Alisa Harvey and Catherine Stone-Borkowski are listed as DNS in yesterday’s masters exhibition 800s at the USATF indoor open nationals in Boston. Alisa (who lives in Virginia) reports that she simply couldn’t fly to Boston, writing me today: “I did not make it out of Washington, D.C. The area had a snowstorm early Sunday morning which canceled my flight. . . . Just another winter dilemma in the Northeast.” (Later addition: Catherine had the stomach flu and had to scratch.) In Alisa’s absence, Marisa Hanson won the women’s race in 2:23.68. As expected, Peter Hegelbach won the men’s race in 2:01.56.

But Conor O’Driscoll, a Charlotte national champ, graciously responded to my appeal for color commentary. Conor took sixth in the men’s race and writes:

Both races were in prime time as you know and there was a good buzz in the arena. Reggie Lewis (Center) is the perfect venue for this meet as it appears full even with a crowd that would be lost in a bigger venue.
The masters races (women first) went just after the final of the open 400m and before the men’s open mile. I got a poor view of the women’s race because we were preparing for our own race. However, from what I could see, Marisa ran a smart race running just behind Mary Thane before kicking in the last 100m or so (I think!).
The men’s race was 9 deep with a waterfall start. Given we were all of fairly equal standard, we were bunched up and a few gentle elbows, fortunately no spills. Chris Potter led and I thought he was in a good position to win but he ran out of gas in the final lap. I recall Kevin Forde running in the third lane overtaking a few runners to finish in second.
I was running very conservatively as I was not confident in my 800m pace. Kevin Paulk told me he was behind me and was expecting me to make a move sooner. As a result, he left it a bit late to make his bid; he had a fast last 200m and almost caught Chris who was fading. I had seen Chris race a good 800m at the Armory in late Jan (can’t recall the exact time but I think it was 2:01 or less). Kevin Forde finished strong and was pleased with his race. Peter was clearly in good shape and was right up front from the start. I am sure he could have handled a faster pace but nobody was anxious to be the rabbit.
After the race, the winners were interviewed very briefly over the PA system, which was a nice touch. In the post race area to the side of the track, we had a perfect view of the Webb/Jennings battle on the track.
The times were relatively slow; it’s tough to have masters guys, most who have limited access to indoor facilities, in top 800m shape mid winter. Also, Sal, Anselm, John and Tony would have probably taken it out harder. A rabbit would have been another alternative, although I am not sure the field would have responded.
It was by consensus a very enjoyable experience and the turnout (9 male participants) is testament to how popular the program is.

Entrant Mark Alexander of Seattle, who may have traveled the farthest for the race, added:

We men could not really spectate the women’s race, given the way the staging area was set up. I did see the end of it on the big screen and it looked like a battle in the home stretch.
Unfortunately I don’t have much detail on the men’s race either; it is mostly a blur. We went out slowly (in 32?). I heard later that splits for the leaders were 62, 60. In the second half of the field, I was often having to run three abreast just to try and move up. There was a lot of jostling going near me, especially in the second half of the race, when I had to take a step inside the rail just to stay upright. I guess it was a fairly tactical race as these things go.
Although no male runner in the field bettered his own seed time, runner up Kevin Forde 2:02.75) came very close. . . . Mark Cleary (the masters event coordinator) was looking dapper in his suit and took group photos of (most of) the men and women afterwards. Presumably the men’s and women’s winners were interviewed on the medals stand afterwards, although I didn’t see/hear that myself. A friend watched the meet coverage on ESPN2 and said the masters races were not shown.

Here are photos Mark Cleary sent of the men’s and women’s fields (with a couple men missing):