January, 2006
January, 2006
Friends & Fellow Sprinters:
I have wanted to get the January Newsletter out but have held off while waiting for word on our Mass Velocity Track
Club submission to compete in a special Masters 4x400 relay at the Millrose Games in Madison Square Garden on Friday,
February 3rd. We actually learned about the opportunity from our friend Mary Harada of the Liberty AC. It turns
out that it's part the 2006 USATF Masters Invitational Program
(more on that in a minute). The Millrose invite was for any 40+ 4x400m relay team. They would invite the top
6 teams to compete based on verifiable relay times run anytime in 2005, up to the entry deadline date of Jan 9,
2006.
Mass Velocity submitted its application with the best relay time (of only two we had run - Penn Relays and the
better time of 4:02.78) from the recent Harvard Invitational. In addition, having actively recruited our club's
best 400m runners, of those who were willing and able to go to NYC on a Friday night, I submitted a relay time
based on their best 400m individual times - a 3:49.31.
I got tired of waiting so I called Jim Reilly, the coordinator of the Millrose Masters invitational relay to find
out where we stood. This information is from a phone conversation from Thursday night and is unofficial and not
finalized. He told me there were 8 teams that submitted entries. The best time of 3:31 belonged to a Texas team
(Southwest, I think). Based on our 4:02, we were in 8th place. The 6th team's time was a 3:51 but it was an actual
relay time. Jim said he passed our "unofficial" relay time of 3:49.31 to the Millrose meet director
who will be making the final decision. It's also possible that the longer they delay their decision, the less
likely it is that the Texas team will accept the invitation. Bottom line - Tucker Taft, Carroll Blake, Charlie
Kelley and Roger Pierce should still keep that date open because we might get an invite after all.
Next up in the 2006 USATF Masters Invitational Program is an age-graded
200m event to be held in Boston
at the USA Indoor Track & Field Championships. Read all the information HERE,
but in general USATF will take applications that meet the time standard in each 10-year age group. Based on the
athletes who respond, USATF will age-grade the field for each 10-year age group and see which 10-year age group
has the most competitive field. At least 8 entries per age group must be received for a specific age group to be
considered. The field size will be 6, and 2 alternates will be designated. Application
deadline is Feb 2nd, so please, let's get those applications
in! (One reason I didn't want to delay this newsletter).
MEMBERSHIP UPDATE
If you've had the opportunity to look at the Who We Are page
on the Mass Velocity site, you will have noticed that we have nearly 30 actual, official MVTC members. This is
absolutely unbelievable! If we have your name but no photo, please send me a photo - preferably a digital shot
attached to an e-mail. If we don't yet have your mini-bio (and this goes for anyone, MVTC member or not), please
take a moment
jump on over and fill it out.
It's still early in the indoor season yet our Mass Velocity crew had
some great performances at the Dartmouth Relays. In particular I'd like to shine the spotlight on two ladies,
Laura Barre (W35) and Gail Johns-Rees (W50) who had some great times in the 55m and 200m. Likewise our two Maine
men, Dick Camp (M65) and John Polevy (M70) were outstanding in the short sprints as well. If Bill Wright (M70)
is reading this - "with times like those, why haven't you joined us at Mass Velocity yet?"
The M50 200m and 400m was all Mass Velocity with Charlie Kelley, Tucker Taft and Roy Currie and we were well represented
in other races and age divisions by Lee Hess, Roger Pierce, Carroll Blake and Tom Cunningham. Rich Clark &
Jon Tetherly from my neck of the woods and Ken Skinner from Albany, NY. competed in the longer distances. (Guys,
I think we call 800s and above "long sprints" and you're welcome to join Mass Velocity). Finally, Warren
Graff represented us in the hurdles and writes "I only ran the 60M hurdles, and managed to run a decent race
and did not fall down!"
For a great perspective on the Dartmouth Relays, please follow this link to Charlie Kelley's Dartmouth Relay chronicles. Like Charlie, if you would like to share your experiences, thoughts, photos
or anything else with the rest of us, just send it to me and I'll put it on the MVTC web site. Speaking of which
....
Mass Velocity Web Site
In less than a year Mass Velocity has grown from the the simple concept of using a web site to help foster a community
of Master sprinters, to a full-fledged, USATF-sanctioned track club with actual dues-paying members. In many ways,
the web site is our meeting place because our membership stretches from Maine to Connecticut and we have nowhere
else to call home.
A year ago the Mass Velocity web site had 17 unique visitors. This past December we had 297 unique visitors who
looked at a total of 2,650 pages. Our visitors came primarily from the United States (85%), but we also had visitors
from the European Union, Australia, Iceland, Singapore, Germany, Great Britain, Canada, Japan, China, Thailand,
Norway, Russia, Pakistan, Turkey, Spain, Taiwan, India, Hungary and South Africa!
Over 63% of our web site visitors spent less than a minute visiting but over 17% spent up to 5 minutes. Nearly
10% spent upwards of 15 minutes visiting while the remaining 9.5% stayed on anywhere from 20 minutes to an hour.
Of those who found MassVelocity.org
using a Search Engine, most used Google. Other Search Engines used included MSN, Yahoo, Netscape, and AOL Search.
The vast majority of visitors came directly by typing in our address in their browser or via a link from another
web site which included MastersTrack.com, USATFNE.org, MVStriders.com,
CentralMassStriders, CapeCodAthleticClub.org, and via e-mail links. Over 50% of Search Engine searches were by
people looking specifically for Mass Velocity Track Club.
Personal Reflections
I thought I'd take the opportunity of a New Year to reflect on Masters track, Mass Velocity and myself - since
all three are linked. In looking over the Mini-Bios that most of you have been kind enough to submit, it's clear
that the vast majority of us enjoyed our track experiences in high school. Of course that means that we were running
on cinder tracks, with half-inch, often non-replaceable spikes, and doing deep knee-bends and jumping jacks for
warm-ups.
In Brooklyn, NY where I went to high school, there was only one place to get running shoes, and the only brand
they sold was Adidas. All the guys on the team (there was no such thing as girls track) would go as a group to
Manhattan, to a warehouse on the second-floor in a real seedy section of The Bowery. In this musty old room filled
floor-to-ceiling with shoe boxes, you could try on your spikes, sitting on old wooden chairs under some Adidas
posters. Each poster identified the Olympic game and event, like Melbourne, 1956 - 100 Final, showing the start
or finish of a race, where only the legs and shoes were visible. Every competitor had on Adidas as identified
by the three stripes on their shoes, frozen for that split-second in time.
I still wear Adidas but I don't run quite like I did in high school. Now my goals are different - make it to the
starting line and then make it to the finish line. If I can do that without injury then everything else is gravy.
In the Mini-Bio I asked about injuries, because I wanted to assure myself that I wasn't the only one who suffered
from the vast assortment I've collected over the few years since I started this insanity.
Every time I see a doctor (general practitioner, orthopedist, sports injury specialist, etc.) they all wonder what
I, or any baby-boomer or beyond, would be doing competing in sprints. It's clear to me that the last time they
ran flat-out as fast as they could go, they were probably about 10 years old. They have no idea what it feels
like to run at top speed. They don't - and just about anyone over 25 doesn't either.
I'm convinced we need to find more 40+ year olds who'd like to sprint again. Imagine how many people were on your
high school or college teams - and now you're the ONLY ONE who is still sprinting?! What happened to them? I'm
also convinced we need to find more average Master sprinters - to give me a chance to actually beat somebody.
I thought it was bad enough having Roger Pierce in my heats, until I recently ended up in a heat of primarily young
women who kicked my butt. Even though I crossed the finish line last, who was cheering ME on? Roger Pierce! I guess I'll keep on sprinting, no matter how fast - or
slow I go.
One last reminder - next up is the GBTC Invitational. Entry deadline
is Jan. 17th. See you all there.
- Larry