Sportsplex Masters & Open Indoor Invitational Track Meet; Slow Times in Landover

All-Comers track meets at the Prince Georges County Sports & Learning Complex (“PGS&LC”) are wonderful to watch, with children in pull-ups and spikes competing, and veteran runners trying to recapture glimpses of their former speed. The track is 8-laps to the mile, and kept in wonderful condition, adjacent to the pool, water park, gymnastics center and weight room, all under one roof! Part of the same project as FedEx Field, where the Redskins American football team plays, the indoor multisports facility and neighboring outdoor track and fields are a real asset for the neighborhood. However, be forewarned, these “All Comers Meets” can last into late into the night. So many of the best Masters runners, walkers, throwers and jumpers from Virginia, Maryland and the District of Columbia were keen to show their stuff at a Masters and Open only meet on Saturday. With the recent bad weather and a small field pre-registered for the running events, experienced racers had hoped to start on time and be home in time for lunch. But those who have participated at the PGS&LC know that sometimes these meets do not start, or end, on time.

Indoor track meet runners move fast; race officials & judges deliberate slowly

This year’s Sportsplex Masters Indoor Invitational did not start on time, and despite the small field, the competitors were kept waiting for their events, their numbers and the pre-race instructions. The staff was, as always, affable, but it is hard to run your best when you warm up for an hour for a 3 or 6 minute race. While some televised track meets may be able to predict starting times with precision, once the registration closes, experienced meet directors should be able to approximate starting times. This is true when entrants post their expected times for a meet like the Sportsplex Invitational. Many Potomac Valley Track Club stalwarts were there, like race walker & distance runner Peter Blank, Octegenarian (and former Millrose Games pole vaulter) Dixon Hemphill, Guinness race frequency World Record holder Ted Poulos and Fredericksburg YMCA director Terry McLaughlin. In the open division, William & Mary “All Time” lister Mallory Abney, now studying at the Medical College of Virginia, ran in several of the sprint events. In an attempt to post some times on the unbanked track upon which to build for the 2014 racing season, Northern Virginia injury lawyer Doug Landau entered the mile and the half mile events. After warming up for a long time around the indoor track in his seldom-used spikes, lawyer Landau ran the mile in 6:00.45, and then, in the very next event, he ran the 800 in a time that has, as yet, not been posted online. In order to meet family the District, Landau left before preliminary marks were posted and before he could watch his friend Abney race in the 200. Landau and several of the decorated Masters athletes hope to see each other at the George Mason Victims Rights 5km next month, if they do not cross paths at another DC area event beforehand.