Track meet provides possible solution for return to sports
As the sun set over San Tan Valley, with the wind kicking up dust along the mountains, it seemed like the end of any other mid-June day.
However, for three days at Poston Butte High School, something had been occurring that hadn't happened for almost three months. A live sport was taking place and there was a live audience to watch it.
The Desert Dream-Last Hurrah Track & Field Invitational saw athletes from as close as Chandler to as far a Chicago, and from as young as 13 to as old as 63, centralize on the high school in the East Valley for three days of competition. While athletes competed "unattached", each event meant something different for everyone there.
Russell Jacquet-Acea, 67, hadn't participated in a meet since February and jumped at the chance to be a part of the Desert Dream-Last Hurrah Invitational, traveling all the way down from Seattle. He would take fourth in the 20+ group of the men's 400 dash and third in the men's 200 dash.
"It feels fantastic to get back out here," Jacquet-Acea said. "I've been working out twice a week and it feels good to have done something with it."
The feeling of getting antsy and jumping at the opportunity to compete again was felt among many of those on and around the track. Darius Kipyego, a native of Rhode Island and a member of the 2019 USA U-20 Pan American Championship team booked a last minute flight to Phoenix on Thursday.
While Kipyego wasn't too impressed with his performance in the men's 800, taking third place with a time of 1:51.59, he said it felt amazing to get on the track again.
Kipyego also had the pleasure of having his grandparents and sister in the audience to watch him run.
"This was the first race I've ran in a while, so I wasn't really happy with what I ran, but it's good to have a race under your belt for the future," Kipyego said. "It's also nice that my family had the chance to watch me run live. I wish I could've done a little better, but it's whatever."
While the environment felt very similar to any other track and field invitational, major precautions were put in place to prevent the spread of coronavirus. Every individual's temperature was taken before entering the stadium and those who went in were expected to wear a face mask.
In the pole vaulting events, participants brought their own poles to use and on the track, starting blocks were sanitized every time a new heat began. Even the athletes holding down the starting blocks for those getting in the setting position faced away from the runner.
James Smith, who was the head starter at the Desert Dream-Last Hurrah Invitational said it felt great to see the invitational start and finish successfully. Smith explained that the process to approve the invitational involved sanctioning with the local government and following proper safety protocol after the state had opened up.
"I'm a track coach and a official, and not doing anything for your whole season is not the best, but we know we know we have to be safe for the athletes and the people here," Smith said. "We have to let the Pandemic go away and we can get back to somewhat normal. I don't know if we can get back to total normal, because we'll still have a lot of these safety things, even next year."
The safety precautions imposed gave competing athletes and coaches some hope for seeing sports return safely. Back in Jacquet-Acea's home city of Seattle, he is hoping to relay his positive experience to track meet officials in the Pacific Northwest.
"We're supposed to have first allcomers track meets in July, so I'm going to tell them that I saw some good things happening in Arizona and maybe they can use them to improve what they're working on up there," JacquetAcea said.
For Smith, he believes that the three day invitational acts as a successful pilot to show how sporting events can be conducted during a Pandemic.
"Until one person does it right, everyone is waiting with their baited breath about what to do," Smith said. "I think it'll be really good for other sports and track."