Doug Smith, an Ontario masters leader, tackles two of the toughest events in sport: the steeplechase and the press release. And just for giggles, he took thousands of photos. In his wrap-up from Riccione, he writes: “They were very strict in doling out the photo bibs that allowed you on the track. This was a good thing, because it allowed us a better rapport with the officials, and got me right on the track at the finish line. I didn’t want to do it again, but found myself doing all the hard lifting in getting the group shots together. The paparazzi found my big mouth and pushy manner ideal for the task.”

Here is Doug’s full report:

I was very fortunate to have three really good races at the Worlds. Fastest time in 4 years in the Steeple.
I feel fortunate because there were so many people on the Team who were injured and couldn’t run a step. They stayed and cheered us on though. Since it was my seventh Worlds, I didn’t have the usual nervous breakdown in the Call Tent. In fact, to break the ice, I lead a cheer at the start line where all the guys were clapping “have a good one”.
We had booked hotels close to the main track, but they held many finals out at the Misano track. It was a fine facility, but it meant an arduous bus ride, that sometimes stopped arbitrarily some distance from your destination. With the three venues, it was difficult to shoot many of the CAN team in their events. I never even saw about 6 people on the team.
They were very strict in doling out the photo bibs that allowed you on the track. This was a good thing, because it allowed us a better rapport with the officials, and got me right on the track at the finish line. I didn’t want to do it again, but found myself doing all the hard lifting in getting the group shots together. The paparazzi found my big mouth and pushy manner ideal for the task.
Just finished uploading 4500+ photos to the SONY site..
www.imagestation.com/members/douglasjsmith
The bad news is that SONY is closing the site.
In the process, you can’t seem to be able to access the original images.
You can right-click and save a smaller image to your hard drive.
I guess we’ll have to have you email me which shots you’d like and I’ll send the originals…..but I might get swamped. J
They will transfer my 150+ albums of meets to Shutterfly.
That site, however, doesn’t allow you to access the original (large) image, so it’s no good for the future.
We’re looking at adding a photo archive to the CMAA site. That would be ideal, as we would have control over our images, and it would create a lot of traffic on the site.
Chris has set up a Facebook page with some videos…
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=18222881664
Tom Phillips from GB will post his shots at http://www.tomphillipsphotos.co.uk/index_files/Page426.htm
Leslie Richardson will post her shots at http://www.rikko2photo.co.uk/gallery.htm
There’s a couple of pro videos at http://www.podistidoc.it/ which give an overview of the whole meet. ‘Enter Sandman’ in the music track too!
Look in the ‘Oggi su Podistidoc’ box and click on ‘play’.
Riccione TV shot a lot of footage http://www.riccione.tv/17th-wma-2007.html
At times, there were more video cameras than still photographers at the finish line.
Videos on You Tube http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=riccione+wma including the M40 4X400m team blasting the CAN record and winning the Silver medal, and a lot of the Riccione TV video.
Joan, Vern and I (and Jack, Helly and Roger as alternates) spent a very unproductive day at the General Assembly. They spent 30 minutes trying to figure out how to mark a ballot that had two names on it – Sacramento and Puerto Alegre. Doh!
After watching the bid presentations and deciding who could vote (and how to vote) Sacramento won the bid for the 2011 Championships by a wide margin.
We then spent another hour arguing about whether to affiliate with the World Masters Games championships which will likely be in Europe in 2013. The outcome (finally) was no, we won’t go with them that year, and yes, we’ll continue to discuss our schedules with each other.
The meeting was so poorly run that we couldn’t even get to any of the proposals on rule changes, etc, that many countries had prepared for the meeting. We can’t even look at them for another two years.
Might we even have a bigger team in Lahti, Finland, in two years?
The teachers will be able to come, as it’s 28 July to 8 August.
The bad experiences that people had with the buses in Riccione will not be a factor – as the tracks are within walking distance of the hotels downtown.
Speaking of hotels, they are quoting prices right now. We could look at one and try to get everyone to book the same place (if they wished), so we could all be together.