There has been a lot of news lately with many exciting developments
First and foremost, WMA announced on January 10 that the 2025 WMA Indoor Championships will be held at the Alachua County Sports & Events Center at Celebration Pointe in Gainesville, Florida. The dates are March 23-30, 2025. This will be the first WMA Indoor Championships in the US and only the second in North America. Go here for more details. Much more information will be available in the coming months as well.
We also have the 2024 Indoor Championships coming up March 21-24, 2024, at the Dr. Conrad Worrill Track & Field Center at Gately Park in Chicago, Illinois. The on-time entry deadline is Wednesday, February 21 at 11:59 pm PST. Full information and links to the online registration can be found on the meet website.
Before the Indoor Nationals there will be a full slate of regional masters championships, and the 2024 USA National Masters Combined Events Championships in Kenosha, Wisconsin. There is a website for each of them on our website, usatfmasters.org, which is the place to look for information about all of our events and programs. The websites for the regional meets along with the Combined Events Championships are linked from blue buttons at the top of the landing page here. Note that the Combined Events Championships are coming up very fast on January 20-21 with an early entry deadline.
Entries also are open now for the 2024 WMA Outdoor Championships in Gothenburg, Sweden (August 13-25, 2024). Full information for that meet is also available on usatfmasters.org – again, from a blue button at the top of the landing page. Here is the direct link. Be sure to look not only at the meet website but also at the Information for Team USATF Masters Athletes, which includes details about subscribing for massage and physio treatments in Sweden (must be done while registering for the meet) and about Team USATF hotels (there are special rates at four different hotels). The deadline for entries is June 4, 2024.
Again, this year, USATF Masters, in collaboration with the USATF Foundation, is offering travel grants to athletes who apply, demonstrate need, and are likely medal winners at the WMA Outdoor Championships in Gothenburg. There is a cap of $1000 on these pre-meet travel grants. Applications for these WMA Travel Grants are due no later than June 4, 2024, at the close of entries for the meet. Go here for a full description of the program and a link to the application. At the conclusion of the meet, medal winners will be eligible for prize money as well – for individual events $300 for gold; $200 for silver; and $100 for bronze and for relays $200/team member no matter the color of the medal.
In 2024, there will be six Masters Exhibition Events at major elite meets. Full information and links to application forms are available here. Applications are already open for Indoor Nationals in Albuquerque on February 18 (200m for M40-54 and W40-54) and the Rex Harvey Memorial Masters Exhibition Shot Put at the Drake Relays on April 27 (top four men and top four women, age graded). Applications for Indoor Nationals are due by January 26, 2024, and for Drake by March 29, 2024.
Highlights from the Annual Meeting in December
- Sites and dates for the 2024, 2025, and 2026 USATF Masters Indoor and Outdoor Track & Field Championships are now set:
- 2024 Indoor – Dr. Conrad Worrill Track & Field Center at Gately Park, Chicago, IL – March 21-24, 2024 (note, this is a four-day meet)
- 2024 Outdoor – American River College, Sacramento, CA – July 18-21, 2024
- 2025 Indoor – Alachua County Sports & Events Center, Gainesville, FL, February 20-23, 2025 (this will likely be a four-day meet)
- 2025 Outdoor – Mount San Antonio College Hilmer Lodge Stadium, Walnut, CA, July 20-23, 2025
- 2026 Indoor – Indiana State Fairgrounds, Indiana Farm Bureau Fall Creek Pavilion, Indianapolis, IN, dates TBD
- Revised Relay Selection Guidelines and Criteria Adopted – go here to see the revised Guidelines and Criteria
- Rotation of the Mile and 1500m at Indoor and Outdoor Championships established as policy; indoor mile in even numbered years; outdoor mile in odd numbered years.
Full minutes of the meetings at the Annual Meeting in Orlando may be found here.
Among the more significant announcements were
- The 2023 MTF Hall of Fame Class was announced
- The 2023 Athlete of the Year Awards were announced
- Sue McDonald (W60), who set nine (9) age group world records in 2023 was honored at the Night of Legends Ceremony as the 2023 MTF Athlete of the Year
- MTF Chair Jerry Bookin-Weiner was elected Vice President of NCCMA at the NCCMA General Assembly in Cuidad Juarez in November; Sandy Pashkin and Bill Murray were re-elected as Stadia Chair and Combined Events Chair respectively
- Several of our Committee members are now serving WMA in various capacities:
- MTF Active Athlete Representative Colleen Barney serves as a Coopted Expert on the WMA Finance Committee
- Bill Murray continues to serve on the WMA Competition Committee
- Sandy Pashkin serves as WMA Statistician and Vice Chair of the WMA Records Committee.
- Mary Rosado, Esq. continues to serve on the WMA Anti-Doping Committee
- John Seto serves as a member of the WMA Media, Marketing and Communications Committee
- MTF Vice Chair Robert Thomas serves as an Expert on the WMA Media, Marketing and Communications Committee
- Allan Tissenbaum continues to serve on the Anti-Doping Committee’s TUE Subcommittee
2024 Masters Racewalk Grand Prix
The 2024 Masters Racewalk Grand Prix Series will consist of the following events:
- March 21-24, 2024 – One Mile and 3000m – Masters Indoor Championship – Dr. Conrad Worrill Track & Field Center at Gately Park, Chicago IL – Registration information on Masters Events Site
- May 5, 2024 – 20K – Xenia, OH
- July 18-21, 2022 – 5000m track and 10K Road – Masters Outdoor Championship – Sacramento, CA – Registration on Masters Events Site
- September 2024 – National 5K Road Race – Whiting, NJ – Registration information on USATF Events siteRacewalk Grand Prix rules can be found on the USATF website. There are rules specific to Masters competitors on that page.
