Look for a high performance middle distance/distance meet in Spokane before USA nationals...
As the holidays creep closer into our minds, as well as transitioning to 2022, the site will not be as active until the start of the new year, though we will be working on the return of the Mercanator Awards for 2021, which returns after a one-year hiatus due to the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic.
That said, should there be breaking news, we will be on it.
Last week, I had the opportunity to attend the Portland Track photography show, which featured works by Oregon based photographers Jake Willard, Tim Healy, Cortney White, and Howard Lao, who is a contributor to the site.
Each of them made prints of ten of their most iconic pieces of work over the last year-plus, counting the truncated 2020 season.
Beyond Howard, who has contributed photos to this site after graduating from the University of Washington (and who I occasionally remind about his carry on a UW 4x4 relay his freshman year), I've had a chance to get to know these photographers from working alongside them over the last few seasons, most recently at the US Olympic Trials in Eugene this summer.
I've embedded courtesy of Portland Track's Instagram page, four of Howard's top photos, including the shot from the 2020 Big Friendly meet in McKenzie, called TREES, featuring Washington alum Mel Lawrence, Konstanze Klosterhalfen, and Shannon Rowbury, which was selected as one of World Athletics' top photos of 2020.
You can also watch Jake, Cortney, and Howard talk about their work (Tim was unable to attend due to a work commitment) with host Jeff Merrill (above/Paul Merca photo).
While it was nice to catch up in a social setting with athletes such as Jessica Hull, Craig Nowak, and Courtney Frerichs, it was also nice to talk shop with Merrill, along with the key cogs of Portland Track, Michael Bergmann, and Craig Rice.
As John Blanchette of the Spokane Spokesman-Review first reported last week, The Podium in Spokane will host what is tentatively called the Lilac Grand Prix, an abridged program of 10 single heat middle distance races, set up to hit the 2022 world indoor championship standards (men: 1:46.70 800m, 3:39.00/3:55.00 1500/mile; 7:50 3000; women: 2:01.50 800; 4:09.00/4:28.50 1500/mile; 8:49.00 3000), as well as the 2022 world outdoor championship standards.
Turns out that the date for this proposed meet is Friday February 11th, the same night as the first night of competition at the Husky Classic in Seattle.
Portland Track is helping organize the fields for this event, as they were asked by Union Athletics Club (the rebranded Nike sponsored club based in Portland featuring several athletes from the old Nike Oregon Project) head coach and former Washington State University distance coach Pete Julian, since marks from oversized tracks such as Washington's Dempsey Indoor won't count for world indoor championship qualifying.
That said, a new rule approved by the World Athletics council effective November 1st allows indoor marks from oversized tracks such as Dempsey Indoor to count towards qualifying for the world outdoor championships in Eugene. That also means that an outright world record can be set on an oversized indoor track, such as Dempsey's 307m oval.
According to sources close to the situation, Portland Track will announce sometime after the new year more information on the high performance meet in Spokane.
NOTE: Portland Track and World Athletics contributed to this report.
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