Welcome to the concept of Polar Bear Track and Field! Historically, Polar Bear has been the province of the southern tier of states--it's outdoor track and field during indoor season. Because, in the deep south, there's often very little point in going indoors.
Weather permitting, TCA will host Colorado's first-ever high school Polar Bear track meet on February 20. We will contest races of 600, 1000, and 2000 meters, plus a distance medley.
The odd distances are all about learning about racing and not about settling into familiar patterns with the 800, 1600, or 3200. The distance medley (1200-400-800-1600) is there because high school distance types in Colorado never seem to get to run that event. We aim to fix that omission. We need some records for that event!
For the throwers, there are plans to have shot put and discus as well.
The entry fee will be $10 per athlete, for as many events as an athlete wants to take on. If a team wants to do nothing more than the distance medley, we'll charge $10 for that relay.
Due to the potential of a weather cancellation (either of the entire meet or, potentially, only of one or both throws), we will not collect any money in advance. Simply come to the meet with your entry fee in hand (cash only, please). On the other hand, we really do need to know how many to expect, so please let me know if you're coming by sending me an e-mail at the address listed in the black banner area at the bottom of the page. Coaches, if you intend to bring multiple athletes, please use the attached entry spreadsheet below. Also, if you plan to bring multiple athletes, please plan to help us with timing or marking as well. This will be a low-key kind of affair (at least to begin with), and keeping costs low means everyone pitches in and helps.
All athletes participating must turn in a signed waiver form (also attached below) when paying the entry fee. Try to have it filled out in advance and bring it with you, but we'll have a few blank copies on hand for those who arrive without one.
We will use hand timing, and results will be posted on Colorado Track XC. For now, we're taking all the entries we get, but we reserve the right to curtail additional entries if the size of the event starts to get out of hand.
The physical address for The Classical Academy is 975 Stout Road, Colorado Springs, 80921. The meet will begin at 10 AM. Competition order for track events will go: 1000, 600, 2000, DMR. We will use a rolling schedule, but I will try to estimate start times closer to the meet date once we have a clearer idea of the number of entries. We hope to keep the 1000 and 600 to heats of eight and assign everyone a lane with a single-turn stagger off the start.
If the idea is successful, we may plan to expand this to a series of three such events next winter.
Please watch this site closely for weather updates. If the track cannot be sufficiently cleared, the meet will be cancelled and advance notice given. If one or both rings are unsafe, one or both throwing events will be cancelled.
And, of course, Colorado Track XC will be on-hand for coverage!