Posted by Glenn Ribotsky on May 28, 2004 at 18:02:37:
. . .why i have not been talking much about the Triple Crown Races much lately, and not at all on this forum.
It is true that my health situation and re-trainings for the new SAT have taken up much of my time recently. I also decided to take a "wait and see" approach to the Advance Memorial Day Run. I did sense some contrition (begrudging, but it was there) in the tone of some of the articles as regards the problems with last year's race and awards ceremony (or lack of same). Apparently they're going to put up a tent covering this year (although why they couldn't think of that in the past God knows) to prevent weather from cancelling that. And they seem to understand the need for refreshments better now.
I ddi feel a need to send an e-mail to the principals, though, when the self-congratulatory editorial appeared about just how prepared they were to shift the race course should the boardwalk problems not be repaired in time. I indicated that I was glad the course would not need to be shifted, as the SI running community would have little confidence that a re-configured course would be accurately measured. I also took issue with race director Bob Palisay's contention that "this is recreation"; for many runners it's very serious--there are awards involved for both the race and a whole series--and that attitude may be contributing to the race's problems. Be interesting to see if I get any response--either directly or with an aside in a Jack Minogue paragraph.
One happy piece of news involved the Pepper Martin Run applications. Not only is there an indication that there WILL be race day entry on the application for the second consecutive year--only took twelve years to get them to indicate that, so that the situation would not confuse pre- or post-registrants (not to mention the fairness aspect)--but the claim that the race is T.A.C. certified--TAC is now USAT&F, but the local chapter (MAC) was miffed that they continued to claim it was certified (courses/races must be re-certified periodically to be "official" for the purposes of records)--has been removed. Bottom line--for the first time in its history, the Pepper Martin Run is not on its face in violation of the governing bodies of the sport. I am only sorry it took so long, and required some political arm twisting. (I made sure the powers that be in Albany knew of the disquiet with the way the Pepper Martin Club--which equals the Brighton Kiwanis whihc equals the local Democratic party hierarchy--handled this race; I am told the Club was "advised" to promote better community relations--and not lose votes over a running event.)
So we will see how this year's races go. We will watch carefully. And then we will see if the Advance attempts to smooth out the situation over the Triple Crown contribution to the SIAC awards dinner--assuming that the SIAC even wants to continue to have them as part of it. Hopefully this will be a topic of discussion for the SIAC this summer.
And I have not forgotten--there will be a meeting planned for this summer about the proposed Civil Service Series--if anyone would like to be a part of that or have input, let me know--all are welcome.