Not too much of a stretch for me to say that I’ve had more experience with USATF than anyone in Nebraska, excepting of course the youth program administrators.
It is with that background that I declare the national governing body is at an all time low.
First the athletes votes and wishes from the annual meetings are over turned by the national office, awarding the Olympic Marathon Trials to Los Angeles instead of the athlete approved Houston.
And now an even more egregious debacle. First off, how many of you even knew the USA Indoor National Championships were this past weekend? Not many, not many. For those of us that did follow the meet it represents perhaps the lowest point I’ve seen in 30 years. NIKE demonstrated exactly how much control it has over USATF by circumventing all protocols and ultimately having the winner of the women’s 3000 disqualified so that a NIKE athlete received a spot on the World Indoor Champs team. I’ve watched the video a dozen times and see no reason at all for the DQ. Head over to Letsrun.com for a more thorough explanation. Sickening.
I’m one step closer to hanging my USATF spikes up, but not just quite yet. Still need to keep an eye on what’s shaking locally, how those that follow me interpret and implement the program I struggled mightily for over a decade to build. Sadly, it gets harder to care all the time. How may tolls (and trolls) of the ding dong bells must I hear? How many smirks from how many jerks? A few more at least it seems.
Congratulations to our NRGE mates that competed at No Frills this weekend. Mike Wasson showed he is not just another pretty face by kicking everyone’s age graded behind to keep his series lead. La Lengua crowing about nipping him at the line shows how much pride there is in taking down an NRGE mate, even one 48 years old. Stacy Mangers doesn’t duck anyone, doesn’t mind getting her lumps, and really enjoys winning, which she handily did. Walter Key and Jerrod Anzalone also laced and raced well.
They and the rest of the NRGE mates keep it worth it.
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