Jeff Benjamin’s Split Time! First in a series
“If We Build It Will They Come?”
Without a doubt one of the greatest challenges facing Track & Field in this century (& towards the tail end of the last century) has been top of the line-produced great track meets with stellar performances in stadiums that have not been filled with fans. It sure seems that whenever a track meet takes place at that level, the meet directors have had to hire Captain Louis Renault of “Casablanca” fame to loudly proclaim -
“Round up the usual suspects!”
Even World Athletics leader Seb Coe has talked about ways to get those seats filled up.
“My vision is to have a sport that attracts more young people. The average age of those watching track and field is 55 years old. This is not sustainable.” -- World Athletics Leader Sebastian Coe
Nowadays, however some have tried to break out of that sandbagged mold. In my humble running opinion, I’ve seen a pattern set up by some innovative meet promoters to get people to come. Just get them to pin on a number and run too! This format is not brand new. Back in 2017 at NYC’s Icahn Stadium in Randall’s Island, the TrackTown USA meet (put on by Vin Lanana) involving world-class athletes led off with a people’s 5K run which stated and finished on the track. The accompanying race # also counted as a ticket to stay and watch the meet and boy, was it packed! Amazingly, many of these longtime runners had never even been to a live world-class meet yet they were cheering and getting into it on that night, especially for Robby Andrews, who punched his ticket that night to the World Championships in the 1500 meters!
Rich Kenah gets it as well! The former New Jerseyite and World Champs Bronze Medalist, who now runs the Atlanta Track Club has taken on the mantle for his city, calling Atlanta “Running City USA" as well as announcing a new meet - The Adidas Atlanta City Games - where track events will be taking place in downtown Atlanta at Centennial Olympic park. And to draw people to the event, there will also be the “The Running City Mile”, which is open to the public and will be run in waves sorted by age groups and finishing with a wave for invited top World-class milers! A great, innovative idea to get people into the seats for sure, as well as a potential blueprint for other track meet promoters to adapt! I guess if you build it, they first must run to come! Bell Lap Trivia Congratulations! You’ve survived this hopefully not too grueling reading exercise to reach our finish line. A potential award awaits! Thanks to the generosity of ASICS, one of you will be receiving a pair of running shoes by participating in the trivia challenge below. Please email jeffsrunningworld@gmail.com with your answer by February 10 at 9AM and we will then draw a name from the proverbial hat!
The Question: Back in the last century I had the opportunity (twice!) to work the NYC Marathon expo with this guy on the left in the pic!
Can you identify him?
Good Luck & Keep Running!