Fest. of Excellence - Nate Brannen Wins Again (as does Merritt)

Lukezic is having a pretty awful season so far. So much for the American milers of yesteryear...

nate brannen wins in front of his home crowd, he's having a nick willis type season from last year

Steve Slattery?

yeah! wrote:

Lukezic is having a pretty awful season so far. So much for the American milers of yesteryear...

What did you expect? I forgot the year, I think it was 2007 or 2006, he went to Lussane and ran 3:45 for the 15. He's been done pretty much ever since. His last hurrah was 07 nats, ever since he's been on the downtrend.

He actually should move up to the 5k, probably has a 13:20 in him, his speed and 1500m ability never much impressed anyone. He was lucky enough to get that contract. Better start dancing if he wants another.

He might want to try the steeple too. He's got the build for it.

Didn't we all trash Webb for running a 3:55 last week?

The difference was that Webb's 3:55 was 10th place.

Being at the meet yesterday we should trash this effort as well as the meet itself. It was a shell of an event. We paid $100 a seat for an event where fields were lite and the meet organizers put all our money into buying Bolt and one or two others...Bolt looked like he was going through the motions in running a 10.0...The coolest thing was our HS miler running a 4:06.

We have lost hockey to our southern friends so little is left up here. I was hoping we would have made a serious attempt to bring track but there is always ice fishing

NorthofBorder wrote:

It was a shell of an event. We paid $100 a seat for an event where fields were lite and the meet organizers put all our money into buying Bolt and one or two others...

Out of curiosity, just how many Olympians (to say nothing of Olympic and World Championship medalists) should there be for a meet to be a "shell" or have "lite" fields?

The meet looked pretty good on t.v. I don't know how they got away with $100 dollar tickets though.

This was not a shell of an event, it was simply an annaugeral attempt to reintroduce track and field to Toronto (&Canada).

As such the funds were not there to attract other big names (besides the NCAA's are on plus IAAF grand prix meets). Who would attract more attention to the average person Bolt or ??

The only critisism I have is the announcing which was horendous and problems with the clock which was haphhazard reading Bolts time as 9.2.

This is a work in progress, remember this IS hockey country so give it some support or go somewhere else.

spelling & grammer police welcome.

For $25 tickets where you had to stand outside the fence to wathc, and $100/$250 grandstand tickets this event certainly was a shell. I wish I lived in BC so I could roadtrip down to Eugene, pay $20 to watch Pre, a real professional meet, not just a meet with a few marquee stars.

scootchie pootchie wrote:

This was not a shell of an event, it was simply an annaugeral attempt to reintroduce track and field to Toronto (&Canada).

As such the funds were not there to attract other big names (besides the NCAA's are on plus IAAF grand prix meets). Who would attract more attention to the average person Bolt or ??

The only critisism I have is the announcing which was horendous and problems with the clock which was haphhazard reading Bolts time as 9.2.

This is a work in progress, remember this IS hockey country so give it some support or go somewhere else.

spelling & grammer police welcome.

We gave up on hockey in CA a long time ago and handed it to the states. Inauggural or not this was weak. The smallest 5K field I have ever seen. We do this embarassing triathlon...Can't we find a small field of decathaletes. Paying for Bolt to run a half hearted race makes what kind of sense?

I have been to 30+ meets in my career that were orchestrated by guys out of there garage but which were as interesting and they charged appropriately for the value you got from the meet.

NorthofBorder wrote:

We gave up on hockey in CA a long time ago and handed it to the states. Inauggural or not this was weak. The smallest 5K field I have ever seen. We do this embarassing triathlon...Can't we find a small field of decathaletes. Paying for Bolt to run a half hearted race makes what kind of sense?

Not sure if there is an answer to the previous question in there, but just how many Olympians would it take before you would say an event is NOT a "shell"? What about Olympic or World Championship medalists?

As for triathlon/decathlon, you do realize the dec is a two day, 10 hour/day competition? Or would you like them to do all ten events in a 3 hour window?

Sure but then why do anything. It was a rediculous event. Is running a triathlon building on anything for next year...Are a bunch of guys going to say hey I want to train for that. It is kind of like running the 300. It happens but noone trains for it or goes out of tr hier way to hit a meet because it is there

Once an olympian doesnt mean crap about how you perform now. How many records of any kind were set. How many were set down at pre....I wanted this to be something but holding an event for the sake of it was not wise. With so many US runners getting ready for nationals and NCAA going off the timing didnt make much sense

NorthofBorder wrote:

Sure but then why do anything. It was a rediculous event. Is running a triathlon building on anything for next year...Are a bunch of guys going to say hey I wan` to train for that. It is kind of like running the 300. It happens but noone trains for it or goes out of tr hi$r way to hit a meet because it is there

nce an olympian doesnt mean crap about how you erform now. How many records of any kind were set. How many were set down at pre....I wanted this to be somethi*g but holding a* event for the sake of it was not wise. With so many US runners getting ready for nationals and NCAA going off the timing didnt make much sense

Nice to see the traditi+nal letsrun bad attitude alive and well north of the border, too.

You are way out of line with your criticisms, although everyone has the right to an opinion. A brief rebuttle.

To see Shaheen KD Merritt Brannen Felicien Lopes is more than any track fan could ask for. What the hell did you expect? I went specifically to see Shaheen and was not disappointed.

As for Bolt, did you read his comments? He was concerned about the weather, 2 false starts etc, and intentionally eased back, yet still blew the field away. Were you not impressed to see him in the flesh? It probably won't happen again.

Finally, the prices were in line with Toronto prices. No one would dispute that a meet in Eugene for $20.00 is a better full meet, but we aren't in Eugene.

To paraphrase the commercial; tix $100. parking $20, to see Bolt up close and Brannen blow by the field-priceless

In line with Toronto ticket prices?!? Hate to burst your bubble but I would imagine major sporting ticket prices in LA & NYC are higher than TO, but the most expensive ticket at those meets was $60. AND, the fields were STACKED in every event, not just a couple of big ticket names. While the city/venue does give one some pricing power, it's more about the product that is being put out. And in terms of the final product it for the most part failed.

another canuck wrote:

You are way out of line with your criticisms, although everyone has the right to an opinion. A brief rebuttle.

To see Shaheen KD Merritt Brannen Felicien Lopes is more than any track fan could ask for. What the hell did you expect? I went specifically to see Shaheen and was not disappointed.

As for Bolt, did you read his comments? He was concerned about the weather, 2 false starts etc, and intentionally eased back, yet still blew the field away. Were you not impressed to see him in the flesh? It probably won't happen again.

Finally, the prices were in line with Toronto prices. No one would dispute that a meet in Eugene for $20.00 is a better full meet, but we aren't in Eugene.

To paraphrase the commercial; tix $100. parking $20, to see Bolt up close and Brannen blow by the field-priceless

Sorry to burst your bubble, but the prices were not out of line for a 5000 seat venue with (perhaps) 1500 seats at the finish line.Maybe some tix in NY are more expensive, but we pay 150-200 for hockey and basketball for inferior products. If it was the old indoor games with 20,000 seats, then the highest price would have been more like $75 and the low end 15-20. I hate to admit it, but $100 a seat for such an event is now fair.

As to the competition, you are asking for too much if you expect full fields of equal talent.

Here is a marketing tip for you. People pay to see Tiger, Federer, Beckham, and now Bolt. The general paying public isn't at all interested in Sabatini, Safin, or Sean Crawford. If you wanted full fields that no one is really interested in, you'd have to pay more to the athletes but take in less at the gate. Even we serious track fans complain that the top 10 10k guys are really interchangeable Kenyans and Ethiopians, so it is hard to get excited about them.

I for one was satisfied with the product on the field.

I spend hundreds of dollars a year on shoes, travel, time, etc running...I'd easily pay that money to see the best if I were in town.