Colorado Association, USA Track & Field Newsletter

Colorado Association, USA Track & Field Newsletter

2012-1

This is the first Colorado Association electronic newsletter for 2012. We’ll publish a few editions each year to keep you posted on items of interest to the Colorado Track and Field community. We welcome your feedback on the content, and suggestions for items to be included in future newsletters (send your input to ).

Association Elections

At the Colorado Association Annual Meeting on September 23rd, elections were conducted to select new officers for the Association for the next four years. The newly elected officers are:

President Dan Pierce Secretary Rich Schornstein

Vice President Elaine Keel Treasurer Dave Kemman

The new officers thank the previous officers for their service to the organization, and look forward to working with the Committee Chairs and membership to advance the sport of track and field in Colorado.

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Association Website

The Association hosts a website with material of interest for our members. Be sure to visit the site at You’ll find info on upcoming events, results, membership, sanctions, and much more. We’ve made a change in webmaster and webhosting services which should correct past problems with the content and currency of information on the site. We welcome your input on items/news/data/links/etc. which might be appropriate for the site (reply to with any input).

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Next Association Meeting

The Colorado Association of USA Track & Field will conduct its next meeting by teleconference at 7:30 pm on Nov 20, 2012. A principal agenda item will be to bring to a vote several proposed Bylaws changes. The changes are limited to those necessary to bring our Association Bylaws into conformity with the USATF Bylaws. Current Association Bylaws can be found here. Please review the proposed changes here.

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Association Stats & Demographics

As of the beginning of October we had just under 3,000 individual Colorado USATF members and 83 active Colorado USATF clubs. Thus far in 2012, we’ve granted USATF sanctions for 132 competitions in Colorado. About 58% of our members are male; 42% female. About 54% are age 18 & under; 27% are 19-39; and 19% are 40 and above.

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Association Board of Directors

The President is seeking Members-at Large for the Board of Directors, representing the entire Association. Interested individuals who are ready to devote their time and ideas to help move the Association forward may contact the Association President at .

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Association Finances

The Association is in good financial health. We’ve caught up on a couple of past year federal income tax filings which had been delinquent. An accounting firm performed an audit of the accounts and provided recommendations for us to consider regarding procedures. We will establish a Finance and Budget Committee to help guide our financial affairs and processes, and will establish budgets for future years to help forecast and plan income & expenditures.

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Your Involvement

This is an association of members. We value and invite your involvement in the operation of the organization. Please check our website for various committee chairs, and make contact to offer your help or opinions.

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USATF Membership

As you know, your USATF membership expires at the end of each calendar year. You should renew your USATF membership now, and we encourage a 4 year membership to save a few dollars and automatically keep it current for the next 4 years. The one year fee for youth membership is $20.00 and the adult fee is $30.00. The National office receives $10.00 out of the $20.00 for youth memberships and approximately $13.00 out of the $30.00 for adult memberships. Go to

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Athletes’ News

Colorado athletes that have success the past 2 years: Jenny Simpson, winning the 1500m at the World Championships, Jason Hartman 4th place overall and top American finisher in the Boston Marathon; the Mountain Running World Championship Teams: out of 5 athletes, 3 people were from Colorado for each gender, with the women winning the team championship and the men placing 4th. Of the 85 men at the US Olympic Marathon Trials, 10 were from Colorado; and 15 out of 152 women were from Colorado. And Augustus Mayo, from Colorado Springs represented the US in the World ½ Marathon Championships.

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Youth News

1. The indoor season featured four meets at Colorado’s Balch Field House, and the Martin Luther King Jr. Mile High Classic at USAFA. The average number of participants at the venues -- 500+ remains consistent with previous years and the transition to online registration remains on pace with over 95% compliance. Colorado University continues to be the foundation of the indoor season and our largest source of annual operating income. The outdoor season included five invitationals hosted by USATF Colorado, Fort Collins TC, Zoom TC, Colorado Speed, and the Rocky Mountain State Games as well as the Colorado Junior Olympic Championship. Over 150 qualifiers represented Colorado in the Region X Championship at UTEP, with approximately 100 advancing to the National in Baltimore. The Colorado JO XC Championship will be held November 3 in DeKoevend Park with qualifiers advancing to the Region X on November 17 in Albuquerque.
2. Going forward the committee plans on creating a system and incentives to encourage officials’ involvement in USATF Colorado competitions. A very ambitious six meet indoor schedule is on tap for 2013 starting tentatively on January 5 with the first CU All Comer. Looking forward to the outdoor season we are planning on five or six invitationals in addition to the Colorado Junior Olympic Championship. Every effort will be made this year to include additional earlier all comer competitions in May. We will continue to pursue and support additional competition opportunities and options at the grass roots level including week night all comer competitions and JO preliminary meets throughout the State to further our sport. Our thanks to all the clubs, coaches, parents, volunteers and athletes who contribute their time and effort in support of this program.

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Masters News

1. The Masters Committee had a successful year, promoting and sponsoring the Indoor Championship at the USAF Academy, and the Outdoor Championship in Fort Collins at CSU. At both meets we had over 125 competitors.
2. We combined the Association Championship and the Mid America Region championships and with the help of the National USATF Office we were able to hold clinics for throwers, sprinters and jumpers. Though the Colorado Association did not have a large number attend the National Indoor and Outdoor meets, those that did attend did very well. Out of the nearly 100 clubs participating, the Colorado Masters Track and Field Club was in the top twenty in scoring.

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LDR News

1. In 2012 USATF Colorado partnered with seven great events to bring state championships back to Colorado, with races around the state. Race distances ranged from 5 to 25km and from flat and fast to mountainous. In 2012 a Cross- Country race and a Men Championships were included. Prize money totaling over $20,000 was awarded to top open and masters finishers. USATF State Championship Medals went to the top finishers and a special award went to each State Champion.
2. We were proud to have 21 men and 23 women from Colorado running the Olympic Marathon Trials in Houston. Jason Harmon was 4th overall at Boston and 1st American. In addition, our runners are at placing National and International at road, trail and mountain, ultra and cross-country races from 5k to 100k.

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Race Walk News

1. During the past couple decades participation in race walking has declined in Colorado, though in the past year we may have begun to recover. There are some new people getting involved. Attendance at some races is improving. It’s too early to be sure, but I think we may have renewed core group willing help with the program.
2. Top athletes in our Association include Masters National Champion and 2011 National Masters Race Walker of the year, Marianne Martino. Rita Sinkovec and Michael Blanchard continue to compete locally and win National medals. Also, Trevor Barron, age 19 and attending Colorado College, has been dominating men’s race walking in the US. He began his year at the Rocky Mountain Masters Indoor Championship at the Air Force Academy and finished the year at the Olympics with the fastest time ever by an American.

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Officials’ News

1. As of the end of September we have 150 USATF certified officials in Colorado. Roughly one-half that number are actively officiating several meets per year. We always have a need for new officials, so your help in recruiting prospects would be appreciated. Send a name and e-mail address to the Officials Committee Chair, and he’ll take it from there to deal with prospective officials.
2. Three officials received recognition from the USATF National Officials Committee for Outstanding service during 2012. Congrats to Shirley Clemons, Lee Richards, and Wendy Richards!
3. Certification. All current officials will need to attend a clinic and be recertified for the new 2013-2016 Olympiad. Clinics for recertification, and for certification of new officials will be held in December in Colorado Springs, & during January in Fort Collins and Boulder.

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