Southeastern
Masters Championships at NCSU in Raleigh, NC, fell on June 19th and
20th this year. Right in the
midst of an incredible hot spell. There
is temperature and then there is “heat index”.
The temperature got to 96 (98 according to a pal) and the heat index …
103! Standing around had to be hell for
the officials out in the field. The
athletes had some respite beneath their tent (if they had one) or in small
shaded areas alongside the track. Two
misting tents were available, providing a very light mist which, if one walked
beneath it several times, helped.
I went to
the event on Friday to watch some of the pentathlon and for the throws clinic
(hoping to hear how to throw the javelin.)
I met Joyce Hodges-Hite (79) who was there to do the 10,000m and maybe
break the meet record she previously set.
A few Piedmont Pacer teammates were there, to do the 3000m, 5000m, and
10,000m races. They can have them! Ugh.
Mary
Szymkowski, Pacer, did the 3000m, with one knee wrapped after encounter with
her exuberant young dog the day before. Terry
Ozell, Atlanta Track Club, ran with Mary since this was a mixed age-group heat.
Mary and Terry ran most of the race together until the end with Mary crossing
the Finish in 13.44.01 and Terry in 14:04.03.
(Also running this event, along with Mary, was another former NU Wildcat:
Cynthia Lucking - the NU howls must have been drowned out by the wolfs roaming
the NCSU grounds.)
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| 3000m women's lineup |
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| Terry Ozell & Mary Szymkowski |
I spent some
time in the hottest part of the day practicing block starts. I read my cheat sheet (and as it turned out –
mis-read it!) indicating that my right foot would be the “quick” foot and
therefore in the back block, and my left foot the power foot and forward. That was okay with me since it’s my right
knee that does not like to bend acutely.
So, there I am, in the blazing sun, trying to pop out of the blocks
after awkwardly folding myself into position. I can get out of them but can’t
tell if this is any better than switching back to what I had previously been
practicing (right foot forward). I did
try one with right foot forward. Cr-e-a-k,
the knee gets into position but I have to raise butt to ease angle of
bend. No better than left foot
forward. And is either any better (or
slower!) than my three point stance? I
packed up the blocks and went back to watching the running events.
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| blocks on a soggy April field |
Anne Sluder
ran the 800m of the pentathlon all alone.
Not a soul to chase or keep ahead of.
Nonetheless, she ran it fast enough to have it mentioned that she set a
record – what kind of record? Don’t
know. (I have not been able to verify or
correlate the time with records). She ran
2:36, and that is fast, regardless!
I did not
get to watch the 10,000m as the throws clinic was moved to the same start
time. As it turned out, the clinic was
populated by discus and weight throwers and so the focus was on that
discipline. Meanwhile, Dixon Cook
(Pacer) and Mary Hodges-Hite trotted their 10,000m in the oppressive heat. The race was over before the clinic ended. Cook
ran it in 47:02.15 and Hodges-Hite in 1:41:02.46 (not eclipsing her meet record
of last year.)
I spent the
night worrying and doing more research about the blocks. One expert said to cross your arms and the
hand that goes underneath is the quick side.
Hmmpf, that’s the left for me.
Another said, well, it is the foot you would kick a ball with. Yeah?
That’s the right side. Tick tock, the
night moves on and no decisive answer. I gave up.
Saturday,
the 20th was even hotter than the day before. My first event was at 11 a.m. I got there early and watched some high
jumping. I don’t know how the jumpers
get that lift. Especially those of us
who are in the older brackets. An
official took some of the early arrivals out on the field so we could practice
throwing. That was great for me since
this was my first attempt at javelin.
Angela Staab had let me try her golden 500g javelin at the May Powerade State
games. Most of the throws ended up
skidding across the grass where I was practicing. She told me that as long as
the point hit the ground first, it was probably a valid throw. (I’d been thinking that unless the javelin
stuck upright in the ground as one sees during Olympic events, it was no good.)
The javelin throws event was to begin at 11 but was delayed while many of the
women were still doing other field events. Shot put? Many athletes stood in the
shade near the back end of the check in building or alongside the railing in a
thin strip of shade. By the time the
event started, I had already consumed a bottle of water. Imagine the officials! Some wore wide brimmed straw-type hats,
others caps, and some nothing!
During the
wait time, the 1500m event was contested.
Mary Szymkowski (52) ran this, knee still wrapped but better, as did
Terry Ozell (61), and now 80-years-old Martha Klopfer. I managed to take some photos of these
sweltering distance folk while waiting. Mary
and Terry stuck close to each other until the end when Terry pushed ahead in
the last 100m.
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| Terry Ozell |
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| Mary Szymkowski |
Terry crossed in 6:34.37, Mary in 6:43.51. Martha finished in 9:42.28.
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| Martha Klopfer |
Omar Wiggan (36),
local runner, ran the same event in
4:33.26 and three Piedmont Pacer men – all in the 65-69 AG - competed: Dixon
Cook, 5:47.23; Russell Smith 5:48.21; and Jay Smith 6:17.67.
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| Timothy Higgins and a Pacer Russell and Jay Snith |
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| Dixon Cook |
Women went
first in Javelin. We all had six
attempts. Several of the women not only
showed good form, starting way back and gliding forward, but threw some arcing
throws that landed point first, sticking up!
Not me. I varied my throws from
mid-way back, to short, to stutter-shuffle step. Of my six throws, one was a skidder, not
counting, and the other five landed point first but none stayed upright. Needs work.
Ann Carter had the best throw of the three of us in my age group: 11.33m. The longest throw for women was by Nicole
Kelly (34) with a distance of 35.13m.
For men it was Edward Hearn (65) with a throw of 43.8m.
I had been
worried about running out of warm up time for the 1 p.m. 100m. I had a good half hour to warm up before my
race. I had used some of my wait time
during the javelin event to start some warm up routines, but did not really
feel that I had done enough or was ready to go all out and not look
turtle-like. Only six women were there
for the 100m, so age groups were mixed. We ranged from 55-59 AG to the 70-74
group. I think I ended up in lane 4 (or
was it 5?) Becky Simers (55-59) was somewhere to my left and Ann Carter was on
my other side. I had decided to go with right foot back. Waiting for the gun, I tried to recall what I
should be doing. I did at least one of
them! Bang – off we went. The folks to my left flew out in front of
me. I ran as fast as I could down the
straight away. (Don’t we all say that?)
It felt good, but not super. Becky Simers (SC Striders) ran 14.74. I managed to get back in the stands to watch Eric
Johnson (47) run his 100m heat and win (11.89).
Oscar Peyton
(62) ran the 100m in 11.99 and 70-year-old Ty Brown ran it in 13.09. Aren’t these guys something!
Next up was
the 400m. I was not looking forward to
it. Instead of running two age groups
together (with 2 competitors in each) they ran just two of us, Angela Staab and me. I was in lane 4 again, I think and Angela was
two over from me. I ran out fast and
then eased up a little so I could breathe as I went down the back stretch. I tried to focus on footstep rather than the
dwindling energy. By the time I got to
the final turn, I was feeling stressed.
Just get to the finish is all I could think – that and keep moving the legs;
ignore the screaming mind and pump those arms.
It wasn’t pretty but I got there without walking. But I was feeling it. I felt dizzy and after catching breath went
right to the mister and then the water.
I walked a little and then decided what would work is cold water on the
head so I went over to the infield side (after the next 400m heat came through
with Becky Simers and Leandra Funk pushing each other. Leandra 1:13.43; Becky 1:13.45.) The water cooler was near the weight throwing
pit. One official stood outside of the
ring, close to track edge and he glanced over as I walked by. I took a look at the throw area. Another official was sitting in a chair a
little to the outside of the ring-pit.
The big guys were up, swinging that weight around and around. Anyone who officiates that event deserves
extra pay. If the weighted ball slips
out of a competitor’s hand, an official has no time to clear away. Certainly not the guy sitting in the
chair. And this being a Master’s event,
anything is possible! Damn scary. I got my cold water and poured it over my
head. It helped. Later, I did that a few
more times. Leandra Funk, here from
Indiana, asked if NC was always this hot at this time of year. Yep, it happens. She was going on to St. Paul to compete in
the National Senior Games (as were others at this Meet.) A notable men's run was that of Leon Bullard (41) who completed the 400m in 51:45.
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| Leon Bullard |
I watched Cynthia
Lucking run the 2000m steeplechase. She
needed to ice one leg after the event.
Some of the younger men just hopped over the hurdles and the water
barrier (which, earlier in the day, I swore I saw Anne Sluder walking through to
cool off!)
The 200m was
next up for me and I went without blocks.
I was in lane 1 – a first for me.
Becky Simers was in lane 4 maybe and she was using the blocks. Ann Carter did not run this one. With all the field events she had done, in
the heat, she chose the wiser course of cooling off. I ran what seemed to be a good race but based
on my times (yes, I did come in last of the group), I need improvement here,
too. Now I could watch the 40-somethings
and the men run this fast sprint. The
mixed age group that included Oscar Peyton (62) ran a tight race. From my vantage point on the other side of
the field, I thought Oscar had taken it but 55-year-old Don McGee took it 24:02
to 24:14. To put this fast time in
better perspective, 19-year-old Marlon Allen ran it in 23 flat. One second
difference; yet a 35 and more year age
differential!
Mary
Syzmkowski ran the 800, as did many of the Piedmont Pacer men. I was thrilled to see that Erika Charles (26)
was here to compete in the 800m. As she did at the Powerade State Games, she
blasted off, finishing this tortuous race in 2:11.95. The last group to go off
got hit with a beginning rainfall that turned into a downpour just after they
finished. Everything I had in the stands
got soaked (I was on the infield queuing up to do a relay, which got delayed.)
The last
events were the relays. It seemed only
the Piedmont Pacers fielded teams, so in the 4x100, it was three men Pacers vs
the women Pacers (Hollis Oberlies, Shawn Greer, Lori Stresemann, and the crone). Our lead off Pacer was
fast and got a great lead on the men. By
the time the baton got to me, the oldest anchor, I had an unbreakable lead to
the Finish. I wimped out of the 4x400 so the rest of the women who had just run as well as Mary Szymkowski ran it and then
the 4x800 which followed.
I’m watching
USATF.TV’s USATF Outdoor Championships from Eugene Oregon as I write this. (watch and learn, crone!) 91 degrees and they
are saying after the athletes ran the 800m that they want to get out of the sun
and into the cool. A little windy. (Several of the sprints with fast times were
not “legal” in sense of records because the wind kept going over 2 meters per
second, up to 4.5m/s at one point.) And
they expect temps up to 100 during the weekend.
Welcome to our world!
Becky Simers
was awarded the Southeastern Masters Phil Raschker plaque for best female
combined age graded 100m and 200m as well as the Timothy Dickens award for best
age graded 400m. The women's team award went to Atlanta Track Club
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| ATC Women, including Terry Ozell, accepting award |
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| Piedmont Pacer men (Jay Smith, Kevin Gobble) accepting award |
and the men's to Piedmont Pacers. The highly anticipated
award by those who regularly attend these award dinners was the Ed Barron award
for the person contributing the most to the sport. A most deserving person, acknowledged by all,
was event announcer Peter Taylor.
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| Peter Taylor accepting Ed Barron awatd |
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| Peter demonstrating his virtual unlock of memory bank |
I
don’t know all the stats but he has announced at 32 Nationals, one
international, the Penn Relays, and others.
All I know is that this man has a phenomenal memory. He says all he has
to do is associate the athlete with a place and the data comes pouring
forth. Yes, it does! When one thinks of how many events he has
announced, it is incredible how he keeps it all straight. Not only that, he knows faces! He has set the bar very high for all
announcers. Announcing is a harder task
than running a race.
