millrose 04

[tm33]

it was amazing that the sprint and hurdle races were the best action by far in the meet, a contrast to tradition which holds that distance races are the higlights of the meet.
in the 15 yrs i have watched the meet on tv i have never seen such a poor field in the wannamaker mile.
allen johnson and gail devers looked the greatest on the track, but marion got all the headlines.
dragila and cantwell had great efforts on the field events.
the worst race by far the mile and that is an understatement.

[satch400]

Re: millrose 04

I ENJOYED meet on tv. NICE touch KIDS sprint races

[Pego]

Re: millrose 04

Jearl Miles looked super.

[hj197steve]

Re: millrose 04

>I ENJOYED meet on tv. NICE touch KIDS sprint races

those kiddie races were indeed neat !!

[malmo]

Re: millrose 04

As was explained to me by two agents, the management put nothing into the distances. The result, an already crappy product that Millrose has been putting out of late, got worse - much worse.

[Al in NYC]

Re: millrose 04

You gotta wonder about the intelligence of that strategy. While I understand that there are many many more crowd-pleasing competitive Americans in the sprints, a lot of fans have shown up through the years just to see the mile and the relays.

Even though the sprints have definitely passed the mile/1500 in recent years as the most popular events, I'm not sure that the promoters gain anything by essentially ignoring that portion of the crowd that shows up for races over 1/2 a mile. To have all the hoopla they put on lead up to such a lame event as this year's Wannemaker Mile is just plain embarrassing.

Having said that, it was great to see Gail and Allen running so well, to see Marion running at all (and beating a good field), and to see the nice runs by Jearl Miles and Hazel Clark.

They gotta do something to liven up that interminable awards presentation though...

[333]

Re: millrose 04

If only all the TV meets got a minimum of 90 minutes coverage....

[trackstar]

Re: millrose 04

I was appalled by the NBC reporter covering the marathon trials just prior to Millrose who said "the marathon has never been a great success story for the U.S." I guess he's never heard of Frank Shorter, Joan Benoit, Alberto Salazar, Bill Rogers, or Khalid Kannouchi. Or how about Mark Plaatjes, Thomas Hicks, and John Hayes?

[Pego]

Re: millrose 04

<I was appalled by the NBC reporter covering the marathon trials just prior to Millrose who said "the marathon has never been a great success story for the U.S." I guess he's never heard of Frank Shorter, Joan Benoit, Alberto Salazar, Bill Rogers, or Khalid Kannouchi. Or how about Mark Plaatjes, Thomas Hicks, and John Hayes?>

It still surprises you after all those years of moronic comments?

[abinferno]

Re: millrose 04

I would never run any race at Millrose where you had to traverse the entire track. That thing is an anachronism. 160y is ridiculous.

[hj197steve]

Re: millrose 04

>I would never run any race at Millrose where you had to traverse the entire
>track. That thing is an anachronism. 160y is ridiculous.


Maybe, maybe not. But when Indoor Track was the Best Show in Town, and filled indoor arenas every week, be it the Gardens in NY and Boston, or in Chicago or LA or wherever, the fans, lots of them, loved it, and the athletes never complained about those 11 laps to the mile Board tracks. They were FUN to run on !

Now you have your very nice 200 meter tartan tracks. Yes they are bigger, and faster, but there are also now slower times, no fans, and no meets !

And you say that's better ??!!

[az2]

Re: millrose 04

I agree with those 11/12/13 laps to a mile tracks.

They're fun. When I was in HS, I hadn't yet broken 5, and went to the old Phildelphia Conevtion and ran 4:52...

had no idea what my splits were, but kept running round and round and round...

funnest mile I ever ran...not my best, but breaking a huge barrier for me, and the environment was great.

[Slowrunner]

Re: millrose 04

>I would never run any race at Millrose where you had to traverse the entire
>track. That thing is an anachronism. 160y is ridiculous.

Disagree. The purpose of track & field is competition, not records, times, etc. Millrose has a great tradition, and if marketed correctly should still produce a fine meet.

[kuha]

Re: millrose 04

"If marketed correctly..."

But, they have to have SOMETHING to market, don't they? The quality of most of the fields was really low...and has been for years at Millrose.

[miler monkey]

Re: millrose 04

It was rather strange . . . OK, here's the legendary Wanamaker Mile . . . who are these people competing? Oh, well, at least I've got a rooting interest in British milers now --