Mayor Daley's Summer Track Program 2009

The Championship Track Meet

By Abby Baird, WSC Contributor

The Championship Track Meet was held on August 16th, 2009 at Eckersall stadium. While the weather was cool and cloudy that morning, everyone was excited to get started and hoping the rain would stay away.  This meet was the culmination of all previous meets held during the summer, with winners in each event being announced at the finish and awarded medals.

The meet began with an opening parade, with all qualifying athletes marching with their ward onto the track as well as a number of Olympians and Paralympians bringing up the rear.  Present at the meet were:  Bob Beamon ’68 Olympian and gold medal winner in the long jump, Gail Devers ’88, ’92, ’96, ’00, and ’04 Olympian and four time gold medal winner in track and field, Linda Mastandrea ’92 and ’96 Paralympian gold and silver medal winner in track and field, Connie Moore ’04 Olympian in track and field, Ernestine Pollards ’60 Olympian in track and field, Mamie Rallins ’68 and ’72 Olympian hurdler, Diana Williams Muhammad ’80 and ’84 Olympian in track and field.

After the parade was completed, a number of people gave inspirational speeches about how important a program like Mayor Daley’s Summer Track Program is and how much it affects the lives of the kids it touches.  “All that is left for you today is to get out there and do your best!”   Devers exclaimed at the end of her speech.  Devers has also been touring a number of Chicago Park District Schools giving clinics about track and field to groups of kids and is very involved in the Track Program.

There were a few athletes with disabilities competing in the meet aswell, proudly representing their wards.  While this year only a couple of paralympic athletes were able to join the program, as the program continues everyone is hoping to specifically expand the paralympic portion program.  “We are hoping to have a greater presentation of the paralympic sport next year.  Those with a great spirit,” Alderman Cochran said in his speech.
 
The day started off with the softball throw and the long jump.  The 10 and under athletes went first, followed by 12 and under and then finally 14 and under.  At the softball throw, some of the under 10 boys and girls, were able to throw over 80 feet.  With the strong winds yesterday, the softball throw was made even more difficult too for the participants, upping the number of scratches thrown, and making the distances recorded that much more impressive.

Next up were the semi finals-of the 100-meter dash, the only event with semi-final heats, as there were so many participants and thus so many qualifiers for the championships.  While the kids were racing it was announced that Usain Bolt, a three time gold medal winner in the 100, 200 and 4X100 meter relay at the Olympic Games in Beijing, as well as a world and Olympic record holder all three events, had just broken his own world record in 100-meter dash at the Track and Field World Championships, running the distance in 9.58 seconds.

After a couple hours the weather at the track meet started looking extremely ominous with dark clouds moving in fast.  While they tried to step up the meet to get more events done, during the 400 meter dash the rain suddenly started pouring down and everyone ran to the safety of the under hangs and huddled under the stadium waiting for a break, that would never come, and unfortunately the meet had to be postponed but was triumphantly finished on September 6th, 2009.