Steve's point is excellent. Yes, join a club. To urge people to join/form USATF clubs there needs to be more incentives. We have a club nationals in track and in x-c and lots of road race championships. But only the x-c is well established and prestigious. People care about which club wins the x-c. The club track champs, only a few years old, is too new to comment upon. The road race champs move around and are often lost in last roadraces. I sent Greater Boston Track Club teams to four national champs roadraces this year, Albany women 5 km, New Haven men's and women's 20 km, Men's 5 km in Providence, and Tufts women's 10 km in Boston. Albany did the best job celebrating the team competition. We won prize money that psyched the team and paid for the trip. The race management were gracious to us. At New Haven the race director was as welcoming as possible but no one ever figured a national team score. I still don't know how GBTC men and women placed officially against other teams. At Tufts our team won some money but mostly by default since not many teams contested the title. In no case did the race management and publicity "sell" the drama of team competition. On the regional level in New England the team competition is fierce and tracked by the running community here more than national competitions are tracked by the national community. The New England office does a good job promoting team competition and a much better job than the national USATF office does in promoting national competition. We have acted locally in New England but now it is time for the national office to match us in promoting team competition. Right now I can "sell" the idea of club nationals in Track and Cross-country, but as you can see from the list above we only go to national road races that we can drive to. Perhaps there are too many. Which one do you pick? Tom Derderian, Greater Boston Track Club, preparing for the USATF New England x-c Championships on Nov 9th at Franklin Park in Boston
----- Original Message ----- From: "Steve Vaitones" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Thursday, October 30, 2003 3:44 PM Subject: Fwd: Re: t-and-f: Hope Still Exists - join the club > Team competition can bring out the best in individuals > Why, then, doesn't this get taken to its logical next step, which would be > having these random individuals formalize things and become a viable > running/T&F club? > The diversity of the runners presented in Tony's post is refreshing, and > any club can be a mix of the good, the bad, and the ugly. That mix of > abilities can keep things fresh as well as inspire by keeping clubs for the > 'every man' vs being an elite refuge. > > Correct me if I'm assuming that there isn't active club competition in MT > and this just supplements it in a unique format. If there is in fact no > club action, then is it just the novelty of competing for a city that makes > it for these runners? Or the fact that a once a year event is not really > making a commitment ? > > Don't get me wrong- The idea is great and we've done it up similarly here > in the Northeast at times with a regional TF meet, a New England vs Quebec > meet, and a "(greater) NY vs (greater) Boston" Indoor TF meet that went 10 > years. Montana could expand to a "Big Sky" type of meet by states - MT / > ID / UT, etc. > > But it would it help the bigger picture to have the team competition carry > forward year round, which addresses the lack of a club system that is > always bemoaned? Classic case of think globally and act locally! > > Steve > > >From: "Geoff Pietsch" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > >To: [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED] > >Subject: Re: t-and-f: Hope Still Exists > >Date: Thu, 30 Oct 2003 14:32:51 -0500 > > > > I LOVE this idea Tony has passed along (below): the Montana Cup. I > > hope he posts it on Letsrun and T&FN and any/all other sites. What a > > great way to boost Cross Country around the country. Only the > > super-elite can aspire to run for the U.S.A., but lots and lots of folks > > can hope to run for... Hoboken or Reno or Shreveport. And even those who > > don't make the scoring five or top 7 for their city can still > > race. Fantastic! Let's start a movement. Hmmm, maybe one of the shoe > > companies, looking for an edge, could pick this up and sponsor it. Very > > low cost but potentially great publicity. > > Geoff > > > > > >>From: "Tony Banovich" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > >>Subject: t-and-f: Hope Still Exists > >>Date: Wed, 29 Oct 2003 17:32:51 -0700 > >> > >>After all the doom and gloom of Modafinil, THG, etc., I thought I would > >>share my weekend experience with you all to let you know that, on at least > >>some level, all is right with our sport. > >> > >>12 years ago, a Montana runner by the name of Ray Hunt founded a cross > >>country meet called the Montana Cup. It is an open race that is based on a > >>city versus city format. That is, the 7 major cities of Montana (of course > >>using the words major, cities and Montana in the same sentence is a bit of a > >>stretch) field teams. You run for the team of the city nearest to where you > >>live (i.e. a runner from Belgrade runs for the Bozeman team). You can have > >>an unlimited number of runners on your team, but only the top 5 score, with > >>6 and 7 displacing other teams scoring runners. Much like regular high > >>school XC. Speaking of high school XC, the meet is always held the weekend > >>after the state meet so that the high school runners can participate and not > >>run afoul of state association issues. > >> > >>At any rate, the meet rotates from city to city each year, and Billings had > >>the pleasure of hosting the meet this year. And here is what we had. > >> > >>A total of 66 runners (44 men, 22 women). 5 full men's team, 3 full women's > >>teams. > >>Runners from the ages of 14 to 62. > >>3 Olympic Trials Marathon Qualifiers > >>The 2002 Big Sky Conference XC Champion > >>2 members of the Montana State XC team that placed 11th in the 2002 NCAA's > >>Several All-State Prep athletes > >>Athletes who drove up to 420 miles to compete in a 6,600 meter race > >>Brothers and sisters > >>Mothers and daughters > >>Fathers and sons > >>For some, this was their second race of the day > >> > >>All of this for some individual trophies and the traveling Montana Cup for > >>the winning teams. > >> > >>These were athletes who were out for the love of the sport. Some were > >>recreational runners. Some were national caliber athletes. All were out to > >>enjoy a race and experience some competition. > >> > >>Yes, we all get jaded by the drug scandals, rabbited WR efforts, shortened > >>crossbar pegs, whether or not walks should stay in the sport, and all the > >>other hoopla at the top end of the sport. > >> > >>But, when it comes right down to it, there are a heck of a lot of us out > >>there who just like to go out and run. Nothing more, nothing less. Just > >>line us up, shoot the gun, and see who comes in first. We're not worried if > >>so and so is clean or dirty. We don't care who they're coached by. We > >>aren't worried about whether or not we should be at this race or that one > >>because it might affect my T&FN rankings/at-large berth/shoe contract/agent > >>take/etc.. We're just here to try to see old friends and make some new > >>ones, run each other into the ground, then all have a beer and some pizza > >>afterwards. > >> > >>So yes, we have the ugly, dark and seemly side of the sport. But, when it > >>really comes down to it. There are still those who are involved in the > >>sport for nothing more than the pure joy of seeing who can run the fastest > >>from point A to point B. And I was blessed with the ability to see that > >>side of the sport this weekend. > >> > >>Tony Banovich > >>Billings, Montana > >> > >> > >> > > > >_________________________________________________________________ > >See when your friends are online with MSN Messenger 6.0. Download it now > >FREE! http://msnmessenger-download.com > > Steve Vaitones > Managing Director > USA Track & Field - New England Association > P.O.Box 1905 > Brookline MA 02446-0016 > Phone: 617 566 7600 > Fax: 617 734 6322 > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > www.usatfne.org > >
