Catching Up with GTC Masters Indoor Meet Organizers Ed Boemke and Ken Wempe

Ed Boemke

 GTC: You just conducted the USATF Southeast Region Masters Indoor Championships last weekend. Was this a one-time event or will it return in the future?
Ken: We are hoping that the indoor meet at Tryon will be an annual event, most likely in January.  We want to provide opportunities for folks to compete during the winter months, and to try out indoor track and see how much fun it is.

Ed: I certainly hope there are many more in the future!  Our committee was fully committed to making this event the very best we possibly could so that the facility and the USATF would not be hesitant for us to use the facility and host the Southeast Region again next year.

GTC: What are your expectations for the near future?
Ken: Some of the athletes will use a meet like ours as a stepping stone to the USATF Indoor National Championships in late February. 

Ed: I would personally like to see this meet double or even triple in size.  We had 215 athletes entered which was way more than we expected.  I would also like for the GTC to somehow be involved with the USATF and Tryon International in hosting the USATF National Indoor Meet and the World Championships. 

GTC: Putting on a meet of those proportions looks like a lot of work. What was the most difficult to get accomplished?
Ken: Ed did most of the work! 
It was a unique event because it was being held inside a new venue, outside of Greenville, and because we were coordinating with not only Tryon International but also the sponsoring bodies, USATF and USATF-SC, as well as the small colleges that planned to compete.  So a lot of coordination with good folks who love running and athletics.

Ed: I have been the meet director for hundreds of track and cross countrymeets for high school athletes as well as the race co-director for the GTC Run Downtown and the GTC Greer Earth Day Run.  However this was my very first indoor meet.  The main challenge was the frustration of not being in control of all parts that make a meet successful.  We were initially scheduled to share the arena with some college teams and we could never get anything definite about the number of teams orathletes so that made making a working schedule of events very hard. We were also told we could have the arena on Saturday night to do a few events and that was taken away.  With the facility being new, they still don't have all of the necessary equipment to hold a Master's
Meet like 27" hurdles and pole vault extenders that we were lucky to have from the GTC Outdoor Masters Meet.

GTC: The facility looked awesome. How does it compare to others in the Southeast?
Ken: It's extraordinary.  It's a competition equestrian arena that has been turned into an indoor track!  It has more space for athletes, coaches, spectators, and vendors than I've ever seen.  With its Mondo track surfaces, dual high jump/pole vault/long jump/triple jump/shot put, and seating for 3,500, it has capacity for very large meets. Lodging and dining are within walking distance of the track, making race logistics easy.

Ed: I have only been to a couple of indoor track facilities lately.  The Tryon facility by far is the best one.  Clemson and University of South Carolina have a track, but they are very congested with very fewspectators seats.  At Clemson, the teams have to set up outside! Tryon has ample room for the athletes and 3500 seats for spectators. It also has two areas for every field event which will help a meet go faster and smoother.  This venue should be ranked as one of the best in the country!

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GTC: Ed has been a meet organizer for many years. How did this experience compare?
Ed:  Every meet has its challenges.  This meet was no exception as I said above and those were just a few examples.  WIth every meet I try to be as organized as possible and think through every possible thing that could go wrong and then prepare for it.  In that way, this meet was like all of the others.  But the challenge of not using my facility, with my coaches, and my reliable officials that I have become accustomed to, made this meet one of the most challenging I have ever done.  Luckily I had Bill Keesling, Ken Wempe, Bob Burch, Jim Roberts, Mike Caldwell, Ian Whatlye and Susan Heiser-Whatley to bounce ideas and problems off of and host a meet that we should all be proud of. Ken Wempe was just fantastic working with the USATF and getting clarification on things like the awards that they give out, with the online entry service that worked very well, and trying to answer email
questions from many of the athletes (both before and after) in a very diplomatic way (which I think I couldn't have done after reading some of the emails!).  Ken offered a very calming effect to me as I tend to get very anxious before a meet.  He was extremely knowledgeable of every aspect of the meet, from the initial organization to the exact details on how things should be occur.  His help with this should earn him another Gold Medal.  Bob Burch worked with the management of the facility to get "swag" for the athletes and along with things we found in the GTC office from other events, we had a very nice bag to give the athletes (something I don't have to worry about with my other meets).  Jim Roberts took care of the tedious application and follow up with the USATF sanctioning process.  Mike Caldwell was instrumental in working with the college team trying to join us and getting
clarification for me on many aspects of what they wanted for their part of the meet.  And of course Bill Keesling!  His guidance and
leadership was such a tremendous guiding force for all of us.  So, luckily for me I had some outstanding help and, if they are all
willing, I am ready to do this again!!!

Ken Wempe (221) in action

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GTC: Ken not only organized the meet with USATF, but also competed. Tell us how that played out.
Ken: I'm grateful because directing the meet gave me a terrific excuse if I happened to not compete well.  I didn't have time to get pre-race nervous, so I did just fine.  It was a lot of fun.  I want to do it again!