Monty Hacker of South Africa, the acting president of World Masters Athletics, walked a fine line when he finally responded to my questions about the 2009 World Masters Games. I wrote about this issue a few weeks back. Would the track meet at the Sydney WMG observe all official track rules?  Some folks worry they won’t. And the Australian Masters Athletics people politely declined to answer my queries. But Monty — trying to navigate the rocky shoals between WMA president rivals Stan Perkins and Rex Harvey — appears to be siding with Stan, an Aussie.  Monty also offers up some big news — that Rex has been nominated for a seat on the board of the International Masters Games Association, a paying gig that appears at odds with WMA’s own bylaws. Whatever.

Here’s what Monty wrote me yesterday:

When I received your e-mail I was
unsure of the status of the athletics component of World Masters Games,
Sydney, 2009, because the very much earlier reports which I had received
from Stan Perkins . . . suggested that there were
problems. I therefore refrained from responding to you until such time
as I had received clarification and an update on what I understood to
be the position. I, in fact turned to Rex Harvey and Stan Perkins for
this clarification. Rex apparently communicated to you my prima facie
view, at a time when I had informed him I would be obtaining
clarification from Stan. With due respect to Rex, he was premature in
conveying my prima facie view to you prior to me receiving and advising
him of Stan’s clarification.

Having at last received Stan’s clarification I am now in a position to
provide you with the full and complete answer to your query, as follows:

1. 
It is perfectly correct that the 2009 World Masters Games to be held in
Sydney, Australia has been sanctioned by the WMA Council;

2. 
The Sanctioning of World Masters Games by WMA and its predecessor WAVA
has been provided continuously since 1992 when a sanction was provided
for the 1994 World Masters Games that were held in Brisbane Australia.
Furthermore, it has been normal practice for the local WMA Affiliate to
be involved with the competition but this has been dependent upon the
circumstances in the host country;

3.  The athletics component
for this event at the Sydney Games later this year is being organised
by New South Wales Athletics, the open athletics organisation in the
host State within Australia. That organisation has little experience in
the organisation and presentation of Masters Athletics competitions and
Stan understands that there were considerable difficulties in
determining the needs and requirements that Masters Athletics
competition has in comparison to IAAF competitions;

4.  Efforts
to have the Australian Masters Athletics body directly involved in the
organisation of the Games were not successful, however there has been
ongoing co-operation between the two organisations;

5.  The key
officials appointed to run this competition are very experienced with
most having been involved in the Sydney Olympic Games and other major
international competitions. The appointed Competition Director
regularly works in the management of Masters Athletics competitions,
particularly in Queensland, and she has an excellent knowledge of what
WMA’s requirements are. There will also be experienced Masters
competition officials working on the event and the organisers expect
that the competition will be conducted in strict accordance to the
WMA/IAAF Rules;

5.  World Masters Games provides each of the
participating sports the right to appoint a technical delegate to
ensure that the competition is conducted in accordance with the rules
of the sport. At the time when WMA’s sanction of the event was given
some time ago, Mr. Rex Harvey was appointed to this position for the
Sydney Games later this year and Stan is unaware of Rex having
delegated these duties to anyone else.

I do hope that the above
clarifies the position concerning the current status of the forthcoming
World Masters Games in Sydney. Incidentally, Rex has been nominated by
the IAAF for election to a vacant seat on the Board of Governors of
International Masters Games Association (“IMGA”), at the IMGA AGM being
held in Denver USA, next month.

Kind regards,
Monty Hacker