Masters Annual Reports - East Region, 2005

Track & Field Meets

INDOOR

Dartmouth Relays, New Hanover, NH

Philadelphia Masters, Swarthmore College, PA (2)

Philadelphia Masters, Albright College, PA (3)

PVTC/DCRRC, Jefferson Community Center, Arlington, VA

MAC Winter Opener, Armory, NYC, NY

Prince Georges Sports &Learning Complex, Landover, MD (3)

Hartshorne Memorial Masters Mile, Cornell Univ., Ithaca, NY

Greater Boston TC Invitational, Harvard, Univ., MA

University of Delaware, Newark, DE

MAC Masters/Open, Armory, NYC, NY

Philadelphia Masters, Albright College, Reading, PA (2 meets)

Mid-Atlantic USATF Open Championship,Ursinus College, PA

MAC Masters Championships, Armory, NYC, NY

Syracuse U. Throws, Manley Fieldhouse, NY

2006 National Indoor Masters Championships, Boston, MA

2007 National Indoor Masters Championships, Armory, NYC, NY

OUTDOORS

Penn Relays, University of PA; 4x100 and 4x400 Relays

Golden Olympics, Washington, DC

Throw-a-thon (fifth annual), Albright College, Reading, PA

Ultra WP and SW, Gilbertsville,PA

Philadelphia Masters Meets ( 5 ) , Plymouth, PA

GSAC/Randolph (20th) Classic, Randolph, NJ

USATF Three Rivers Championships, Slippery Rock, PA

East Regional Masters Championships, Denver, PA

USATF Mid-Atlantic Open & Masters Championships,

Plymouth Meeting, PA

Potomac Valley Meets, McLean, VA

Masters Pentathlon, Pomona, NJ

USATF NJ Masters Championships, Tinton Falls, NJ

New England Masters Championships, Springfield, MA

University of Delaware Throwing Classic, Newark, DE

The East Region has offered many track & field meets during the indoor and outdoor season in 2005. The site for the outdoor championship was changed after four years in New England. Hopefully, we can rotate the site for our regional championship to different sites in the future.

The participation in masters meets has increased in the East. Many of the clubs are offering events for ages 19-30 which introduces the concept that track and field is a lifetime sport. The additional participation assists in the funding of better and more officials and also obtaining better facilities.

The one concern we have is the availability of affordable sites. We encounter high rental fees-sometimes $2000 a day for an indoor facility. The cost for using U.P. facility is $3500 per day plus other incidental costs-lav facilities, security, officials, etc. We have been successful in having fund raisers for the institutions hosting the meet that permits obtaining better facilities.

We will have an indoor site for an indoor championship in 2006 after many years of not able to schedule the championship. An attempt is being made to have better communication with the clubs and associations in the East. The improved communication avoids conflicts of dates for club and association championships. We avoided most conflicts in 2005 and hope to continue to work together to offer meets in 2006 that dont fall on the same dates of other scheduled meets-it isnt fair to make athletes choose which meet to attend that is scheduled on the same day.

NOTE: I attended a meet in Delaware in late September and met two throwers who heard about the throwing classic and showed up to compete-both in their 40s. They were amazed to learn about the masters program. I really feel the Masters program is one of the best kept secrets in the sports world. I strongly suggest we ask master athletes to request to be the speaker at a local Lions Club, Rotary Club, Kiwanis, Doe, Masons, Womens Auxiliary, Men and Women organizations of local churches, and definitely speak with a local sports reporter to do an article about the Masters T&F program. The individuals who know something about T&F usually refer to us as Senior Olympians-no concept of masters program. I can honestly state that I have recruited at least 7 new master athletes in the past three years and the local newspaper publishes the results of our meets. If each community had similar success we would grow by leaps and bounds!!!


ADDITIONAL DATA:

I obtained four names of Masters Chairs to date: Ken Brinker, NJ Association; Carl Grossman, Mid-Atlantic Assoc.; Lee Hess New England Association and Darryl Decker, Adirondack Association. Ive requested the names of the other two Chairs and have not received a response.

The Mid-Atlantic Association finished the year with 2655 individual members-youth and masters- and there are 131 clubs operating in this association. It is interesting to note that three of the associations have web sites for the members to obtain information about upcoming meets and meetings.

Yours in sports,

Ray E. Feick

East Regional Coordinator