Masters Runners vs USATF

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Well you gotta figure one of USATF's major priorities is developing young talent to be able to compete on the World Stage. The support from the Masters in that endeavor is probably important in their attempts to meet that objective, right? Have you made your suggestions heard? Have you tried to get involved?

I didn't hear the slight on De Reuck yesterday, but you got to figure sometimes, people say stupid things that they probably should not have, and maybe this was such a case? Without more detail, it's probably not fair to indict all of USATF because of what popped out of their announcer's mouth on an occasion, unless there is a repeated pattern of behavior. If that is actually the case, maybe contacting them directly could help rectify any misunderstanding?

Scratch wrote:

Can someone start an organization with a focus on Masters Athletes to rival USATF? They just don't seem to give a crap about us so why should we give a crap about them. So, tell me what good does USATF do for a Masters runner and would it be feasible for masters Athletes to break away on their own?

Seriously, what do you expect? USATF's focus is on the open athletes as it should be. Even I am more intereseted in the open meets and I'm a master. If you think masters could "easily support their own weight", I think you are kidding yourself. We leverage a lot of overhead that comes with having one big body for track and field in the US. Create another organization and you have to duplicate that overhead. Things would be worse for us, not better.

Aside from the masters who actually compete in these things and a few other masters, most people don't really care about masters running. Not because someone doesn't promote it. Because it's not really THAT exciting. You have a bunch of runners who USED to be faster. Who can't come close to the really fast open runners. I can obviously relate but most do not. Who can blame them?

I just ran in the USATF East Region Masters Meet in Providence last weekend. It was a well organized, well executed meet in a nice facility. Very professionally done. I don't think we could have asked for more.

Average Joe wrote:

Aside from the masters who actually compete in these things and a few other masters, most people don't really care about masters running. Not because someone doesn't promote it. Because it's not really THAT exciting. You have a bunch of runners who USED to be faster. Who can't come close to the really fast open runners. I can obviously relate but most do not. Who can blame them?

Most people don't care about running, period. I never understood why one umbrella organization oversees so many competing interests. One entity should oversee the elite/professionals and another entity should oversee the masters/hobbyists.