finally! 2016 meets really get under way

[gh]

as you'll see from the USTFCCCA link on the front page, there's no end of competition this weekend. Mainly U.S. collegiate stuff, but also the Great Edinburgh XC.

At any rate, now that we're down to the actual competitive side of the sport, later today I'll be purging the Current Events forum of all non-actual track talk and moving that off-season diversionary stuff over to Things Not Track.

bring it on!

[aaronk]

Mainly U.S. collegiate stuff

Also seems to be some good HS stuff, according to MileSplit!

[americantrackfan]

Gotta love some good college indoor action, even if some of those here don't entirely approve of indoor. Now that I am no longer an NCAA athlete as of a few weeks ago, I will be a spectator of such action, not that I was ever a part of any "elite" races. Hopefully I'll hop in a few meets myself, but motivation is not quite the same without a team.
Anyways, Penn State this weekend should be great for mid-distance times. I wonder if this will be another year where the Penn State men run shocking times at this meet and then fail to live up to expectations at NCAAs.
Is there still the USATF Visa Championship Series? Is it only 2-3 meets like it was a couple years ago?
Looking forward to the season, hoping to make it to a major event as a spectator, maybe a cross-country trip to OTs.

[donley2]

Is there still the USATF Visa Championship Series? Is it only 2-3 meets like it was a couple years ago?

Well Visa is no longer the sponsor, and one of the meets is part of a new IAAF series. Also, no sign of anything on the USATF website, so I am guessing no series but I could be wrong. On a slightly off topic issue the what2watch (on tv and streaming) section on the dailyrelay.com site does not seem to be currently updated so that leaves a hardcore track fan to fumble around on there own for what to watch.

[John G]

Just watched the Edinburgh XC. Great to see a real XC course - loads of mud - just a shame they no longer include the big hill that used to be a feature the race. Particularly enjoyed the mixed relays (4x 1k) Laura Muir and Jake Wightman (a 21 year old who ran 3:35 in '14 and has a good chance of making Rio) looked particularly good.

As an unashamed fan of Mo, it's never nice to see him lose but his long, raking stride, is never going to suit a mud-fest and Heath looked like he'd win regardless of how the race panned out (in the end it was a jog for 7 of the 8k).

[cubehead]

Glad to see Jake running well. Though he was a bit off last year. I knew him and his twin brother when was I was living in Nottingham 20 years ago. Of course his mother is also an identical twin, and along with her sister ran in the 1988 Olympics.

And cross country runs in the genes, his aunt was silver medallist in the World Cross Country that year. Mother was 16th.

[Atticus]

We always get one of these my mid-Jan

mWT Enekwechi, Chukwuebuka SR Purdue 78' 0.75" 23.79m Gene Edmonds Invitational 01/08/16

[gh]

if only weight marks actually translated to anything of real value…. for decades, American hammer throwers lingered under the misconception that the feet value of a weight throw translated what your hammer mark should mean in meters.

[Atticus]

if only weight marks actually translated to anything of real value…. for decades, American hammer throwers lingered under the misconception that the feet value of a weight throw translated what your hammer mark should mean in feet.

last word = meters.

[aaronk]

Based on the "WR's" of the Weight---Lance Deal's 84-10+ & Britney Riley's 83-10+---and what they've done with the Hammer..
then I imagine if Syedikh & Wlodarczyk had tried the WT, 100 foot throws would be possible!

[tandfman]

Sedykh did try the WT. 76-11 3/4 (23.46) in Montreal in 1979.

[Sasuke]

Based on the "WR's" of the Weight---Lance Deal's 84-10+ & Britney Riley's 83-10+---and what they've done with the Hammer..
then I imagine if Syedikh & Wlodarczyk had tried the WT, 100 foot throws would be possible!

Wlodarczyk threw the Weight, together with Faidjek, in Warsaw in 2014. She was... terrible for her level, barely over 20m. He performed a bit better, throwing 23.22m

[26mi235]

Based on the "WR's" of the Weight---Lance Deal's 84-10+ & Britney Riley's 83-10+---and what they've done with the Hammer..
then I imagine if Syedikh & Wlodarczyk had tried the WT, 100 foot throws would be possible!

The two throws are similar but different. In the weight the implement is much closer to the body and easier to control. There is greater importance of strength than with the fast, smooth spin of the hammer. I think that Tuariki can (and has) attested to this.