November 2005

Friends and Fellow Sprinters:

Mass Velocity and the Merrimack Valley Striders have finally reached a cooperative agreement that should meet the needs of almost everyone in both groups. The full text is below, but to summarize, since a competitor can only be registered with USATF as competing for a single club, all of the Master sprinters belonging to MVS will likely officially join Mass Velocity but still retain their club membership in MVS so they can continue to support the organization and make use of their coached practices.

Any Mass Velocity member can also join MVS in order to take advantage of their coached practices. Since it's unlikely that any sprinter would consider competing in a road race or marathon, officially switching their affiliation from a primarily distance club (MVS) to a sprint club (MVTC) should have no impact on the distance club's ability to score points at road races and marathons. Here's the Cooperative Agreement:

Cooperative Agreement Between Merrimack Valley Striders and Mass Velocity Track Club Whereas Mass Velocity Track Club and the Merrimack Valley Striders are both USATF certified track clubs and because USATF allows a person to be an official member of a single club, the following arrangement will allow a person to benefit from both track clubs. Because Mass Velocity is a club primarily for sprinters and primarily for Masters and Sub-Masters, those persons wishing to compete in USATF-sanctioned track & field meets in sprinting and/or field events, will become dues-paying members of Mass Velocity and will declare themselves members of Mass Velocity (club # 02-0273) on their USATF membership application or membership renewal. At all USATF-sanctioned track meets, Mass Velocity members will declare themselves as competing for Mass Velocity and shall wear a Mass Velocity singlet or speedsuit (which must be purchased at a cost that is not included with Mass Velocity annual dues). Because Merrimack Valley Striders (MVS) is a club primarily for distance runners, those persons wishing to compete in USATF-sanctioned track meets in middle-distance or distance events, or road races, marathons or triathlons, will become dues-paying members of MVS and will declare themselves members of MVS on their USATF membership application or membership renewal. At all USATF-sanctioned meets, MVS members will declare themselves as competing for MVS and shall wear a MVS singlet or speedsuit. Regardless of which club a person has declared themselves a member of on their USATF membership, nothing shall prevent a person from paying dues and becoming a member of any other club that doesn't require exclusive membership. Neither MVS nor Mass Velocity demand exclusive membership. In the case of a Mass Velocity-declared member who wishes to be a member of MVS, their MVS membership would entitle them to such benefits as participating in coached practices during both the indoor and outdoor season - at the standard additional practice fee. A member of MVS who has declared themselves as competing for Mass Velocity, would be able to score points for Mass Velocity and would be eligible to compete on Mass Velocity relays. - Lou Ronsivalli, President of Merrimack Valley Striders - Larry Libow, President of Mass Velocity Track Club

We acknowledge that among middle-distance runners there might be those who compete in quarter and half-mile track events who also compete on the road race circuit. For these folks it's likely they'll choose to remain with or switch to MVS. But for those of us who see anything over a 400 as long distance, this arrangement would make Mass Velocity the premiere track club for all Master sprinters in New England, allowing MVS Master sprinters to run as Mass Velocity competitors and allowing Mass Velocity sprinters to practice with MVS if they so choose. It's a win-win situation that perhaps other running club Masters might seek to have their club do as well.

USATF annual membership renewals will be coming up very soon. Please make sure to assign the Mass Velocity club number - 273 as your club number on the USATF membership application.

Mass Velocity Team Uniform

Having looked over the USATF rules, I found nothing that states that members of a declared club must wear a team uniform at USATF regional, national or club championships. However I think we'd all agree that if we're members of a team, we might as well have a team uniform. The matter of a team uniform raises a few other questions, such as:
- Is it time to get a better team logo? Do we even actually have a logo (hint: I keep changing it)?
- Should be stick with Red & White? (I recently added yellow in as well)
- Should we offer singlets and speedsuits?
- How do we go about ordering so that we meet minimum order amounts and get sizes that fit everyone?
- If we place a large order, how do we accommodate those that come on-board afterwards?

In regards to what goes on the uniform - it can simply be the name of the team but it could also contain a cool graphic. I'm no graphic artist. I'm just bad enough to be semi-competent, so here are a few ideas I've been playing with and what they might look like on a speedsuit (all red or some red/white combo):

I've created a ballot (today is Election Day!) to get some feedback. Mass Velocity member or not, if you wouldn't mind, go to http://www.massvelocity.org/uniform.html and make your vote count. Results will be posted on the web site and after conferring with the Executive Committee, we'll be placing orders soon.

Meet Schedule

The Indoor Season meet schedule is beginning to take shape. USATF-NE has just posted their schedule and I see that this year there will be NO New England Masters Indoor Championships at Brown. I suspected that might be the case from all the grumbling I heard at the meet last year - about how the number of competitors were dropping. Should we insist that the NE chapter add a full slate of Master events to the USATF NE Championships on Feb. 19th? Right now they state "Full schedule of events including some masters events." Last year they had MIXED Masters events in the 60, 200, 800 and Long Jump, where we all competed in one combined age group. Considering there will be NO Masters Championships at Brown, I'd like to advocate for true Masters events in the 60, 200, and 400 plus LJ & TJ.

BU has a series of Mini-Meets starting in December (17th, 24th and 31st). The Harvard Invitational is set for Dec 10th but I've yet to locate any entry form online. If anyone knows if and where it's located please let us know.

In Connecticut, at Wesleyan University, they have a series of Youth-Masters Developmental meets, starting in December (6th, 8th, 13th).

There are lots of other meets listed on the USATF-NE Indoor Track Page.

The Mass Velocity Web Site has had a face lift recently in an attempt to make it easier to navigate and easier to maintain as it gets larger.

Of the 37 People who's photos grace the About Us section, only 12 have mini-bios. Come on folks, inquiring minds want to know more about you. Head on over to http://www.massvelocity.org/minibio.html and fill it out.

Speed and Age - Interesting article say "The bad news is that speed declines with age; the good news is that you can arrest, even reverse, this degenerative process."
Check it out at http://www.pponline.co.uk/encyc/speed-age.html

Ready to join Mass Velocity? The direct link is http://www.massvelocity.org/mvmembership.htm