Worst Weather

[Double R Bar]

This subject might have already been discussed here, but I'll go ahead and try it. I put it in historical because most of the answers will probably come from past meets.

What is the worst weather you have ever experienced at a track and field meet? It could be competing or just sitting through a meet. If you can, tell the location of the meet and approximate year of the meet.

I remember sitting through a double dual meet at Stanford University more than twenty years ago in a driving rainstorm. It was cold and it was very wet the whole meet. The meet involved Cal, Stanford, USC, and UCLA. I don't remember any lightning.

What's your worst weather at a meet?

[lonewolf]

About the most miserable I can remember, maybe because it was only a couple of years ago, was at Texas Relays, where you can expect temps from 30 to 105 sometime during the four days the first week of April.
After near perfect weather Wed-Fri, Saturday morning dawned (figure of speech, actually there was no dawn) low 30s, rain, sleet, snow, wind gusts to 40 mph. The only reason Texas Relays cancels or suspends is for lightning.
There was no lightning.
Only two men showed up for TJ, one from Minnesota, the other from Ark. State. Ark took one jump, settled for second and went to shelter. The Minnesotan seemed oblivious to the weather, took all six jumps, never put his sweats on between jumps. He said it was like a spring day in Minnesota but I think he was just being macho.
O course, a full complement of officials was on duty from 0800 to 1400 in case anyone showed up to jump in any of the horizontal events scheduled that day.
The rain even penetrated my rain-proof track bag, ruining a camera.
On the other hand, the high schoolers, apparently impervious to weather, ran the full schedule of relays amid customary whooping and hollering.

[lonewolf]

Oh, yeah, Buffalo, about ten years ago was comparable, Maybe even colder but not as wet. I don't even remember what meet it was but it was not the 93 World University Games when the weather was perfect..

[tandfman]

Twice, there were absolutely torrential rain storms during the NCAA Championships in Baton Rouge ('73 and '81 IIRC). Fortunately, they both passed in less than an hour and competition resumed.

There was some pretty rotten weather during the Helsinki World Championships a few years ago. I'm sure I'll think of others after I've had my coffee.

[guru]

Two years ago, MAJOR meet the first week in April here in Cincinnati. The prelim day, a Wednesday, was 70 degress and gorgeous. The finals, on Friday, were another matter altogether.

When the meet started the temperature was 35, skies overcast. Being a sprint oriented team, I was understandably hesitant to even compete. But my girls were incredibly good sports, and I promised them if the scoreboard thermometer dropped below freezing we would stop(though they understood if they wanted to stop earlier I would respect that without argument). Made it to the open 400, temp hit 31, and that was that. Thankfully, no injuries.

Oh, yeah, and there were snow showers. Absolutely miserable. Just glad we had a warm bus for the kids to stay in between events.

I had to chuckle later, because a colleague took his team the following weekend to the Texas Relays that is referenced above.

[dj]

There was some pretty rotten weather during the Helsinki World Championships a few years ago. I'm sure I'll think of others after I've had my coffee.

Spill your coffee, it might remind you of other bad weather days!

[guru]

dj, for obvious reasons, you are not allowed to participate in any weather-themed threads :P

[Thrower]

I remember throwing in the Colorado Relays in April of 1988.....it was a snowstorm.......you needed a Zamboni to clear the circle and you couldn't see where the disc landed......good times!

[ndamix]

About the most miserable I can remember, maybe because it was only a couple of years ago, was at Texas Relays, where you can expect temps from 30 to 105 sometime during the four days the first week of April.
After near perfect weather Wed-Fri, Saturday morning dawned (figure of speech, actually there was no dawn) low 30s, rain, sleet, snow, wind gusts to 40 mph. The only reason Texas Relays cancels or suspends is for lightning.
There was no lightning.
Only two men showed up for TJ, one from Minnesota, the other from Ark. State. Ark took one jump, settled for second and went to shelter. The Minnesotan seemed oblivious to the weather, took all six jumps, never put his sweats on between jumps. He said it was like a spring day in Minnesota but I think he was just being macho.
O course, a full complement of officials was on duty from 0800 to 1400 in case anyone showed up to jump in any of the horizontal events scheduled that day.
The rain even penetrated my rain-proof track bag, ruining a camera.
On the other hand, the high schoolers, apparently impervious to weather, ran the full schedule of relays amid customary whooping and hollering.

:evil: :evil: :evil: That was a crazy day. :evil: :evil: :evil:

One of the few times I actually left my post early (after the sprint relays were done of course) b/c of the weather. Took about an hour to thaw out back @ the hotel (with the help of some gin & juice).

[mump boy]

the worst i've ever seen was at world cup in barcelona in 91 i think when they abandoned the comp then this man ran onthe track and startrd jumping over the hurdles in a massive downpour.

also the Wc in Helsinki do you remember the W100h that they had to cancel as everyone was lining up because they were about the drown

the worst i've ever been to was Wc in Madrid in 03 i think it started spitting with rain but me and flump being hardy fellows decided to sit it out untill there was a massive hail storm and we nearly got killed :shock: the whole meet was posponed and we drowned our sorrows in a bar opposite the stadium

any excuse :-)

[tandfman]

the worst i've ever seen was at world cup in barcelona in 91

That was 1989, not 1991. There was no World Cup in 1991.

[mump boy]

the worst i've ever seen was at world cup in barcelona in 91

That was 1989, not 1991. There was no World Cup in 1991.

i thought 89 was in havana !!?! but just looked it up and that was 92 ops:

[kuha]

I know that one or two of our earliest season outdoor meets in HS was run in the snow. More recently, one of the Lausanne meets (about 3 or 4 yrs ago?) ended up wet and about two degrees above freezing. Of course I had no idea of leaving before the end...but by that time, I was shivering so violently I could scarcely walk/stagger/trot back to my car.

[The Captain]

Zurich in '89 had a big storm hit at the end of the meet. There was supposed to be a big 5000 head-to-head between Ngugi and Aouita, but all Aouita had to do was take shelter behind Ngugi and outkick him. The high jump bed blew away during the course of the race!!!

[Mighty Favog]

At a 2003 Ohio high school regional--not far from Tianna Madison's hometown--a storm whipped up off Lake Erie just as the boys' 200 was beginning. A kid who ran 21.63 (wind 0.0) the next week at state ran 24.69 in that race. No wind measurements were reported.

When Tianna Madison said the weather in Helsinki didn't bother her, this is the kind of crap she was referring to.