Oh no it don’t come easy. Success that is! As I’ve been describing, the biggest issue in St. Louis is the battle over the Uniform Compliance Rule. And boy did the powder keg blow yesterday.
The AAC (Athlete’s Advisory Committee) is the Most Powerful division in USATF, made up entirely of current & former national/world class athletes. This is their (our) sport after all. The afternoon meeting was dedicated to discussion of the Uniform Compliance Rule and representatives from Saucony, Reebok, and the Almighty Swoosh (John Capriotti) were seated on the dais with AAC Chair Jon Drummond, USATF CEO Mike McNeese, President Stephanie Hightower, Ian Stewart (RD of the London Marathon), Glenn Latimer (Men’s LDR Chair), Agent Rich Kenah, Nick Symmonds (800 meter Olympian who started this battle altogether) and a couple of others. Each presented eloquent arguments either for or against (mostly for) the rule.
It should be noted here that the rule was NEVER mandated by the IAAF as we were led to believe, rather came from, as McNeese described it “Big Dollar Sponsors Drive The Legislation”. Hello Nike.
As we approached the question/answer portion, John Capriotti of Nike insisted that whomever in the room was providing live feed to FloTrack was corrupting the proceedings. Capriotti got up, and began leaving the room amidst pleas that he return, that the feed would be stopped immediately. The near begging fell on deaf ears and he proceeded out of the room. Hightower then showed the hundreds gathered her true colors, threatening to throw everyone out of the room. She decided that anyone not on the AAC must leave, which we did. And were followed by all the athletes that are on AAC, a great show of unity against the demagoguery of the puppet masters.
I’ve been involved in USATF for 15 years and have never seen such unprofessionalism or inappropriate behaviour as exhibited by Hightower. I’m so glad next year is an election year.
Fast forward 3 hours to our Club Council meeting. I am the At-Large representative to the Council’s Executive Commitee (and former Vice-Chair) and it is within that purview that the strength of my voice comes.
USATF CEO McNeese attended our meeting to hear our arguments in a more civil setting. Key to our side was David Greifinger who has drafted a resolution to negate the rule-this will be debated on the floor at tomorrow morning’s closing session- expect more fireworks. Also Becca Peters of Club Northwest and yours truly. Also appearing on our behalf was Deena Kastor, thank you dear for the support!
In defense of McNeese he gave us ample opportunity to describe how the rule negatively affects the USATF Elite Development Clubs, and it is there that I made the most significant, impassioned plea. I had brought our standard TNB jersey and also a “compliant” TNB jersey for visual aid. I described how our standard was a favorite of the USATF National Office (and it is), and how without the Lincoln Marathon logo being allowed, without the visibility of our TEAM NEBRASKA name in big letters, our Distinction Earned by the the sacrifice, dedication, and excellence imbued in every Elite Development Club, was significantly diminished.
This alone sets us apart from your local club. And although we do have a shoe contract (interesting and appreciated that Brooks Running, as well as Asics, declined an invitation to attend, I think they smelled what was coming), it is the individual sponsorships that we EDC leaders are so passionately pursuing that allow us to advocate for and groom the next generation of Great American Athletes.
At around 9:00 last night we finally prevailed. I quoted McNeese in my closing argument, using a phrase I had heard from him throughout the day. “Is the juice worth the squeeze?” And finally, it wasn’t.
It don’t come easy.
Linda & I ran the Market Street Mile this morning. A large rectangular course on closed streets (USATF certified course of course) against a lot of former great athletes, we went off in 10 year age groups every three minutes. What a treat. The last 1/4 mile was uphill, those rascals. I split :82, 2:57, 4:33 on the way to a 6:06 for 12th in the 50-59 age group. Linda ran 6:04 to take the Silver in the Women’s 40-49. Would have loved to dip under 6 but am well pleased with the effort. Nice to see former TNB mate Bob Garcia in town for the race, he narrowly defeated me by a “scant” twenty eight seconds to finish 7th or 8th in our age group.
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