USATF releases annual report for 2010: Any masters revelations?
Haven’t had time to study the financials, but masters track is mentioned (thank goodness) in the just-released USATF annual report for 2010. See it here. Why was the report released eight months into the year? Your guess is as good as mine. But I suspect some legal challenge could have led to the posting of something that normally is made public much quicker. Read it and let me know if you see anything interesting.
Masters of the future? Maybe hurdler Oliver and sprinter Felix will join us.
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No comments here, and so I guess it is permissible to stray just a bit. Do we need a “state of the union” presentation for masters?
Were people happy with the worlds in Sacramento and nationals in Berea? Is everyone looking forward to Bloomington next March for indoors (possibly our best facility ever)? Are plans being made to go to Lisle for summer nationals in 2012?
A lot of people skipped both Sacramento and Berea. Wonder why.
Pete;
Has a date been set for 2012 Nationals in Lisle??
Mr Taylor,
I was planning to go to Berea but spent too much money in some Irish Pub in Old Sacramento…..Keeping it lite in Az. ……Now back to the real fun…..Training in the Mountains and Canyons…..
Mike Sully
OK, Sully, that’s a good excuse. Heard you were throwing the javelin to supplement your 200 and 400. Correct? You missed a nice meet in Berea.
Who Is Your Daddy?: Lisle just went up as an August 2-5 meet. The odd thing is that when you try to bring up the site to confirm that it disappears. Oh, well.
Hi Peter,
I was happy with the Worlds. I think that the Sacramento folks did a better job at the Worlds than they did at Nationals last year. Berea was fine, but after the physical and emotional stress of the Worlds it was hard to compete with the same intensity. I understand why people only did one. Well, I have one more 400 and then I will shift focus and try to become a 5K runner for the fall.
Mr. Taylor,
Yes, I threw the javelin in a meet at ASU in July. Playing around with the idea of a pentathlon or decathlon down the road. Have always heard its good to be eclectic with ones training, especially us older guys…..Of course now I wish I had gone to Berea!!
Sully
Berea was BEST EVER for friendly, accommodating atmosphere. From LOC & meet officials on the field to locals encountered in the area, the hospitality made us feel like we were back in the south! : )
Thanks for some neato plugs at Berea, Peter. It was great hearing you on the mic. I’ll do my 1st Masters Indoor Nats at Bloomington in my new age group. The Berea officials and locals were really swell. The folks working the Clerk Tent were some special people. It’s like seeing family each year. Love it. Smartty
I did all three, Houston (where I live), Worlds and Berea and loved them all. VERY excited for indoors but haven’t seen anything on outdoors. Can someone provide me a link or info? Thanks!
PS – first thing I heard when I walked into the stadium at Berea was Peter – felt like home. Thank you sir!
I truly enjoyed Sacramento the past 2 years,and am so grateful I went to Berea/Cleveland at the last minute. The town and track were great fun and exploring the neighborhoods of Cleveland was a nice distraction.
For me, after a year of obnoxious training, there’s just no comparison to that nervous wait under a USATF tent, on a steamy summers day in a new town, just trying to remember what im supposed to go out there and do. Love it.
Thanx Berea….Looking forward to Lisle
After the farce lap counting for the W35-79 5k on Thursday morning in Berea (kept the count only for the first five runners in the race – hello – there were 23 of us aged 35-79- the rules specify that everyone’s laps should be counted) – It was a very nice track facility, the bathrooms and locker rooms were open for use! Great officiating – aside from the blunder mentioned above – which is never a nice way to start a meet.
The meet hotel was within walking distance (as were most hotels for that matter) price included breakfast (which is a big deal for me as I eat more at breakfast than the rest of the day), an indoor track for use as well. In terms of the facilities – Baldwin-Wallace was just great. Nice meal for the athletes banquet.
But – why wasn’t Peter Taylor at the dinner? Was he invited – or just left to pay everything himself? Was he given a lunch each day?
And Cleveland has many attractions – I enjoyed the art museum (admission free!!!) botanical garden, etc. Great place to visit, I understand the NSG will be in Cleveland (downtown) in 2013. I would be happy to go back and see more of this very interesting city.
Sorry about the problem with counting laps in your race, Mary. That is pretty much unforgivable (in fact, according to the rules it is totally unforgivable). But glad to see that things recovered. Personally, I thought it was a good meet.
In terms of the banquet: No, I was not invited, and so I went over to Perkins Restaurant and had tilapia grille, baked potato, tossed salad, and lemonade. As you probably know, I was not selected to be the Berea announcer (and I was turned down outright for Sacramento worlds).
On June 26, having not been selected for Berea, I e-mailed meet management. I was told it would be fine for me to come out as an announcer without pay.
I must say, however, that USATF Masters has stepped forward after the fact, and I will get back most of what I spent. One problem I had at Berea was that I had to carry the whole load myself. Apparently, the person who was selected instead of me was not there. More likely, I am guessing that no one at all had been selected.
These are all niceties, however. The important thing is that we had a good meet. I will now be treating Thad Wilson and Khalid Mulazim as the superstars they are. Bob Lida I have always treated as a superstar, as I have Bobby Whilden.
Sonja Friend-Uhl will get superstar treatment from me, and Lisa Ryan will get a lot of publicity. I made a big fuss over Brandi Bernert in the sprints and will continue to do so.
Because of the odd layout of the facility I said very little about the throws (announced a couple of records) or the pole vault. Did not see anyone throw an implement on any of the four days, saw no long jumps, triple jumps, vaults, etc. Oh, well. Will try to do better in Bloomington (March 2012).
PS No, I was not given a lunch each day. Thanks go to members of the Atlanta Track Club, to Tom Hartshorne, to Denise Davison, and a couple of others who decided to help me out by getting me food, water, Gatorade, etc.
Mary, it was great to see you and visit with you at nationals. My 5,000 followed yours. I ALWAYS have a lap counter in the stands but my wife stayed home. I had to remember my lap count(which isn’t what we want to be doing in a race). Once I told the official at the line the count, he then hollered the same count. I headed for home, rather than “fight” the lap-count thing in the 10,000. From now on, should the wife not be there, I’ll slip some cat a $20 and have him holler my lap count from the stands. “Gee, Tex, you’re a cool one.” What can I say? Smartty
Peter and Smarty – I was taken by surprise by the lack of lap counting – as Sandy Pashkin had told me at registration that it would be done. Obviously it was not done and in fact a club mate of mine – also running the 5k – was told by the starter that only the first five competitors would have their laps counted. Had I known that I would not have wasted my breath shouting at the lap counter each time I went around.
Never have I been in a 5k or 3k where the officials refused to count laps except for the first 5 competitors. In SAC at the Nationals in 2010 I got the idiot counter who refused to tell me what lap I was on – and when I asked – as I went around told me he did not know – he was “working on that”. Fortunately I was following behind another runner whose’s laps were being counted and who had not lapped me. Fortunately the lap counting for the WMA 5k was very good for my heat.
As many who have read my comments about lap counting know – there have been some amazing screw-ups with lap counting at WMA meets as well as at Nationals. And there have been meets where it was done well. Berea is now on my list of inexcusable lap counting messes.
Being the first race out of the gate in Berea at 8 am- I was not able to enlist anyone to count my laps for me. I always attempt to keep track of the laps – that is my responsibility but it is also the responsibility of the officials to do it – and not just blow off 18 competitors in a race as if it were a college race and not a masters race with many age groups contending for medals. Add the deluge of rain, thunder and lightening at a distance – it was an interesting race – and I still wonder if the officials would have stopped it had the lightening been closer or would they have just stood there waiting to see who got zapped. Or would they have noticed if someone went down?
Peter I am sorry that you were not given a ticket to the banquet – had I known I would have bought one for you. It is a very sorry state of affairs that the meet director did not have the courtesy to ask you to announce and then provide at a minimum – some expense money, lunch, and drinks. While much about the meet was very good, some of the “details” that need tending to – apparently were just left to “happen”. That does not speak well of the LOC director.
Mary, as you know I am not someone who can quote every rule. I do know Rule 131, Lap Scorers, however. Any reasonable reading of that rule of competition would indicate that you, Mary Harada, should have had your times recorded for every lap in your 5000. From what you are saying I gather that did not happen.
Furthermore, in a “mixed race” such as yours they should have had 6 lap counters to assist the chief, each with the responsibility for 4 runners. Apparently that did not happen. I am guessing that at Berea they are much more used to collegiate races, in which every runner is either “on the pace” or one lap behind. Not so in masters.
Odd, I think we had this problem in Decatur, Honolulu……… Hmmmm…..
As far as the banquet, thanks for offer. As far as the food, I needed to lose some weight.
Here is the great irony: One of the so-called benefits of “sanctioned meets” is that they are supposed to play by the rules. Of course, that is what they are supposed to do. Here you went to a national championship, a sanctioned national championship, and they did not play by the rules in terms of counting laps.
Another thing we should expect is that our nationals should count for records. It is now August 10, and one would think that Joy Upshaw (W50) and Barbara Jordan (W75) did not break the world 200 marks at Albuquerque. And yet they did. So where are their world records? Oh, well.
By “mixed race” of course I meant many age groups running together.
PT
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