Virginia mystery: Still no word on 2013 bid cities for nationals
USATF’s annual meeting starts Wednesday in Virginia Beach, Virginia. And we still have no clue regarding the biggest decision our delegates will make—where to hold indoor and outdoor masters nationals in 2013. (Ohio will host 2011 outdoors and Illinois in 2012.) But for the past week, back-channel email has been flying about the lack of info on 2013 bidders. So it goes. We’re back to “Trust us” as a mode of operation. The USATF Masters T&F Committee will tackle a slew of other issues in Va. Beach. See elements of the agenda here.
Here’s how USATFmasters.org summarized a recent conference call:
Annual Meeting – Agenda Review
Wednesday, December 1
Many will be arriving.
8-10 AM – Region Coordinators – Mark Cleary will lead.Thursday, December 2
12:00 PM – 2:50 PM MTF Executive Committee – bring lunch if you like.
3:00 PM – 4:50 PM Awards Committee – Mary Trotto leading.
3:00 PM – 4:50 PM Anti-Doping Seminar
     Only 30-40 attended the Sacramento meetings last summer.
5:00 PM – 7:00 PM Opening Session
7:00 PM – 10:00 PM Welcome ReceptionFriday, December 3
8:00 AM – 10:50 AM Masters T&F Committee
     We know of two indoor bids at this time.
11:00 AM – 11:50 AM Joint T&F/LDR Hall of Fame Subcommittee
1:00 PM – 3:50 PM Masters T&F Committee
     We know of several outdoor bids, which will start around 1:30 PM
     Bob Weiner will speak.
     Update on “Forever Fast” marketing film.
4:00 PM – 5:50 PM Region Meetings
     Mark’s region will meet in the Doubletree Hotel (Presidential Suite)Saturday, December 4
8:00 AM – 9:50 AM Morning Awards Buffet
10:00 AM – 11:50 AM Region Meetings
12:00 PM – 1:50 PM Masters T&F Committee
2:00 PM – 3:50 PM Joint LDR-MTF
4:00 PM – 5:50 PM Executive Committee
6:30 PM – 10:00 PM Jessie Owen Awards Reception and BanquetSunday, December 6
8:30 AM – 10:00 AM Closing General SessionAnnual Meeting Expenses – Send Carroll a note regarding what you think you’ll spend for the Annual Meeting. Officers will get reimbursed. The remainder of the committee’s Annual Meeting budget will be used to assist others with these Annual Meeting expenses.
Carroll will begin working on a 2011 budget. Currently, the MTF Committee is doing well financially. Stephen mentioned a financial loss at a meet, and asked the committee to consider assisting with this problem. Carroll asked Stephen to send him some info on this.
The “Forever Fast” marketing film is finished. Now we enter Phase II. There will be a “Train the Trainer” session to help get this film rolled out. National is VERY happy with what they’ve seen. $12,000 has been awarded to help with the expenses related to this rollout.
Anti-Doping Criteria 2011 – Stephen will form a committee and they will work on defining their function. Testing will start at the 2011 National Masters Outdoor T&F Meet.
Permanent WMA Delegates – resolution will be discussed at the Annual Meeting.
MTF/MLDR Athlete of the Year Selection Process – The National management wants to allow just one Masters AOY, but obviously MTF & MLDR each have their own AOY. Not sure how this is going to get worked out. It will be discussed at the Annual Meeting.
Invitational Program Review – Mark Cleary will discuss this at the Annual Meeting.
Clinic Model – Robert Thomas will discuss this at the Annual Meeting.
New Business
Website – Jeff Brower will discuss this at the Annual Meeting.
Record Chair Response Review – Gary will discuss this at the Annual Meeting.
Team Hotel for World Meets – Discussed having a place where many USA athletes may stay and have a place for the team to gather. Gary has worked on this quite a bit. The Doubletree Hotel has responded. A shuttle will go to all the venues from many hotels during the WMA meet. Based on previous WMA meets in the USA, it is probable that the USA alone will have over 2000 athletes. The MTF Committee is also considering a team massage therapist.
National Meet Results – handling of foreigners – Games Committee will submit 2 proposals during the Annual Meeting.
MTF will have a table at the Jesse Owens banquet.
Next Conference Call will be after the Annual Meeting, most likely in 2011.
9:03 CST – Meeting adjourned.
Minutes by Jeff Brower
6 Responses
I think the choice is pretty obvious: Cleveland in 2013. In looking at our last 19 outdoors, I see that the meet has been spread over just 12 states, and many venues went the “one and out” route (held it once, and that was it). If it’s such a great event to hold, how come it’s so hard to get bidders?
Furthermore, in the 1992-2010 period, only one state in one year was able to draw even 1500 competitors — that would be Oregon (Eugene) in 2000. Cleveland has a ready-made meet in 2013; it will be called the Senior Games. Apparently, the track and field events will be conducted by USATF Masters (at least they will be in 2011 [Humble, Texas]).
What to do in 2013? Have qualifying for everyone 50+, as Senior Games already does. Just to match that, have qualifying for everyone 30-49, with either (a) places at a certain meet or (b) times, distances, or heights that have been predetermined. I know that will be controversial, but if the athletes 50+ have to qualify, why not 30-49? I’m not saying that qualifying has to be hard.
For example, you might have to run the 110 hurdles in 18.00 if you are in M40. If you want to put the shot in that age group, 10.00 meters.
Have the 5,000 be the longest event on the track, run the steeplechase, do the 5000 racewalk on the track, and have all the jumps and throws. In other words, it would be a masters meet at the Sr Games.
We could go the other way, of course, maintaining our tradition of having a freestanding masters championship (if anyone will have us). But maybe it’s time for a change, or at least an experiment. For your review, here is a summary of the last 19 meets, by state:
3 meets in Maine (Orono each time. Nice facility, good weather, hard to get to. Will probably host again in the future.)
3 meets in Oregon (all at Eugene. Very good facility, popular, but has not hosted since 2003. Don’t know whether it will host in future.)
3 meets in Washington (Spokane each time. Pretty good facility, will probably host in future.)
2 meets in California (San Jose once, Sacramento once. San Jose, I am guessing, will never host again. Sacramento hosts Worlds next year.)
The “one and done” group:
Utah (Provo). That was 17 years ago. No idea why they never hosted again.
Louisiana (Baton Rouge). Beautiful facility, low attendance. Can’t believe it will ever be there again.
Florida (Orlando). Hot, unpopular.
North Carolina (Charlotte). Had some major trouble there.
Michigan (East Lansing). Michigan State Univ held it in 1995, never again.
Illinois (Decatur). Meet was nice enough; why didn’t it come back?
Hawaii (Honolulu). Extremely low attendance.
Wisconsin (Oshkosh). Nice meet, nice facility.
As I said above, if this meet is such a catch, why have the great majority of states never hosted it at all? Why have so many places, after hosting it once, bowed out?
Just a little food for thought.
Masters Nationals should be held at the same place every year. There should be nominal qualifying standards-like Peter said nothing world class, just something reasonable. Nationals should be something to plan for, look forward to and work hard to achieve!
The facility should be top notch and the people running it should be as top notch also. Best way to achieve that is to “specialize” the site. Eugene or Oshkosh would be my vote. Fairly cool in summertime and great facilities. Just my two cents
We host several masters meets in Baton Rouge and I believe it will be an excellent venue for a National Masters in 2013 or later. The track has been redone and it will be another great facility for this and many other meets to come…..
Good to hear that we might be going to Baton Rouge at some point in the future. Attendance was extremely low in 2001 when it was there (as I recall it was only 811), but maybe things will be much better the next time. They had a split schedule (morning + early afternoon, then an evening stint).
P.T.:I have attended several Masters and Seniors meets in 2009 & 2010 directed by Byron and Co.They are TOP FLIGHT.Masters meet are usually at LSU
That’s where we were, Panama Kid, in 2001 (LSU). Before the meet, people were saying muy caliente, muy humedo (very hot, very humid), and they did not show up. Beautiful facility, however.
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