San Diego all-comers series announced; McMahon meet returns
USATF San Diego and local store Movin Shoes (correction to earlier post) have announced a series of Wednesday night all-comer meets. Also revealed is a return of the Chuck McMahon Memorial Masters Meet — which didn’t happen in 2009. Yippeee! Here are details. The McMahon meet (financed through a bequest by the late weightman) is set for Saturday, July 17, at Cal State San Marcos. Masters multi-eventer Steve Kleinstuber is the contact person. Event schedules and prizes are told here. The date of July 17 threads the needle. It’s the weekend before USATF masters nationals in Sacramento. And it’s the weekend after the USATF Western Regional masters meet (with a site still TBA). Meanwhile, I’ve learned that the WMA regional championships for North America, Caribbean and Central America is still possible (and presumably in the USA). WMA regional prez Brian Keaveney writes: “There is a bid coming forward. I will disclose the information once I have it.â€
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Hi everyone- if you’re looking for a meet the weekend of July 9-11th, please consider the 3rd Annual Western States International Invitational at the University of California, Davis. See our webite for more info!
Oops! The website is http://www.sactrack.net
The Western States International Invitational at the University of California, Davis is a terrific competition. I hope you have the buffet lunch again this year.
The 2010 USATF Southern California Association Championships on June 12th willbe held at Orange Coast College in Costa Mesa, Ca. Online entry will be available sometime next week at http://www.scausatf.org
The USATF Masters West Region Championships will be held on July 10th & 11th ( we were trying to get Mt. Sac,but that wasn’t possible-the location will be confirmed next week and then online registration will be available at http://www.scausatf.org shortly.
Yes, Tom! We will have the buffet again 🙂 Thanks for the kind words.
Hello again everyone! On-line registration for the Western States Meet in Davis is available at
http://www.active.com/running/davis-ca/western-states-masters-international-invitational-2010
You can also download an entry form form http://www.sactrack.net and mail it to the specified address.
Curious to see where the Regional WMA meet will end up. Had no interest in going two years ago to Clermont, FL and those that went had a fairly miserable experience from the sound of things. Hope it’s somewhere on the West Coast…
Good to see you back on the board, Mellow Johnny. Have not seen your name on the list of Sacramento entrants, but I expect you will beat the deadline (June 25 without penalty). Last year for Oshkosh, as you recall so well, there were 71 entrants listed for the steeple, but the number who actually competed must have been far less, yes?
This year, I hope that Sacramento will have at least 100 entrants for the steeple; so far it has 5. As for the Regional WMA meet, it is hard to explain to people that this is actually a lower-level meet than our Nationals in terms of attendance. Even when it was in Eugene in 1996 it could not come close to Spokane (the outdoor site that year) in attendance, as I recall. But maybe it will do better this year.
Great hearing from you as always, PT.
Waiting to make sure I don’t get injured first before entering for Sacto 🙂 but I’ll be there, yes. Wouldn’t miss your announcing if nothing else.
Yes, actual competitors for th steeple was less than entrants. I’m with you on the hope for more entrants but, as we discussed earlier, I have real concern that the event will not be “in the morning” as is listed on the time schedule and that will keep steeplers away in the oppressive Sacramento mid-summer heat. I’m really hoping they rearrange the schedule to have the steeple before the hurdles.
Interesting to hear your take on the Regional WMA meet. I would have thought that meet attendance at Hayward would surpass a meet in Spokane 10 times out of 10. To hear that it didn’t come close is a bit surprising.
The fact that the venue and dates have yet to be decided for a meet that is only a few months away is concerning and my guess is attendance won’t be high.
Will be on here more often as nationals approaches, PT, and looking forward to hearing more of your knowledge and wisdom as always.
Thank you, Mellow Johnny. Yes, in 1996 Eugene had a grand total of 631 competitors in the 4-day WAVA regionals (with excellent weather, I might add). According to the October 1996 National Masters News: The meet had “large contingents from NCCWAVA members U.S.A., Canada, and Mexico…” And still it was crushed in attendance by Spokane.
One relevant fact was that Spokane was a week before Eugene. Many people must have said, “Let’s do a double,” while others clearly said, “Spokane, yes; Eugene, no.” But Eugene had entrants from 16 countries to bolster its attendance. Shockingly to some, the regionals 2 years earlier, in Edmonton (Canada) had a grand total of 374 entrants. This has been the tradition of this meet, never a big turnout.
Predicted weather for Sacramento this Friday is low of 54 and a high of 86. You will run 10 Fridays later, correct (July 23)? Should be somewhat warmer then, but I am told by a reliable source that the heat situation in Sacramento has been overstated. Regardless, I don’t see any way that you run before noon, as you have the 5000 racewalks in front of you. You also have the hurdles trials. It looks like you should run about 2:00 PM, Mellow Johnny.
Good info as always.
The fact Spokane was a week before Eugene certainly explains some of the low numbers. But low numbers certainly seem to be the exception not the rule.
If nationals were two weeks prior to WMA Regionals, I think that would be the ideal situation, particularly like- as was the case in 1996- the locations are relatively close to one another. If WMA Regionals ends up two weeks later than nationals in, say, Spokane, I think it might bolster attendance. But perhaps I’m wrong.
You are correct that the steeple is Friday, July 23rd. I certainly hope the heat situation is overstated.
Still, the fact it’s stated outright that “All distances 1500m and longer will be run in the morning.” is concerning to me if that really won’t be the case.
I agree that on paper it certainly appears like a 2pm race without moving around the schedule.
oops…meant low numbers seem to be the RULE not the exception
Yes, Mellow Johnny, I knew that was what you meant (after all, you are a high school teacher by profession and thus must be precise). By the way, in 2000 we hit our high-water mark for outdoor nationals, as Eugene drew 1503 participants. That meet was on August 10-13.
A week later the WAVA Regionals were held in Kamloops, British Columbia (the site of this year’s world indoor masters). To make it an added draw they made this meet the Canadian national masters outdoor championships as well. In addition to Canada, entrants came from the U.S., Mexico, Trinidad, Curacao, Guatemala, Jamaica, and Puerto Rico. Guess what the final total was, Mellow Johnny? Yes, you were close. All they could draw were 522 competitors, of whom 284 were from Canada.
As a high school teacher, Mellow Johnny, you know that means there were only 238 competitors from ALL OTHER countries combined. Shameful, but that has been the history of the meet.
And to reiterate about Sacramento, you are NOT going to run in the morning as far as I can see.
Wow, had no idea the numbers were that low for the regional WMA meet. Bummer. Sounds like it has the potential to be a great meet in preparation for Worlds. Also, I like that they allow submasters to compete there (at least Clermont did).
I’m in agreement, unfortunately, on Sacramento.
So is the statement about races 1500m and longer being in the morning in error? Or do they not include the steeple because, after all, we can cool down in the water 😛
My advice to you, Mellow Johnny, is the following:
Abandon all hope.
We already have 12 athletes signed up for the 5000 racewalk at Sacramento, and I predict we will get 118 more for a final total of 130 (my best guess, and please hold me to it). Think about it, Mellow Johnny, your chances of running the steeplechase in the morning at Sacramento are no better than 1% at the MOST optimistic. Where do you live, Bend or someplace like that? Practice with a heavy sweatshirt during the middle of the day in Bend; that might help.
Sound advice I think, PT.
I’m just stuck (for better or, more likely, for worse) on this statement that it will be in the morning. I guess I just feel that decision is the right one and would hate to be misled. 2pm in Sacto may be morning somewhere on the planet just as it’s 5 o’clock somewhere as well but it ain’t the morning at Nationals.
Mellow Johnny, this is now on the back pages, and thus you and I are the only ones still reading. As you know, putting on the racewalks takes a long, long time.
(1) Before a race starts they have to give a brief “class” to all the walkers to inform them of current rules. (2) Ideally, each walker will be introduced to her/his lap counter. (3) After the races they have to collect the cards on violations. (4) The slowest walkers take a long time to walk 5000 meters.
Unless they change the schedule you have 0% chance of running your steeple in the morning. What you need is a change in which the steeple is run in the EVENING.
PT
I think you’re right about that, PT. Yes, the 5000 racewalkers take a VERY long time out there.
Leading me to believe that even if you were to move the steeples ahead of the hurdles, we STILL wouldn’t run in the morning.
Right you are, Mellow Johnny. And as you probably know already, the slowest time at Oshkosh in the 5000 racewalk was over 47 minutes. That particular race, which involved leading the women to the 200/5000 start, instructing them on the latest rules, possibly introducing them to their lap counters, lining them up, racing them, and then checking the violations cards at the end, took about 1 hour. That’s an exception, but with a likely 6 5000-m racewalks this year (2 for women and 4 for men), you do the math.
You will run about 2:15 PM.
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