|
Sidelines
Kalani Simpson
|
UH's rainbow track almost set for meet
HAWAII track coach Carmyn James sounds even more excited than usual.
The Rainbow Wahine host the WAC track championships next week. Five hundred athletes are going to be competing. Teams start arriving Sunday, the rest the day after that. They'll run from noon until about 6:30 p.m. every day. Most of the stuff is even ready at the rainbow track.
Most of it.
"We're working on our javelin runway," James said yesterday, as she converted more believers, this time at the Honolulu Quarterback Club. "Concrete has been poured and we were inspecting it this morning. We're going to start putting the concrete sealer on it tomorrow morning and then the glue and the rubber come on Friday. Then we'll cover it with bricks. Remove the bricks on Monday and we'll be set to go for that."
It should even be ready three days early.
That's something, when you consider last summer, when UH hosted the USA Masters Track and Field Championships, they were hoisting the big posts up for the hammer cage the day before the event.
So this is really something to get excited about. All the teams in the Western Athletic Conference, women's and men's, a full-on, big-time track atmosphere. Hawaii hosting something. New events.
"The steeplechase," James said, "that's the event where they run like seven times around the track and every lap they jump over this big water pit. And it's always fun to watch to see who makes it and who doesn't."
You just sit there and wait for the splash? That is my kind of spectator sport. Maybe they could put something IN the big water pit.
And the hammer throw. "Which is a shot put on the end of a long wire," James said.
Sounds innovative. And dangerous. I've always thought the shot put could use a long wire.
Then, with its runway still sparkling new, there is the javelin. Sure to be a thrilling sight.
"Especially because one of the fellas from Boise State who's No. 1 in the WAC, he can throw that about 80 meters, so that's" -- James started mumbling -- "times three, plus something ...
"It's really, really far," she decided.
Yes, it turns out that track is a fun sport.
(Just an aside: 500 participants staying for about a week, and don't forget assorted coaches, dozens of officials, all of them in town thanks to this event -- is Wahine track and field "good for the whole state"? It would appear so.)
I'm sold. I'm hooked. I'm there. Let's go. Let's hope the concrete comes together in time.