2009 Mid-American Region Report

Jerry and Christel Donley, Coordinators

As coordinators for the National Mid America Region we are able to schedule two Region meets, one Indoor, and one Outdoor meet.

The Indoor meet was held on March 1st, 2009 at the AirForce = Academy in Colorado Springs. We have been able to secure that indoor meet sinc= e the early 1980's . The cooperation we receive from the Academy is excellent= - they also appriciate that we, Jerry and I, regu= larly officiate (no pay) their home and away meets.

It is a world class facility and athletes can enjoy a high class meet.
The cost for the facility is extremely high. We are re= quiered to hire an independent security service. That cost is almost as high as the rental cost. We always try to schedule our meet right after a college meet,= so we can" pickyback" of some already se= t up
markers, pits, etc.
This years's meet was well attended, about 150 athletes (incl. a few open athletes) enjoyed the electronic timing, certifi= ed officials
and great competition.
Competitiors came from the East and West coast,= as well from the Mid America Region.
We had one athlete tie the AR for the Highjump.= Some athletes were ever so close to records, but just CLOSE.

With help from our Mid America budget, we were able to break even.
For the first time we tried to compensate the officials that came a
very long distance (in icy ans snowy conditions= ..) wilth a $ 10.
gift card for gasoline. It was very much appriciated!

Again, we are always concerned if we can pay for all the expenses,but the Colorado Masters T&F Club is willi= ng to help out if needed. We have a very small, but dedicated membership.

The Indoor meet for 2010 is already scheduled for Feb 14, 2010
We will have some chocolate hearts to celebrate Valentines Day. 3D"Right-click

One more issue as far as the Military facility is concerned. They reserve t= he right to cancel any event in case of an emergency on very short notice.

The Outdood Mid- America Region was held in Minneapolis at Hamline U= niversity in conjunction with Minnesota= 's Open Championship on June 7th. We have made a great effort to have different Associations h= osting the meet, but only one other Association than Colorado has been willing to put on the meet, that is the Ozark Assoc.
Because the meet was held on June 7th, their only date, Jerry and myself had to be in California, we were told that everything was ready to go. The communication was difficu= lt and we tried to push for publishing the date way in advance... the meetdirector was also involved in other meets.
Here is the report from Tom Langenfeld (not the= meetdirector)
"We had bad luck to hold the meet during the worst weekend of weather = the Twin Cities has seen in early June in 58 yrs.
Rain, cold. Sprints and short hurdles were run into stiff wind.
Nevertheless 20 regional meet records were broken or established. We had 63 master competitors from 5 states, and 32 o= pen athletes from our states. A couple of athletes w= ho showed up, declined to compete for fear of injury, or maybe because of inju= ry during warm-ip.
The officiating was excellent.National meet qua= lity.

Other than Colorado and Ozark(Missouri Valley) there are no formally appointed Masters chairpersons, so it is very difficult to schedule meets, = that would meet the requirements.
There are Senior Olypic meets in our Region, we attended one in the St, Louis area with the= hope to maybe find some interest in hosting a Masters meet. They are just not equipped - official and
facility wise, to serve us. Yet, they truly were thankful for the help we g= ave them - officiating - and even training some helpers to officiate (and point= ing out the rule book...)

The last meet of the season was held in Fr. Collins/CO. on Aug 29/30, the Rocky Mountain Masters Games. Jim Weed and his faithful cr= ew have put on this meet for over 20 yrs. It is/was very well attended and as = last year, we included a clinic for throwing events, jumps and hurdles. It is the most attended event and we gained at least 15 athletes who had not competed in T&F since HS/college or never! they participated in the rest of the meet.
We used part of the monies avalable for the cli= nic and like last year it was well worth it.
Still to mention that when ever we need the facility for an extra hour, or = even the fieldhouse, there is an additional cost.
We have kept the entry fees for the 2 day meet low, so athletes can partici= pate in several events, and most of them have or chose to stay over night.
Again, Jim Weed - our 3rd Masters T&F Chairperson (late 1970 to beginning of 1980)- has done a magnificent job to organize the Indoor meet, as well as the RMM Games. All of us, including the members of the Colorado Masters T&F Club, are more than willing to make= the meets a success.

Respectfully and happily submitted.
Jerry and Christel Donley

Now, I am not responsible for typos, grammer, and spelling, as well as "interpunctuation"