More details have emerged on the Hayward Classic rebuff of Zel Brook, the cane-using W55 runner in Oregon. Latest story appeared in the Corvallis newspaper, which says Brooks jumped through all the hoops she could, citing the Americans with Disabilities Act, and still couldn’t get permission to run in a USATF-sanctioned meet with her cane. The cane is a “danger” to other runners. (And her spikes aren’t?)

Here’s the June 22, 2005, story, in case link goes bad:
By Erin Madison
Corvallis-Gazette Times
Zel Brook was hoping to spend this past weekend racing in the 5,000- and 10,000-meter runs at the Hayward Classic in Eugene.
Because Brook runs with a cane, her application to compete in the event was denied.
“Basically they called me a threat to the safety of the other runners,” Brook said.
Instead, the Corvallis woman ran a half marathon.
In 2003, Brook competed in the Hayward Classic, a race hosted by the Oregon Track Club and sponsored by USA Track and Field. It includes events for men and women 30 and older. The meet is not geared toward athletes with disabilities. She took home two gold medals and a silver medal.
She went on to run in the National Masters Championship, where her trouble began.
As Brook was lining up to run at the Masters Championship meet, an official walked up to her and told her she was not a qualified runner.
She didn’t know what to think beside that he was joking, Brook said.
“Why would you say that to someone just moments before the start?” Brook still wonders two years later.
Although she was disqualified, she was allowed to run in the race. She had to run in the outer lanes and her time didn’t count.
Even though she was allowed to run, being told she was disqualified moments before a race was discouraging, Brook said.
“It’s really unnerving,” she said.
It’s kind of like going into a final exam and finding out the test is being given in another language or that you don’t have any pens with which to write, she said.
“USATF takes the Americans with Disabilities Act, and opportunities for disabled athletes, very seriously,” said USA Track and Field director of communications Jill Greer in an e-mail. “We looked at Zel’s specific situation very careful and earnestly, and determined, in accordance with the ADA, that a cane would be a safety hazard to others. We then invited her to compete without her cane.”
Brook has had stomach surgery, a blood clot in her leg and a brain tumor. The brain tumor left her with a sense of balance that Brook describes as like being a little boat on the ocean, so she runs with a cane.
“We have the greatest sympathy for her condition, but as an organization we seek to open the sport to as many people as possible, and to enable them to compete in the safest environment possible,” Greer wrote.
Brook also found that intense exercise helped with the leg pain caused by the blood clot.
After training for and running a marathon, her doctors noticed increased blood circulation in her leg. She’s now off all the blood thinners and pain medication she was taking before.
“My motivation has to do with pain reduction and health,” Brook said.
Since being disqualified in the 2003 race, Brook has been working to be allowed to run again.
“I pursued a rule change for the past two years,” she said.
She recently got an indication from USA Track and Field that they had changed the rules, so she applied for the 2005 Hayward Classic.
After numerous communications with USATF, Brook received a letter saying she would not be allowed to run this year because she posed a direct threat to the health and safety of other competitors, she said.
Ruth BreMiller, one of the local organizers of the Hayward Classic, said the decision to not allow Brook to run was made by national headquarters of USATF, not the local chapter.
“We had nothing to do with it,” BreMiller said.
She has never hit, tripped, poked or jabbed another runner, Brook said, and that includes when she ran in the Portland marathon with about 9,000 other people.
“I have done everything I can for the last two years to try to get into this event,” Brook said. “There are other options besides denying my application.”
She could run in a different heat or run in an outside lane and have the extra distance subtracted, she said.
“I think the important thing here is that everybody be able to participate,” Brook said.
Brook’s not sure what her next step on this issue will be.
“I just don’t know at this point,” she said. “I’m trying to figure that out.”
Her understanding from USATF’s most recent ruling is that if she tries to apply again, she’ll basically go through the same process and be denied, Brook said.
“I guess I just find it extremely unfortunate,” she said.