Back on Track

The aptly named "Team A"

 

Olympians,

What thing chasing you would make you run faster? Ghouls, warlocks, vampires, rabid beasts, a skeleton?Find out 100m gold medalist Mitch Ross' answer in the winner's interview! Thankfully it wasn't a haboob-like storm such as the one that scared us off the track at our first attempt at this event back in September. Happy (belated) Halloween, everyone, and we hope to see you at the next event!

Index:

Invite: Gymnastics V: Balance Beam

Just Finished: Athletics XVI

Honorable Mention:  Tom Bennett Pole Vaults for General Patton

Ongoing: Pickleball Tournaments 

INVITE! Gymnastics V: Balance Beam

By popular vote, our next remote event is Beam! From now until the end of the year, find yourself a balance beam and send in a video of your routine for our judges to score! Please be careful and if you aren't at a gym, make sure you have adequate padding around the beam and/or don't push your limits too hard. We don't want any injuries! Here's what to include in the video of your routine:

1. 70-90 seconds long

2. Start by jumping or vaulting onto the beam

3. Include your best attempt at these movements:

1. Steps

2. Running

3. Jumping

4. Turning

5. Sitting

4. Finish your routine by sticking your dismount!

Our judges will evaluate the difficulty and execution of the routines to score them. Good luck out there! 

Just Finished: Athletics XVI

While this event was originally slated for September, one of those classic Painted Desert dust storms blew into town just as we were to meet at the track. With sand in our eyes, we turned around and headed home. This time, the weather was cool and calm: perfect for a run. Historians may note that this was a repeat event. Way back in Athletics I in 2010, we ran the 100m with Derek Finsterwalder taking home the gold. The catch? Everyone present ran, so there was no record of the time. This dash redux would be different, with Sylvia Cardounell running stopwatch.

 

The evening began with Heat 1 of the 100m dash. Newcomers Annie Silcox, Sarah Rose Cass, and Gus Ruchman lined up with Our Olympics Shot Put medalist Rickey Lawson. At the drop of a hand, the four bolted down the track, chasing the worst Olympian Sharon Firisua of the Solomon Islands' time of 14.31 seconds. Ruchman, probably thanks to his warm-up lap, sped ahead and won the heat, coming in at 15.97s. For Heat 2, Gabi and Mitch Ross took on Katrina and Gustave Sexauer and Val Thoroyan. With Fenrir barking in place of a starting gun, the five took off, giving it their all. There would be no combined final, so there was no room for error. The five started to spread out, and by the nature of the short race, no one was able to mount a comeback. Thoroyan bested Ruchman's time by over half a second! Not to be outdone, Gustave Sexauer impossibly surpassed the time of Firisua with a 14.05! But even that wasn't enough to win this Our Olympics competition. Mitch Ross had crossed the line in 13.24 seconds for the gold!

 

Thanks to an impressive attendance, the schedule of events doubled to include a 4x100m run (aka the 400m relay). Finish times from the 100m were used to create teams in A-B-B-A-A-B-B-A order. Team A included Annie Silcox, Rickey Lawson, Gus Ruchman, and Mitch Ross. Team B consisted of Sarah Rose Cass, Katrina Sexauer, Val Thoroyan, and Gustave Sexauer. The runners took their marks, with Cass feeling like she was cheating, starting a bit farther into the corner in lane 2 than Silcox at the start of the curve in lane 1. But that's how the game is played, and Team A had the disadvantage of running a tighter corner. The two sped off around the corner keeping roughly neck and neck until the first exchange. This is where the adage "practice makes perfect" came in. Without ever practicing the hand off, it was a sloppy sight for both teams, which would only slightly improve in the later exchanges thanks to Thoroyan and M. Ross' prior experience with batons. Rickey Lawson pulled away from Katrina Sexauer down the backstretch, giving Team A the lead. Ruchman turned his heat winning, but non-medaling pace, up a notch with vengeance as he kept ahead of Thoroyan in the final curve. Sexauer got the baton for the homestretch, but Mitch Ross was already meters ahead. Unfortunately by this last exchange, both teams had clocked times beyond the 43.99s Trinidad and Tobago (the Olympic's worst) effort. Those who watched from across the track could barely see Ross as he blurred across the final 100m, clearly shifting into a gear no one else could find this evening. Team A rounded out the relay with a 1:13.03, with Team B trailing by four seconds.

 

Winner's Interview with Mitch Ross

 

OO: What's your experience with running, and the 100m?

MR: I ran track in high school, but mostly middle distance like the 400m and 800m. But once I got put on the 4x100m relay team!

OO: If you moved solely to qualify for the Olympics, what country would you compete for, and what sport would it be?

MR: Equatorial Guinea... for the bobsled.

OO: How will you display your medal?

MR: I will never take it off. Until I leave this track.

OO: Would you rather fight one thousand ant-sized horses, or one horse-sized ant?

MR: Probably a horse-sized ant. One thousand is just too many to handle.

OO: Who are you wearing?

MR: Polo by Ralph Lauren, vintage: French Olympic uniform 1998.

OO: If you made a track out of something edible, what would it be?

MR: Chocolate Jell-o

OO: What will you use your new found PTO for?

MR: Thanksgiving is coming up!

OO: Can we have another pet?

MR: No!

OO: What was your most embarrassing moment of the past year?

MR: I crowdsourced this one. When I was rolling incorrectly for a whole game of Dungeons and Dragons.

OO: What animal chasing you would make you run faster?

MR: A skunk!

Honorable Mention: Tom "Pops" Bennett and the Pole Vault

Pops was Gustave's grandfather. This is an excerpt from his memoir about World War II:

"During this time August 1945, my friend Fritz and I were driving through Nuremberg in a weapons carrier truck when I saw this poster about a Third Army Track Meet to be held in Nuremberg with everybody in the Third Army eligible. On the spur of the moment we decided to check it out. We drove to the Nuremberg Athletic Fields which was a huge complex – running tracks, swimming pool and the like. It wasn’t completed yet but it was big. I went in and talked to the guy at the desk. I told him my background and he said he’d give me a try. I had to prove myself. So I went out on the track and pole vaulted a few times. He knew enough about track to see that I was a pole vaulter so he signed me up!
I must of signed up awfully late because my name is not in the program. I don’t remember the exact time
line but I did get there in time to compete! Some guys had been practicing while I hadn’t touched a pole in
three years. I think I tied for 2nd or 3rd place vaulting 12’3”or 4”. Some kid went 13’4” and won. I also think I qualified to compete in the European Theater Championship in Italy but I was more interested in going home. General Patton was at the Third Army Track Meet in Nuremberg. My buddy took a picture of General Patton watching me pole vault. This picture of General Patton and me was what set in motion the whole notion of writing my World War II memoir."

 

 

Ongoing: Pickleball Singles and Doubles

We have two ongoing and long term tournaments going on: pickleball singles and doubles. Our goal is to finish the tournaments before these events are added to the Olympics. The singles tournament starts with groups of four in group stage, followed by a bracket for the winners. The doubles tournament is a double elimination round robin. Let Gustave know if you want to participate!

See you at the next event!

Link to Our Olympics Website

-Gustave

Commissioner, Our Olympics