Sacramento was sizzling, but Hungary was superhot and bothered
Shades of 1928. On July 15, the men and women’s 10K’s were contested at the 10-day European Veterans Athletics Championships in NyÃregyháza, Hungary. According to two U.S. officials and a European mole, an overzealous Hungarian doctor (acting as a safety official) pulled eight women off the track in one race. He thought the heat (worse than Sacramento’s, by some accounts) was too much for them. With only a lap or two left in the W60 event, for example, seven entrants were DQ’d — prompting the irrational panic that followed the Paris Olympic 800, when five women reportedly collapsed from exhaustion. But in Hungary, another doctor checked out the Eurovets and declared them fine. They didn’t rejoin the race, however. They got the shaft. Same thing happened in a 1500.
My European source says of the incidents:
The doctor/safety officer who was pulling older athletes from the distance races told Irish M80 Nick Cornish that he was pulling him out because the timing chip on Nick’s shoe had indicated Nick had a health problem! Some sophisticated chip, I think! It’s all hearsay, but to test their state of mind, some athletes were apparently asked to respond to a question before being pulled. The question was in Hungarian. I saw no yellow cards, just summary exclusions. Emil Pauwels was pulled in front of a very angry grandstand of spectators with 300m of his 1500m left, and about 4 minutes remaining for him to complete it within the allowed time.
One theory was that Germany’s Dieter Massin ordered the yankings mindful of a heat-related death at the 2003 Puerto Rico worlds. Dieter is president of the European Veterans Athletics Association, which oversaw the Hungary meet. He was just being supersensitive to the heat risk, one eyewitness told me.
Sacramento didn’t see such egregious behavior by officials. In fact, they did well under the circumstances. But meet organizers weren’t a model for nationals.
Among complaints I heard: Lap counting errors — or refusal to inform runners of their completed laps. No signboards to indicate distances in the jumps. Too few shade tents on the field. Tents too small. (Athletes did sardine imitations under the canopies.) Ditto for the stands, where only a few large umbrellas offered relief.
The clerking area was a mess — a possible cause of delays on Sunday, when relays were contested. Every day, declaration sheets were slow in arriving, forcing runners to return several times to check in. And the water station at the finish line was often remote and poorly manned except for the last day.
Many entrants in Hungary expressed interest in 2011 worlds, according to one U.S. observer. But Sacramento needs to step up its game.
For those familiar with Sacto nationals, a poll:
36 Responses
Also check out the photo gallery in the SacBee:
http://www.sacbee.com/2010/07/22/2909028/usa-masters-track-and-field-championships.html
Excellent posting, Ken, because your box suggests that we can now simply ask the participants what they liked and disliked. I will make only four very brief comments and let the competitors “have at it.”
1. The high jump groups should not be so large. If they must be huge, make them flight 1 and flight 2 and conduct them one after the other (which means, of course, that they would no longer be huge).
2. The distance races on the track should not have so many runners.
3. There should be more shade in the stands.
4. Water should be “aggressively” available. This means that there should be even more water stations and that there should be small signs — WATER HERE.
Sac nationals were rough around the edges for sure. Hopefully the WMA LOC will learn from the problems at the masters meet. I understand there will be performance boards – the absence of which boggles the mind even to this competitor who does not jump nor throw. As for the lap counting – again – strange – first time I have had a lap counter refuse to tell me how many laps I had to go. I am not naming names but wow – what was that all about. A competitor right behind me (and about to pass me) was told how many she had to go, I asked my counter and was given no useful information. Lesson learned – do not bother to ask the lap counter – I must be on the “do not tell” list.
The lack of shade was a serious problem – few in the stands watching – just too hot to sit out on metal benches in the heat of the day.
On a positive note – the early start for the older competitors in the 5k run, 1500m, 5k race walk, and 10k run – and 10k road walk was great. I had no idea it was so cool at 7 am in Sacramento, next time I will bring tights and a heavier shirt and gloves. The early morning temps were just perfect. It was well worth getting up at 4 am to be ready to run at 7 am.
The episode in Hungary sounds weird indeed – pulling competitors off the track with 300m to go – wow – telling them a timing chip sent health information – good lord – but…they were using timing chips – Hello WMA in Sac – a great idea for races 5k and longer. Those were use in Lahti along with a board showing each competitor’s laps to go – and assuring NO lap counting silly business. And note to all – timing chips indicate a competitor’s progress in the race -not the status of one’s health – but gentle reader – you already knew that so you will not fall for that bit of misinformation.
The W60 in Hungary was simply an error in lap counting. Although they had chips on their shoes in the combined race of W55 and W60 the W60’s were counted wrong. The number one protested and in the end got gold and even a time (no one knows what that time is for), the rest are DQ because they had run one lap too few.
Weia – they miscounted and were using the chip????- that is amazing – I am stunned. Words fail me – which is also amazing!
Suggestions for improvements for high jump:
1. If you are going to have opening heights, publicize them early so people can decide whether they want to compete or not. Do not alter the opening heights at the time of the competition “if competitors agree to change the opening height”. This “voting” at the time of the competition puts unfair pressure on those who want to stick to the opening height but who don’t want to appear unsportsmanlike by excluding less experienced jumpers.
2. Always post the heights on sign boards.
3. Do not lump different age groups together.
Presumably organizers for the World competition would like to have more spectators than attended Nationals so I echo those comments about providing more shade in the stands…and at least providing stands in the throwing areas.
While Sacto was conducted relatively well for the athletes, the organizers apparently forgot that some people might actually want to watch the competitions.
I grew up near Sacto and the heat can be positively Martian in July as we saw last week. Atlanta dealt well with the heat during their Olympics so perhaps organizers can get some tips from those folks.
Here’s a suggestion for Worlds based not on Sacto Nationals but on the Sydney World Masters Games: have multilingual aides available (at least by cell phone)to assist with registration.
Registration lines were backed up for hours in Sydney because the Australians forgot the entire world doesn’t speak English.
Have a morning and night session for finals.
Weather is very pleasant in the early morning and in the evening. This will assist in a better spectator turnout.
Re-do warm up track as it is very hard. If you cannot afford to re-do then throw a portable layer over the top. Atleast the straight away. Also, they need to have atleast 8 pair of blocks in the warm up area for sprinters.
I competed in Sacramento this past weekend and I would have to agree with the previous posts: there was not enough shade. My wife and kids could only stand it long enough to watch my events and had to leave soon after. We have sat through 2 Olympic Trials and a couple of NCAA Championships in the sun at that stadium and it is unforgiving. There also needs to be more refreshment stations for the athletes especially in the warm up area and finishing area on the track. I noticed there were places to get water but it came at a price. Copious amounts of sports drink and water should be available for everyone competing.
The weather here in Sacto is very pleasant in the morning before 11 AM and in the evening after 6 PM. A morning and night session as Don pointed out earlier would be an excellent idea and should be strongly considered.
At this point, I’ve just accepted the fact the steeple will always be in the middle of the day and will have to adopt an attitude of loving the heat at Outdoor Nats.
Having morning and evening sessions has been mentioned for months and discussed ever since February 19th when the skeleton schedule was posted with the statement “all races 1500m and longer will be in the morning.”
Several people e-mailed the National Committee after the exact time schedule came out about the heat concerns and nothing changed.
The gun went off at 1:15pm for us (M30-49 steeple on Friday) and the air temp was ~95 and someone said it was over 100 on the track with all the radiant heat.
While I’ve been vocal on the boards up until now, I’ve thrown in the towel on this. Bring on the heat Berea :)!
Shade in stands…..
my races were in the middle of the day (800) so for final warmed up at abandoned parking deck next door which was at leat 20 degrees cooler (concrete holds the morning chill and SHADE)
Every little glitch was overshadowed by raceing with 20 guys from around country who showed up in great shape . I had a great time makeing new friends. and seeing old ones
I agree with Tony more shade is a must. At the 2005 WMA’s in Spain the distance races were held in the evening. I’ve added my suggestions on my blog and have had some good responses. Marilyn Mitchell, who is on the WMA Organizational Committee, is sending them to Stan Perkins. Let you views be known now and help make Sacramento 2011 a success.
So I see everyone survived their races at Sacramento and didn’t melt away. But still, more whining about the heat, and now shade. Buy a Golf umbrella and carry it with you. A potable canopy set up, etc. I doubt the Arbor Day Foundation will be out planting more trees at Sac State just for a few masters at next year’s World Championships. I see that quite a large number of Steeplechaser’s, who had competed in the steeple multiple times this season, had their season best times competing on the molten lava that is Sacramento. It abviously had little effect on them. No location for a Championships will ever be good enough for Masters. It will always be hot because it’s Summer. Either move the Chamionships earlier in date so it’s around mid May, or late fall, mid to late September. Enough about how hot it was already…
No-Show-Bro
You are right that it will be hot being a summer meet. What we desired was our national body to make sound decisions on when best to contest each event. There was time each morning to do one event during the morning hours. They decided that the 5,000 walkers would go early and the Steeple would be later. You put an hour of hurdles (which by the way was canceled but could not move up the Steeple with that little notice) in between and that pushes the Steeple to the afternoon. Our national body should have been able to figure out that this would be the case and the need to run the race in the evening since it could not be run in the morning. I remember running the Steeple at the 1997 (ancient history) Nationals in San Jose and it was run in the evening – thus no problems with intense sun beating down on us (it was still very warm).
Now, is all this whinning and complaining? No, it is an attempt to improve something that is very important to all of us. If that can be done, we owe to everyone to do it.
BTW, I ran 39 seconds slower than earlier in the year. Was all of that because of the heat – probably not. But I can promise you that the heat slowed down the times significantly.
I’m reluctant to post because it might seem too argumentative, but I must. I don’t think the fact that no one died (“melt away”) at Sacramento is the standard we should use. A better standard would be how many athletes and spectators required treatment for heat-related problems.
On Thursday or Friday we had one woman in the sprints (W45) collapse on the track. I was later informed by someone that she had heat stroke, but that seems like an overstatement. She was treated and was not taken to the hospital (although she may have been the person the EMT was describing who refused transfer).
On Sunday I saw a woman (a W35 sprinter and hurdler) lying in the shade of the announcer’s tent. She was treated and taken by ambulance to a local hospital, but she was not admitted.
How many others required treatment for heat-related problems during the 4 days I do not know.
In terms of whining or complaining, I do not think that the expression of problems with heat or lack of shade would qualify as whining. I would reserve that for something of less consequence, such as the quality of the scrambled eggs.
As for the universality of heat in the summer, my first reaction was to look at this month’s temperatures for Oshkosh, the scene of last year’s nationals. I don’t recall any expressions of dismay last year about Oshkosh’s weather, but perhaps there were a few.
I checked the number of 90+ days for Oshkosh from July 1 through July 27 for this year. The answer: 0, as in zero. The high for the month has been 88.
I checked the number of days 96 or above (i.e., VERY hot) for Sacramento this month. The answer: 10, or 37% of the 27 days so far. Based on this data I conclude that Oshkosh and Sacramento have had dramatically different weather this month, and I do not think that is unusual.
I was impressed, as was Mary Harada, by how cool the mornings in Sacramento are (and how pleasant are the evenings). Something positive can be done with that. In fact, I will guess that Sacramento has cooler mornings than Oshkosh, but clearly the highs are far above those seen in that Wisconsin city.
Orono, Maine, which has hosted the nationals 3 times, has had 3 days so far this month that were 90+, but the highest of the 3 was just 91. I conclude that Orono has a much different climate from that of Sacramento.
It seems fair to say, then, that there is great variation in the weather during the summer in the US.
The heat even affected short races such as the 800. It was 97 at the start and it felt like I was in an oven. How do you warm up for that? Heck, I think I ran 600 meters on the warmup track that was always blocked off on one end, and then sought some shade, for some light stretching and then maybe 2 incomplete strides. I was feeling drained before we started. Heck I think one runner in my heat hit the deck there for a while. It should have been a split schedule, maybe 7-11AM and 7:30-10PM I am also heavily in favor of a 5 day schedule for Nationals.
As odd as it sounds to those who follow the boards closely, I agree with both No Show Bro and Dale Campbell.
No question it will always be hot for Nationals in mid-summer and no question heat impacted steeple times. All research I’ve ever seen indicates that ideal distance running temps are lower to mid 50’s and performance exponentially decreases (times increase exponentially) as the temperature goes up.
Beginning with ’08 Spokane when I got into this (my first Masters Nats), I knew full well that I’ll never run a great time at Nationals based on the timing of the meet alone.
This year at Nationals I was somehow only 4/10ths of a second off of my time at the Hayward Classic at the end of June (temp was low 70’s in Eugene when I ran). I can only wonder how much below 10:30 I would have run given ideal conditions but will never know. Such is the life of a Masters steepler.
Was I the only one who missed having 4th-6th place ribbons available? Some of us will NEVER be nationals champions, so ribbons are very special.
Where was the special awards podium and banner for “Kodak Moments”? Having the gal in the Alumni Center say, “Congratulations!” wasn’t very gratifying.
Designated seating areas for the throws will help reduce the chance that someone wanders onto a throwing area.
Have clearly identified water tents outfited with misters along the canopy edges. An attendant can monitor the tent, and sell spray bottles, mini electrolyte pouches, hand towels (a wet one can keep you neck cool). The spray bottles and hand towels could have the National Championship logo printed on them. (I like functional souvenirs)
I’ve already ranted about the high jump situation.
No-show-bro,
Your comment advising people to stop whining and bring golf umbrellas or portable canopies for shade might be advisable for the next nationals, but we are discussing in this thread how lessons learned at Sacto Nationals might apply to Sacto Worlds next July.
I don’t think we can tell international competitors to bring portable canopies with them to Sacto just because organizers can’t be bothered to think about heat problems.
There were over 5000 competitors at Lahti Worlds and the grandstands were full of spectators.
In addition to treating the international competitors as humanely as possible, it would be nice if Sacto Worlds had more than a a couple of dozen sunburnt spectators in the stands.
With world-class competitors and world-class announcing, is it too much to try to think of ways to attract spectators to Sacto Worlds and to try to make them as comfortable as possible?
We (Nor Cal Throwers) set up two tents near throwing venues for our members. Many non members also used our tents because without them people would be stuck in the sun. Meet organizers chastised us for not seeking their blessings and stated not to bring them for Worlds because they would not be allowed.
Most officials were very good at this meet!!!!
Suggestions for Worlds:
(1)Implements were thrown on the ground in the sun at most venues. Disc’s and shot’s get too hot to hold. I suggested to an official in disc that they needed a better system to no avail. I then handed him my disc when my name was called and he took it and handed it back because it was too hot to hold. He then stopped the competition and came up with plan b (shade and towels).
(2)Limit flights to 12 and under with thrower preference at 8. Then clearly announce the flights and stick with it!!Throwers can’t stay loose for 15 minutes between throws!! If 19 people sign up, plan 2 flights. If only 15 sign in you should still have two flights. The above 19 to 15 happened to my group. They set up two flights and announced warm ups. 10 minutes later they announced 1 flight and several throwers had to join warm ups. When competition started and 1 thrower didn’t hear the change and then needed warm ups to get ready while everyone else got stiff.
(3) Ample shade at competition areas for athletes. Many spectators were in the shade next to venues. There should be tents for competitors that are in the current flight that can’t be used by others.
Suggestion for runners: Warm-up in the nearby parking garage. It was 20 degrees cooler there with a breeze. It was closed to cars for the summer so I was able to warm-up safely. A couple of my Oregon teammates took my suggestion for Saturday and Sunday. I knew that warm-up track would just zap whatever energy I had so I just spent time between the Alumni Center and that parking garage. Sorry, no help for the throwers.
Hope we dont run out of medals at Worlds!!!
second post because this software wouldn’t let me post forgetting my e-mail.
it was a really great post too. Quotes and everything. But, it got erased when I had to go back and put in e-mail. Can you change that Ken? That really sux.
Anyway, it basically said there will be night sessions at Worlds for events longer than 1500.
ok I dont get how you run out of medals!! This is probably just a minor irritation to most , myself included, but really? You have to know how many you are going to be giving away and then have extra just in case. weird.
As for No SHow…you have to ignore him/it people! He is just some loud mouth who likes to stir it up and then disappear til the next opportunity he/it gets to be nasty. Ignore and it’ll go away! Never anything useful coming from that one! Likes the sound of his/it’s own bitterness…definitely enjoys making other people mad and it seems not much else!!
SacBee featured Leland McPhie, our 96-year-old phenom, on Day 4:
http://www.sacbee.com/2010/07/25/2913298/at-age-96-golden-years-shine-with.html
One more thing- how about meals for the media? Ken and Chris were denied the lunch provided to officials and some key volunteers (something they tell me have always been offered at previous meets where they were shooting their fab photos.) Not only that, apparently they were treated VERY rudely when inquiring about their meals. Not cool.
In regard to how Sacramento can improve there handling of the Worlds next year in comparison to last week’s Nationals:
-Provide more shaded areas for athletes and spectators alike. Compared to most place, the summer heat in Sacramento is BRUTAL.
-Provide display boards for distances/heights in the jumps and throws. Sacramento last week was the only major meet I can remember that didn’t provide this.
-Allow the athletes access to change/shower rooms. There must be some to be the building adjacent to the track.
-Schedule longer races earlier or later in the day when it’s less hot.
-Keep up the high level of officiating shown at the Nationals last week, the officials and volunteers were great!
I agree that there should be rounds in the morning and finals during the evenings. At Worlds and other international meets for elite athletes, this is the standard schedule. It is difficult to produce fast times without having to worry about hydrating yourself appropriately, heat stroke, etc. The practice track was very hard and how can a sprinter warm up probably without practicing blocks. They did not give you enough time to do some run outs let alone set them without feeling rushed. YOOOOOOOOOOOOO and how could you run out of medals. Come on now!!!! And you’re right, what happened to the medal stand. The water station was only there on the 24th and 25th. At least that was the only time I remembered someone bringing water to me after I finished running the 800. It wasn’t cool to look up in the stands and to see hardly anyone there. Those umbrellas were a joke just like some of the physical therapist who couldn’t give a decent massage and do taping. AND $40 FOR A RELAY…..I PAID $35+10 TO GET IN (THATS JUST FOR ONE EVENT) AND HAVE TO SHELL OUT $40 FOR A TEAM TO RUN A RELAY. The only free thing I got was a plastic bag…no t-shirt no program A PLASTIC BAG, that broke eventually. We run and train hard and a lot of us hold down full-time jobs and take care of our families. We DESERVE the same respect and recognition as many of the elite athletes. We pay OUR hard earned money to compete and have fun. I can only hope that Worlds will be much better and that Masters Track and Field gets the respect it deserves.
Can I add a few comments, as someone who hopes to be in Sacto next year, and who has just returned from racing, and working daily as a photographer, in the cauldron of the Eurovets in Hungary (35 degrees and 96% humidity).
Accepting that Sacto won’t be as humid, there are still things mentioned in this thread that need to be remembered:
Shade. Pete Taylor mentioned this. Athletes need it as much as officials. A few small umbrellas here and there are not enough, but there was little else in Hungary.Make it moveable. The sun goes round, and the shade moves too!
Water. Athletes were being charged for drinks on the track in Hungary at one point. There was water given out to the distance runners after their events, but nothing was offered to runners in events below 1500m. Penny-pinching.
Timings. Early morning qualifying rounds are usually inevitable, and no one wants a distance race that early in the day, but there is nothing wrong with a mid day break and an evening session when the sun is less intense. The Hungarian stadium would have had great atmosphere in the evening (bugs aside), and the stadium lighting was fabulous, but instead, far too many inappropriate events (5k, 10k etc) ran in the middle of the day and early afternoon. Proper scheduling in Sacto could be everything.
Language skills amongst officials. Athletes won’t just understand english, even when shouted at them, just as we didn’t understand Hungarian, spoken or shouted. make sure there is a distribution of skills around the teams of officials.
Heat-related DQs – make sure there is a clear and understood procedure, eg yellow card then red card. Make sure it is followed too. No summary removals from races.
Timing chips – ensure the officials are trained to use them. Mary Harada’s incredulity in the thread above is well-placed, but yes, athletes were DQ’d in Hungary for running too few laps, and were physically prevented from running an extra lap even when they knew very well they had one more to do.
Photos. Everyone is going to video it seems, but the needs of video photographers for clear and uninterrupted line of sight for events, track or field, is incompatible with the way we stills photogs need to work. We cannot stay out of shot the whole time. Move video shooters to rostrums above the action. They will love it, and the shots they get will be all the better.
Happy to expand on any of these points off-line.
A few comments:
Positives: the officials were great and Bob Burns and Mary Woo were very nice and helpful. I greatly appreciated all of the supportive comments from athletes for the work Ken and I were doing. Overall, I think the meet ran quite smoothly.
Suggested improvements:
— More electrolytes. I did the Breast Cancer 3Day last year, and they talked to us about the serious problem of hyponatremia. The body gets too low in sodium because of drinking water solely. There must be electrolytes for athletes and especially officials to head off serious health dangers. The officials I talked to were only drinking water.
— More common sense reactions to heat-related problems. I saw several athletes on the first day on their hands and knees in distress after races and I had to go over and help them because no one else was aware of them. More officials/medical folk at the finish line needed. The EMT on the bike was wonderful, but she couldn’t be everywhere.
A 90-age group runner was told to go all the way around the stadium to pick up his bag rather than go straight on to the track to get it. Mindlessly following the rules instead of common sense on that Sac Committee workers part. I was denied electrolytes at the finish line too, because at the moment I wasn’t an athlete but rather a photographer. Please drop the authoritarian stand and see the real human need to survive.
–Yes, many athletes mentioned disappointment at the lack of ribbons and medal stand.
Lots of photos to come.
Wonderful comments, Chris. After the debacle of Charlotte in 2006 I would have thought there would be more attention to dealing with heat-related problems. One of your sentences says it all:
“I saw several athletes on the first day on their hands and knees in distress after races and I had to go over and help them because no one else was aware of them.”
This one sentence reminds me so much of what happened in the 5000 race at Charlotte on the first day of the meet. An M40 runner finished in extreme distress, but no one stepped forward to help him. Fortunately, he survived, but anecdotal evidence says that it was touch and go for awhile.
While the runners/walkers are going around the track in the races of 5,000 or 10,000 meters they need water stations, and when they finish they need water, ice, and knowledgeable observers to recognize whether they are in distress and attend to them immediately if they are.
We have a clear pattern with Orlando ’99, Charlotte ’06, Orono ’07, and Sacto ’10 all having been brutally hot. Based on this, I would suggest that USATF seriously look at requiring a split schedule for future outdoor masters championships.
Most summer all-comer meets start between 6:00 & 7:00 pm due to work constraints, but as anyone that lives in a hot climate knows, the later start also helps with the heat because the sun is lower on the horizon.
You can throw Spokane ’08 into the mix as well for nationals meets that were brutally hot. Temps crept up into the mid 90’s on Friday. Was only slightly more comfortable conditions for distance running than we had in Sacto.
I just remembered something an official mentioned at the clerk tent while we were getting ready to walk out to the track…he said “make sure you take all your stuff, things have been known to walk…” This didn’t give me too much confidence in whatever security they had there and wonder if this will be addressed for Worlds. I also question whether the official was accurate with his announcement. I feel the masters community is tight knit and we look out for each other. I hope we don’t have individuals that would take advantage of someone else.
Fidel, an official in the clerk tent said the same thing to me, and then he said he was looking for something in a size 9 shoe, and how I had a nice-looking water bottle, then he laughed. I think he was teasing.
@ The Diesel. My free plastic bag had a 3/8oz mini-bag of Sacramento’s own Blue Diamond Almonds! I’m eating them right now cuz I just found them at the bottom of said free plastic bag.
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