Rad Leovic is a young 86.
The biggest early meet of 2014 isn’t in
Budapest or
Boston (corrected from earlier reference to Landover). It’s in
Bendingo, Victoria — a town not far from Melbourne in southeast Australia. Bendigo will host the biennial
Oceania Masters Athletics Championships. Results will
appear here starting Jan. 4, 2014. About 500 athletes (mostly from Australia but with a scattering from New Zealand and other countries) are set to compete, according to this
Bendigo newspaper account. “”Because it’s staged over eight or nine days the opportunity’s there for athletes to do quite a number of events,” said
Terry Hicks, Athletics Bendigo secretary and a competitor. “One … from Canberra is set for an action-packed championships after registering for almost 10 events in the 85-89-year-olds age group.” (Actually, the
entrants list shows 86-year-old Yugoslavian émigré
Rad Leovic in a dozen events, including the pentathlon and decathlon. His races range from the 60 to the 5000. Yowza!) Best of luck to all downunder, especially Rad! And congrats to
Oceania Masters Athletics, a pacesetter in masters track.
One Response
Given that USATF provides zero support to athletes participating in WMA meets, it would help reduce costs if USATF would adopt the very reasonable competition uniform rules of the Oceania Masters Athletics Championships:
“COMPETITION UNIFORMS
Australian Athletes:
As a first preference the official Australian uniform should be worn during competition. We are quite aware these are in limited supply.
The next alternative would be to borrow a uniform from a friend for your event.
As a third option, and if no official uniform is available, you may wear a yellow/gold or green singlet with dark shorts. Please make every effort to cover any branding on these garments.
No athlete will be disadvantaged if they have made the best possible attempt to obtain a uniform for the Games.”
WMA rule 143.1 provides: “In WMA Championships all competitors must wear a singlet or vest that is approved by their national masters/veterans body. In WMA Championship races where team events are contested, it is mandatory for any athlete wishing to be considered for a team, to wear a uniform clearly identifying the country that he represents as accepted by the Track Referee.”
At 2013 WMA-Porto Alegre the bib numbers were so large that in many cases they completely covered up the country name. e.g.:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/wma2013/10558259773/in/photostream/
Yes, borrowing a uniform is an option, but not if two athletes are in two different events at two different stadiums at the same time. It is time for USATF to stop requiring USA athletes at WMA meets to purchase new USA uniforms, especially when they then allow older uniforms to run anyway.
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