Pine Belt Pacers Forum

For those of you who have never done this event before, it is a blast!! To describe it in a nutshell, it is a mini track meet with different teams competing for points in the various events. The highest scoring teams win. For seveal years, we have not had enough Pacer or otherwise team support, (you don't have to be a club member to have a team), so we actually competed individually in every event. Now, this is exhausting, hot and sweaty, and lasts at least half the day.

Ok, now that you know what it is, I need to know if we can get enough involvement/interest in doing this event. Now, having said that, I also need to know if anyone would like to be in charge of this event. You will have plenty of club support, and lots of free advice, but if we are going to do this, I need someone in charge. In the past, Jim Coll headed this, but do to obvious reasons, (new baby and school), he is not able to continue.

If we don't have enough interest and a race director, we will cancel this event, and Charles Jackson (social co-chair), has some ideas for another event, not as time consuming, but I am sure, just as fun.

So, all of you, please give your input, ideas, and forward any questions. Thanks ,

Okay, I voted in my poll!! So far, it is an army of 1. If I participate by myself, I can't lose!! I win the big prize!! A trip to....... downtown Hattiesburg!! As everyone, (get it, everyone), takes this poll, please leave comments and input. I would really like to see some new members give feedback. This is your club, and we want to make it special. I know sometimes, people don't want to be involved, just maintain a silent membership status, which is ok, however, if you really want to have a good time and meet like minded people, it really pays to get involved. If not this event, consider future events, you will meet some very interesting and fun people and make some great friendships.

Our whole family came to this event for our first time last year and all agreed that this was our favorite pacer event. Jennifer is a racewalker, she does some short distance running in her training. Last year she did not participate in this event, because she did not think that they would be anything that she could do. She found that to be wrong there were several events that she could have participated in. In my opinion, which is usually wrong, this is the best pacer event for kids. Bo had a blast last year, and was able to participate in most of the events. Kily's family was at the event last year and was the highlight of the day. My daughter Ashlyn also enjoyed the day, she feasted on the ice cream provided. Don't let our family's opinion influence the decision on having the event. There may be some other events that may suit other's as a whole.

I have to agree 100% with Ray. That one is my favorite Pine Belt Pacer event in the year. Tha is good for some family fun too! I just missed last year's relay because I was in Colombia with my wife and kids.
I will try to participate in the relays this year again (all depends on some crazy field work I have to do almost the entire month around MS).

If I am there, I will help to tabulate the partial and total scores after each event. If the Relays finally take place, we could do some advertising and invite some groups from other areas.

Those Pacers who have not participated in this event yet,.. you don't have any idea all the fun you missed. Come on, join us!

Back to the top, cuz a decision needs to happen ASAP on this event. Please take the poll, or write your comments, or e-mail someone so I can figure out if we will have enough interest. If a majority wants to do this, or if enough of you say go for it, I will do what I can to make it happen. Having said that, I need to jump on this right now!! So, don't wait till the last minute. Chime in!! Thanks,

Kelton and I are excited about this event! We've never participated before but have been anticipating it this year. I hope there is enough interest.

We can and are willing to help with this event as much as possible just tell us what you need done.

I would like a little additional info on the event if possible so we can plan accordingly. We are planning to "bring a team" but I'm not certain how many make up a team, and/or if each member must do every event, also which events we would be competing in?

Thanks so much for working to organize this event that sounds like alot of fun.

The Turners

Before we get too far in the planning, maybe we should solicit opinions from likely participants regarding what events they would like to have.

Never one to hold back my opinion, I'll get it started:

Softball Throw - I like this one because it sort of balances things a bit. Some of the stronger more coordinated, but maybe not speedsters, usually do well in this event.

Standing Broad Jump - Same as above, except that it's hard to predict who will do well. Also, kids/younger people like this one.

Racewalk - Anyone can do this one and we can DQ those who cheat.

1500 or Mile Run - This is one of the rare opportunities to see how fact we can do this event. I prefer the mile as the event.

Relays - In the past, we've done a 4 x 100 and a 4 x 400. I think it might be better if we did the 4 x 100 and the 4 x 800. My reasoning is that the 4 x 100 and the 4 x 400 are too much alike and there is more likelyhood of injury when you do two such short races with a bunch of distance runners.

Steeplechase - I think this is good in that it is so unique. It would be even more fun if we actually had water.

Kid's Quarter/Ice Cream - We have to have this one. The kids and parents really have fun.

What's your opinion???? If we do decide to have this, I think we should have some publicity and perhaps get non-members involved. I think that PCS and Oak Grove schools would probably have some kids. Heck, the Stricker family could win it by themselves and I'm not kidding about that.

I agree with all the events that you have listed!! I think, yes, we should advertise, but I am thinking we may need to set a limit as to how many teams. We may need to hurry this up, get it out there if we are going to do it, and maybe set a pre registration only? My thinking is this, I don't want to have to run 2 heats in every event because we have so many teams and we can't fit them on the track. Logistically, this causes probs as we will need more volunteers, it will take longer, (it will already be hot as hades), and scoring becomes more problematic. Since this event may happen with spur of the moment planning, I would like to keep things as simple as possible. Ginny said she can get me shirts, if we act soon. I was going to talk to Keith and Deborah about some etched glass awards for top team finishers, and I will still need to talk to Scott re: ice cream (and Scott is probably on his honeymoon).
Just another thought regarding this event (and we haven't completely commited), I thought it might be fun to contact the other running clubs and kind of make a friendly competition between their clubs and ours. I know some of you are members of several different clubs, and that is fine, you just have more choices of teams!! Anyway, keep the feedback coming. Be blunt, be honest, like the ideas, don't like the ideas,
all input is valued, accepted, and extremely appreciated.

Something that everyone needs to realize is that track meets take time to complete. It *will* be an entire morning. Otherwise, you will have people injured or sick from doing too many events too quickly.

In order to have only one heat of the relays, just limit the number of teams to eight. The other events such as the softball throw, broad jump could have more---maybe 2 or 3. The mile and the racewalk could handle up to 3 entries per team and still have one heat. The same could be true for the steeple because I doubt we'd have that many who would ultimately do it.

With the relays, we probably should state that each team must have at least one female.

We should set a date for entry so that we actually know how many teams we will have. All we would need at this time is a statement that there will be an team and then we can get the details as the date approaches.

I think we should have two people volunteer to be responsible for each event. That way, no one person is overworked. We would also need a person to be responsible for scorekeeping (someone who is not competing). I think that Anita Sumrall did this last year and did a great job. Others could help, but I think you need one person designated to be in charge.

I also think that we need one person to volunteer to administer the Kid's Quarter Mile. Maybe Scott and Jamie???

I'm not yet sure if Hollie and I will be in town. If we are, we can act as somewhat "directors" in the capacity of announcing/timing/etc. If we're not here, you'll need someone to do that.

We need to determine if we want to make money for the USM Track Scholarship. If so, we need to charge entry fees and have probably need to have shirts. If we want it to be a low-key fun event, we can forget about shirts and awards. I vote for low-key, but that's just my opinion. We could just ask participants to make a donation to the scholarship fund. I'm OK with whatever the group decides.

I'm just throwing out ideas. If this is going to happen, we need input from everyone who is going to participate. This should not be something that one person administers---it should be a club effort. If you want it to happen, you need to step up and volunteer.

I agree with Becky's comments on the events. The 800m walk is a lottery; the softball throw and the Standing Broad Jump give opportunity to other people to lead who may not be the fastest runners. The 1500m (or the mile) is the king of the individual events, and it is nice to have the female and male races separated (if there are enough participants). The Steeplechase is unique (I love to take pictures of people jumping into the water ditch). The kids race is a A++++

The only difference with Becky's points would be in the team relays. I think we should keep the 4 x 100 and 4 x 400. Although is true there is more likelyhood of injury when you do two such short races with a bunch of distance runners, the thing is that everyone will not do all the event (like we did back in 2007! crazy people ). In addition, a 4 x 800 would be a little too long and even a little boring because we can expect one or two teams be 3 minutes ahead of the others. Anyway, more opinions are very welcome.

If we have 8 teams as we did the first year back in 2005, it would be great! -- If we have some people coming from the coast, Jackson or Meridian, it would be nice too.

ryderruns wrote:.......
We need to determine if we want to make money for the USM Track Scholarship. If so, we need to charge entry fees and have probably need to have shirts. If we want it to be a low-key fun event, we can forget about shirts and awards. I vote for low-key, but that's just my opinion. We could just ask participants to make a donation to the scholarship fund. I'm OK with whatever the group decides.....
.

I also think it should be a low-key fun event! We don't need to make it too complicated. It remind me of the 2-mile predicted time series (they have a lot of participation, and club members don't get overstressed while organizing them). The voluntary donation to the scholarship fund sounds good too! -- What about awards? I guess we could use some of the left-overs from previous races that are sitting in the trailer.

The individual events can be done in one heat independently of the number of participants. The 4 x 100 only takes 1 minute, so we could eventually have 2 heats if it were necessary. More than one heat of the relays would be only looooong and difficult to swallow for the 4 x 400.

OK, I have emailed the track coach at USM to confirm that we can actually use the track on June 6th. As soon as he gets back to me, I will start assigning all of you tasks to assist with this event!! Let's do it, and quit talking about it!! It will be low key, lots of fun, and even if only 7 of you participate, it will be a blast. I have confidence that we will have at least 7 teams from the response through e mails and on this forum. If the coach at USM says it is ok, I am still going to e-mail or talk to the other running clubs for some good natured competition. (I think we can take 'em) So, pending confirmation of the track, I will see all of you JUNE 6th, mark those calendars, and let's GO, GO, GO!!!

Deborah and I plan to be there if we have it. I talked to Kris King and I think he is coming. I'll have a whole team.

Let's see who I know will be there

- Audrey Jackson
- Richie Sumrall
- Scott and Jamie Martin
- Christy and Kelton Turner (they are forming a team with friends. cool!)
- Ray, Jennifer, and Bo Henderson
- Neil Solomon
- Deborah and Keith Barrett
- Kris King
- Nestor Raul Anzola
- I talked to our friend Rock Earhart (AKA Rockola) from the coast. He may come with some friends and a team from the GCRC.

- Someone talk with the Stricker family! For sure they could make a very competitive team with all the kids.
- We could also contact Jack Ward from the MTC. Maybe some of the guys from Jackson could come down that day. Anyone talk to the guys from the Meridian Athletic Association??

I'll be there, but I'm one of the not-so-fast peeps and will most likely opt for the softball throw and maybe the race walk. I'd be willing to volunteer to help with the speedster races.