Time. I have plenty of time now to update my blog... my flight out of Poland was canceled and I'm stuck in Gdansk for an extra day. REALLY SUCKS! I was sooo looking forward to Monday, a free day at home to relax and decompress, and get ready for some guitar playing as I am teaching Tues and Wed, and performing Wed night with my students. So, instead of getting home just after midnight Sunday night, I won't be getting home til Monday night, and will have to work the next day. So, I'm in a hotel in Gdansk all day Sunday and tonight.
The relays went quite well. My adductor was definitely strained and I felt vulnerable to injury. Didn't matter, many were in the same situation but it was time, had to bring it.
M60 4x200m Relay World Championship
Everyone expected that the Brits would blow us away. Well, they won, but was a lot closer than everyone expected. Alan texted me afterward, if we had a faster guy on 3rd leg, we could've won. If he was on third leg, we definitely would've won. (He was M60 World Champion in the 60 meters).
Marcus kept telling me in the call room that we could win. Pointing out the Brits anchor wasn't that fast and they front loaded their team. We were competing with Britain, Germany, France, Poland, Netherlands, Spain, and Finland. We had the faster heat with Britain.
Rob led off and did a good job against WR holder John W. from Britain. He gave up only about 10m at most. Second leg was Marcus, and he ran a stunning leg. I did not expect that since he was injured, but at least he was fairly fresh. Unfortunately, hard to see what his split was due to the camera coverage, but i believe it to be sub 26. He actually made up about 5 meters on the Brit, Pat L. That, I didn't expect. It was a race. Reggie took the baton just 5m behind Brit, Mike V. This is where the race was decided. Mike lengthened the lead to 7m at the top of the backstretch and kept widening the gap. Reggie's last 50m was particularly slow and Mike extended his lead to 23m by the time he handed off to Peter. Peter took a 23m lead into the back stretch and I fiercely chased him (photo #1)
Over the next 100m, by the time he reached the top of the home stretch, I had cut half of his lead to about 13m. (Photo #2)
But he had too big of a lead. I couldn't get him. They won by about 10m.
Although we had the faster heat with Britain, the Bronze medalists - Spain, came from heat 1. We ran 1:45.08, avg 26.27, respectable. I regret a little that I coasted the last few strides after Peter won the race, maybe we could have got under 1:45. I would have regretted it a lot more if Spain had beat us on time, but they were 3 sec behind. I was surprised that the Brits set a European record with their effort in 1:43.66. Still 2 seconds slower than the WR set by a USA team with Bill Collins in 1:41.53.
TEAM USA's approximate splits, M60 4x200m relay:
1) Rob - 26.70
2) Marcus - 25.60
3) Reggie - 26.90
4) Me - 25.90
Average: 26.27
The thing about these relays at World Championships, they are usually made up of the fastest members of each national team and by the time they are run, these sprinters have already competed in many rounds of races. No telling what these teams could do if they were fresh.
So, after the 4x200m races, it set up a logistical nightmare. We had to receive our medals in the ceremony, which was running late, and then get back down to the warmup area to get ready and report for the mixed 4x200m relays. Rob had to catch a train and couldn't attend so I collected his medal for him. By the time India had collected her medal, our top woman on the mixed 4x200 team, it was about time to report to the call room. I saw her as I was packing up after my all too brief (and painful) warmup. She said, "I warmed up running down here!"
Mixed 4x200m Relay World Championship
Knowing that the Brits were using their men's B team on this relay, and that we had the strongest women, we were clear favorites to win this. The only thing that would prevent it would be an injury or a DQ. We'd be so far ahead that even a baton drop would affect the result. It went according to plan.
These mixed relays are crowd favorites because the teams can configure them in any order. Personally, I think it's a mistake to do it any other way but male, female, female, male. But some teams found out the hard way by putting a woman on anchor, like the the USA X65 team. (... and that is the designation for mixed: "X"). Fortunately, all X60 teams did it the same - M, F, F, M.
Rob led off and gave Shemayne a 10m lead, which she widened to 15m+ by the break. It was pretty much over at that point. By the time India, our top woman got the stick, she had 20m+. India widened the lead to 35m+ by the time she handed to me. First time I ever received the baton from a woman. And... since mens relay members aren't used to working with women, and we had not time to practice, we decided to not use blind handoffs.
I got the stick about just a few meters into the zone so my leg was about 207 meters. My actual 200m split was about 26.12. Not bad for my 5th 200m race, after three 400s.
By the time I finished, I had a lead of at least 70m. If you look carefully at this photo, you can see Stuart, British athlete, starting the far turn as I'm coming down the home stretch.
TEAM USA's approximate splits, X60 4x200m mixed relay:
1) Rob - 27.40
2) Shemayne - 30.00
3) India - 29.80
4) Me - 26.12
Everyone knew that the Gold Medalists in this event would, by default, set a masters world record in this event since this was the fist time it was contested. By the time of these relays, the stands were pretty full with fellow teammates and competitors as this was the week's final event. A lot of yelling and cheering, good ole team spirit. Walking off the track, we got a huge ovation, and stopped for a photo.
The medal ceremony was nice and the ladies sung loudly. Rob was unable to attend so I collected his medal. While I don't regard relay Championships and medals on the same level as individual medals, it was nice to get them, and the $200 in prize money that will come with it. That more than paid for my food for the week. Also, it was an honor to be selected to anchor both relays as top USA M60 sprinter.
Yea, that last 200m hurt, but a groin injury is just a soreness, not a mechanical disability like a hamstring tear. At this level, injuries make or break champions. Talking with Marcus, we both agreed if we had Damon or certainly Allan on the M60 team, we could've won. Damon is injured and Allan doesn't like to run 200s unless he's trained for it.
I'm definitely going to need a break to heal this groin issue. A break from sprinting, not a break from training. I'll be back on the bike, and doing some hiking in the spring wildflowers. I wanted to race in some local college meets but that's probably not wise if I want to run at Penn Relays.
Actually, I'm a little worried about getting sick. All week I've been crammed in tight spaces with other athletes, lots of them. Not a situation I usually like to encounter. Call rooms, medal ceremonies, warmups, etc... I really hope I don't get covid.
Afterward, I met up with Stephen and we went to eat at a local top rated restaurant. I've definitely gained weight. Food is super cheap here. Gas isn't. I wanted to do more sight seeing while here, but I was so depressed on my day off after the 400m, I stayed in bed most of the day. I did get out a little toward evening.
More on the visit outside of the track in a future post.
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