All Comers 2008 Meet #1

My apologies, I have been sick for a few days… Here is last night’s story: Last night was the first of many All Comers Track and Field meets to be help at Shoreline Stadium in North Seattle. Last night I had the privilege to officiate the javelin throw. The competition included 16 throwers: two athletes attempting to qualify for the Olympic Trials (they were both very close but did not reach the mark and will attempt to make it the next two weeks), one gent who threw in the Munich Olympics and a collection of others including a 72 year old Decathlete and a High School kid who knew nothing of the company he was keeping and being assisted by. The tension inherent in an Olympic year brings out the best of the best for official competitions of this nature. Evidenced by the passionate but controlled “discussion/argument” I was embroiled in with one of the top throwers. In a standard meet competition throwers get three attempts to qualify for a final round of three more attempts: Prelims and Finals. This happens in the javelin, discus, shot put, long and triple jump events. But this is an All Comers and we have limited officials and time, and thus our meet format is a 1 hour open pit where every competitor get four throws (or jumps), in no particular order; “throw when ready, pit closes in an hour”. The Top thrower was not aware of this and when he signed in did not glance at the sheet of paper he was signing on that had the meet format diagramed out. Well….you can imagine how “upset” he was when after his third throw I let him know his next throw would be his final attempt. Here is the humor for you-all my friends; a sort of David and Goliath moment. I am 5-6 160lbs with the average body fat of a 40 year old recreational runner. Mr. Top Thrower guy, 20 years my junior, is 6-2 190ish with .032% body fat and, well, very “angry”…at me. With an 800 gram polished aluminum spear white knuckle gripped in hand he almost allowed his testosterone to override his manners and with a lot of control he explained to me how a meet should be run and that he should have two more throws. I said I would gladly allow him to have two more unofficial throws after the competition had concluded and then allowed him to view the sign in sheet I was recording the competition on. The sheet, which explained the format of four throws and no finals, the same sheet he had signed in on. Even more “angry”, he glared at me, then without turning his head panned his eyes to his coach and, with Fabio like drama, whipped his golden locks around and stormed off muttering under his breath. Frank, the guy who threw in Munich, was my guardian angel. I also had a trump card. The man announcing the meet down on the track (time to name drop), a close family friend and college roommate, a man who has permission to discipline my boys and teases Cheryl about marrying me, Bill Roe, is the President of USA Track and Field. Bill is the man who has not only coached me for years but signed my certification to officiate and will without a hesitation will back up my decision to follow meet format; a format established by forty years of All Comers meets. I stood there, looking up at this specimen of God’s creation, chuckling inside thinking, “I wonder if he will pass his urine analysis test to make it in the Olympic Trials.” Not the best of thoughts but it, and my back up plan, who’s voice was booming over the PA, helped me deal with the confrontation. In other meet news: My Jonathan, at 8 years old, ran his fastest mile ever, clocking a 7:44!!! I did not actually see it happen and still wonder if he ran only 3 laps, but all the officials claim he ran the whole thing. We’ll see if he can back it up with a similar performance next week. Tony