to enrich the experience for the majority that, by definition, do not win. Opening ceremonies are the reason that a lot of people go to the Senior Games. Can we exploit that somehow? Participation medallions perhaps?

I recently heard the suggestion of adding age 25-29 pre-masters to our program. There would be knee-jerk reaction to that, but I think I could sell it to USATF through my close connections to the various committee chairs. There is a big gap for most between college and submasters at 30. We lose a lot of people from the sport in that period. Only a few can make the USATF Senior Championships. We could supply meaningful competition for all the others that were not so elite. The numbers would be small at first, but would build as it became known. And those 25-year-olds will soon be 30 and then 35 and so on.

ROBERT: The USA Masters Games had very low numbers during the track and field portion of the event. There might be several reasons why they had low numbers, but I strongly believe our attendance has declined in part due to athletes not satisfied with their experiences when they come to our national championships. As part of my plan, communication between the national office and our masters executive committee needs to strengthen so we can have successful events and have both parties working together.

The goal is to have more events, and if the other organizations are interested in hosting masters events that don’t overlap or pose a conflict with our national championships, I find it will help many of us as athletes who look forward to competing and it forces USATF Masters Executive and Games Committee to provide a quality event.

How would you use your chairmanship to influence World Masters Athletics or IAAF? What can these bodies do to advance masters athletics? Push for more masters exhibition events at IAAF meets or the Olympics?

REX: I have been a U.S. delegate at WAVA then WMA since 1987. I served on the WMA Council for six years as the president of the North, Central and Caribbean WMA Region. I was on the WMA Stadia Committee for 14 years and was elected as WMA vice president – stadia for eight years. Throughout, and especially as vice president, I was able to introduce many profound improvements to the WMA program. I and my committee were able to bring the rules and procedures more in line with the IAAF, the governing body of our worldwide sport. I was elected to the IAAF Masters Committee by the IAAF Congress in Helsinki, Finland, and and re-elected in Osaka, Japan, and served until the committee was replaced by a commission.

I recently worked as the combined events referee (and other assignments including retrieving implements) 12 hours a day at the Perth WMA Championships.

What does all this mean? It means that I am intimately acquainted with WMA, its people and its procedures and they know me. I am still well-respected there, even though I no longer hold any official position. I hold the WMA Silver Pin Award, and WMA President Stan Perkins presented me a special service award last year in Lyon, France. I could and will help formulate and advance any USATF MTF proposals that would be made to WMA. And with the 2020 Championships being next door in Toronto, we will be busy with the huge team that we hope to send.

ROBERT: In the position of chair, I would dialog with key people within WMA and get more involved on several committees to help foster our growth and implement ideas to our USA masters group. Before we can push for more exhibition events, we have to insure we can continue to support the one a year they have asked us to attend. It would be a huge loss for us if they added more events and we could not get the athletes to support them. Next, networking at the USATF Annual Convention with other individuals outside of the master sessions who might not understand or know what we do and where we need help. Third, begin to focus more aggressively on promoting younger masters 30-45 years old; many still do not know they can compete and those that do rarely see the media spotlight on the “younger” masters. If you don’t see someone that is young, you think masters is only for those over 65.

What makes you a better choice for masters national chair than your opponent?

REX: I don’t look at Robert Thomas as an opponent at all, just an alternative choice for the membership, just as I am another alternative. Both of us have a genuine concern to improve our sport and much of what we want to see in MTF is very similar.

The biggest differences between us lies in the length and breadth of knowledge and experience and lot of that is by virtual of age alone. I would trade Robert some of my knowledge and experience for his relative youth, but unfortunately that is not how it works.

Another difference is the amount of personal time available to conduct MTF business. His work and pending marriage puts a lot of things in front of him that I do not have to deal with at my stage of life, being retired and having a grown family.

ROBERT: My opponent and I have similar goals and in the end, we love the sport itself and want to do the best job we can and be successful! I have a “CAN DO” attitude and mission: Let’s try and fail rather than not try and complain. My strengths lie in my vision for masters track and field in how do we get there and what will it take to accomplish it, the creativity I have to implement programs and ideas, the ability to learn new tasks and jobs, event management and integrity.

What else should Orlando masters delegates know about you that they don’t already?

REX: I am the most detail oriented generalist that you may ever know. I have a ridiculously broad range of interests.

• I am the most liberal conservative that you may ever know. Habits – simple, Words – few, Thoughts – accepting.
• I am the most innovative practical person that you may ever know. With 15 or 20 patents to my name.
• I am the most open-minded opinionated person that you may ever know. I value a better idea than my own.
• I have been told that I am smart enough to do a good job and dumb enough to think it is important.
• I want to share the advantages of my background and serve, while I am still able to do so effectively.

My goals for masters track and field in three words – Fair Honorable Competition.

ROBERT: Over the last several years, my association president and our active athlete rep, Latashia Key, and I have been responsible for contributing over $5,000 to masters track and field. In 2014, we donated $1,250 from a local sponsor. In 2015, we extended that donation to $3,000 from that same sponsor. Also in 2015, we were responsible for the team T-shirt at the World Championships in Lyon, France, which generated roughly $1,000 back to masters track and field. Lastly, from our recent trip from Perth, where we did a team T-shirt and bucket hat and we will be donating over $300 from the proceeds to masters track and field.

I have been to 10 WMA championships and as a member of Team USA I felt we could have looked more cohesive representing our country. In my opinion, at the WMA Championships in Lyon, France, for the first time we looked unified and it was an overall success. I plan to continue this project with the assistance of the national office, and I am very proud and excited many of the athletes enjoyed it!