One
set of Bloomington’s elite athletes might be across the country this
weekend, but hundreds more will be flocking to the city for a national
track and field championship starting Friday.
Hundreds of track and field competitors ages 35 to 94 — among them at least 100 reigning champions, Olympians and one former NFL player — will participate in the USA Masters Indoor Track and Field Championships, which start Friday morning and run through Sunday. Organizers say the event will give spectators the chance to see some of the finest adult athletes in the country and will help spread the message of “lifelong fitness” to those who attend.
“If they want to see the best, most fit adult athletes in the world
competing and breaking records, they will come to the meet,” said Bob
Weiner, USATF national masters media committee chairman.
Meanwhile, the event — which Bloomington is hosting this year for the
first time — is also expected to boost the city’s economy during a
usually slow time of the year.
The championships begin at 9 a.m. Friday with pentathlon events,
followed by individual track and field events from 1 to 6:15 p.m.
Friday, from 9 a.m. to 6:25 p.m. Saturday and from 9 a.m. to 1:20 p.m.
Sunday. All events will be held at Indiana University’s Harry Gladstein
Fieldhouse and are free and open to the public.
About 1,000 people are expected to come to Bloomington this weekend in
conjunction with the championship meet, including athletes, officials,
trainers and spectators, said Eric Marvin, director of sports
development for Hoosier Sports Corp., a division of Visit Bloomington.
All told, those visitors are expected to spend $180,000 to $300,000
while filling up hotels and restaurants during a time of the year that
is often fairly slow, he said.
“Then we know, obviously, that’s going to trickle down through the
economy and the impact (will be) significantly larger than the direct
spending,” Marvin said.
The event is the second of three track and field events the city will
be hosting this year, Marvin said. The city held the smaller USA Track
and Field Indoor Combined Events Championships earlier this month, and
in June it will play host to the USA Junior Outdoor Track and Field
Championships, an event expected to be even larger than this weekend’s
championships.
About 800 athletes will compete this weekend, Weiner said. Among those
are some relatively new to the sport — like Bloomington resident Greg
Simmons, competing for the first time — while others are the reigning
champions in their individual age brackets. Many are honing their
skills in preparation for the world championships in Finland in two
weeks, he said.
Among the most noteworthy athletes are Philippa Raschker — a two-time
finalist for the James E. Sullivan Memorial Award, a prestigious honor
given to athletes including Tim Tebow, LeBron James and Michael Phelps
— and Phil McConkey, a wide receiver for the 1987 Super Bowl champion
New York Giants, Weiner said. Nolan Shaheed, a distance runner, is a
world-class jazz musician who played trumpet for such artists as Dizzy
Gillespie, Aretha Franklin and Marvin Gaye.
The oldest competitors are three men in the 90-94 age bracket and one
woman in the 85-89 group.
Weiner said watching the meet can inspire people to pursue their own
physical fitness for life.
Spectators can also cheer on their own hometown heroes this weekend. At
least eight Bloomington residents, including Simmons, will compete in
various events.
Simmons is a two-time champion in power-lifting, and he will be
competing in another masters weight-lifting event in Georgia in two
weeks. Having this event in Bloomington, however, inspired him to try
out a new competition: a 60-meter sprint. The 46-year-old, an adjunct
professor at IU’s School of Health, Physical Education and Recreation
and a personal trainer at the Iron Pit Gym Fitness Center, has been
training three times a week and working with a coach to refine his
technique.
“We (he and other friends from the Iron Pit) are always looking for
some kind of physical challenge, and since it was close, we figured,
‘What the heck?’” Simmons said.
WHAT: Hundreds of track and field competitors ages 35 to 94 — among them Olympians and one former NFL player — will participate in the national competition.
WHERE: Harry Gladstein Fieldhouse on the Indiana University Bloomington campus.
WHEN: The championships begin at 9 a.m. today with pentathlon events, followed by individual track and field events from 1 to 6:15 p.m. today, from 9 a.m. to 6:25 p.m. Saturday and from 9 a.m. to 1:20 p.m. Sunday.
HOW MUCH: Events are free and open to the public.
INFO: www.usatf.org/events/2012/USAMastersIndoorTFChampionships/
Copyright: HeraldTimesOnline.com 2012