ROANOKE TIMES 

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, June 18, 1990                   TAG: 9006180195
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: A-14   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

TRACK AND FIELD GET SHORT SHRIFT IN GAMES

YOUR HEADLINE writer made a poor choice in titling the June 6 article on the Virginia State Games "Let the games begin." That is the traditional opening proclamation for the international Olympic Games, the centerpiece of which is track and field competition.

I challenge the average reader to find any reference to track and field in the guide map of "Where the games are." It's easy to find tennis; it's listed in large letters at six different locales. However, if you scrupulously study the three listings for basketball, you will note under one of them in very fine print that track and field seems to be a subevent that will also be held at Salem High School.

As far as master's track and field competition is concerned, that low-status perception turns out to be fact. Masters are offered three events, total: the 100-meter run, the mile run and the shot put. And if that is not enough to discourage them from entering, they are lumped into one group: 40 and above.

I had naively assumed that the Virginia State Games would be no less than the North Carolina State Games, which offer a full schedule of track and field events, with five-year age-grouped masters' competition. Virginia has a fine bunch of senior athletes who compete regularly in the five-year age-grouped state masters' meets each year at UVa, as well as national and international meets.

You can bet that they won't show up in Roanoke. A man may be an ex-Olympian, and a world champion in his 60-year-old group, but there is no way he can compete against a 40-year-old. N.L. WECKSTEIN ROANOKE

Editor's note: Because of a graphic artist's errors, much of the map was incorrect. A corrected verson appears on the Calendar page in today's Extra section. 


 by CNB