Time is running out. Enter or Update Your Seed Times/Marks No Later Than The Close of Late Entries Thursday, February 22 at 11:59 pm Eastern Time! SEED MARKS CANNOT BE CHANGED AFTER THE CLOSE OF LATE ENTRIES. There are many competitors in several events so seed times are very important.

In the 60m, 200m, and 60m hurdles heats will be seeded using posted seed times. The seeding will be done in such a manner that those with the best seed times are distributed through the heats in each age group. Those without seed times posted also will be distributed after all those with posted times are placed in heats. Advancement from heats to finals will be governed by the advancement chart that will soon be posted on the meet website and will be included in the meet program. It will be a mixture of advancement by place and by time, except where that would be unfair because of the large number of heats, in which case it will be solely by time.

In the events run as timed finals (everything else), those with the fastest seed times will be in one section (unless the number of entrants with seed times requires more than one section with athletes who have submitted times, in which case the heats will be seeded based on those times); those without seed times will be seeded in earlier, probably slower, sections.

IMPORTANT MESSAGE TO ATHLETES ENTERED IN THE
2018 MASTERS INDOOR CHAMPIONSHIPS

Welcome to the 2018 USATF Masters Indoor Championships! This is a long message with important information for all those entered in the meet. Please be sure to read it in its entirety and with care.

Those of us on the LOC look forward to welcoming you to Landover next month. With nearly 1200 entries, this will be the largest Masters Indoor Championships ever. Included are 45 foreign athletes from 26 countries.

In preparation for the meet we will be sending you two or three emails between now and the start of the meet next month. In this message we will cover:

• If You No Longer Plan to Compete
• Detailed Meet Schedule
• The importance of entering/updating seed marks/times in your entry
• What to do if your entry in Status of Entries says need DOB docs
• Flight sizes in field events
• Up-to-date hotel room block status

Future messages will deal with packet pickup, declarations and check in for events, and other logistics of the meet.

If You No Longer Plan to Compete

If since entering your plans have changed for any reason, please send an email to 2018mastersindoors@gmail.com before the end of late entries on Thursday, February 22 at 11:59 pm Eastern Time. Knowing that you will not be competing will help in scheduling, particularly with the large number of entrants.

Detailed Meet Schedule

The Masters Championships Games Subcommittee has begun to work on the detailed meet schedule. It will be posted on the meet website no earlier than Friday, March 2.

Enter or Update Your Seed Times/Marks No Later Than The Close of Late Entries Thursday, February 22 at 11:59 pm Eastern Time!

Please check your entries on Status of Entries now to be sure that you are entered in all of the events in which you intend to compete. If you have not entered a seed time/mark for any of your events, please do so now. With the large number of entries, there will be multiple heats in most events and the seeding of those heats depends entirely on the seed times/marks entered online. Those without seed times/marks will be in the slowest heats. The 60m, 200m, and 60m hurdles will have qualifying heats in all age groups with more than eight (8) entrants who check in and declare for their events. Those heats will be seeded based on seed times. All other track events will be contested as timed finals with those with the fastest seed times in the fastest heat(s). Entered seed times will be randomly checked for accuracy on mastersrankings.com.

To update your seed times/marks, go to the entry form through the meet website and click on Manage My Registration. From there you can update your marks by clicking on edit events and entering times/distances/heights. Then click on Update at the bottom of the form and finally click on Finish. There is no charge for updating times/marks.

What To Do If It Says need DOB docs Next To Your Name In Status of Entries

For US Citizens: Follow the directions on the meet website: After completing your entry, if the status of entry page indicates need DOB docs, you should fax or mail a copy of your proof-of-age document–with your membership number written on it–to the USATF National Office:

Fax: 800-833-1466 — Attention: Masters Championships

Address: USATF Masters Championships
132 E. Washington St., Suite 800
Indianapolis, IN 46204

For Foreign Athletes: Send a scanned copy of your passport data page or birth certificate to 2018mastersindoors@gmail.com, or bring your passport to Packet Pickup. The preferred method is to send the scan before the meet. Even once we have the scan or copy it will still say need DOB docs next to your name in Status of Entries.

Flight Size in Field Events

In field events quite a few flights will be larger than normal because of the large number of entrants in the meet and in specific events and age groups. The Games Committees schedule will keep all athletes in an age group in one flight. If more than 16 entrants check in and declare 20 minutes before the event is scheduled to begin two flights may be created for the preliminary attempts. If more than one flight is required in throwing and horizontal jumping events, the flights will be divided based on seed marks; athletes with the best seed marks will be in the second flight. SEED MARKS CANNOT BE CHANGED AFTER THE CLOSE OF LATE ENTRIES. In the throwing events and horizontal jumps the top eight (8) athletes in the trials will be in the finals, which will be contested immediately following the preliminaries.

Hotel Room Block Status

Rooms at the hotels with special room rates for athletes must be reserved before the deadlines established by the hotels. They are:

Greenbelt Marriott the meet headquarters hotel: with the exceptions of Thursday, March 15 and Sunday, March 18, the room block at the Marriott is full. There are still rooms available at the hotel, but not at the meet rate, for other nights. The deadline for meet rate reservations is February 26.

DoubleTree Largo: With the exception of Thursday, March 15 and Sunday, March 18, the room block at the DoubleTree is full, and the hotel is fully booked for Friday and Saturday nights no rooms are available at any price. The deadline for meet rate reservations is February 26.

Comfort Inn Upper Marlboro: This hotel was known until quite recently as the Hotel Largo and some may have reserved here prior to the name change. There are rooms for all nights still available here, though they are filling fast. The deadline for meet rate reservations is February 28.

Holiday Inn Greenbelt: There are plenty of rooms left at the meet rate for all nights. The deadline for meet rate reservations is February 28.

If you have any questions about these items, please do not hesitate to send them to 2018mastersindoors@gmail.com.

We look forward to welcoming you to Maryland next month.

2018 USATF Masters Indoor Track & Field Championships
Local Organizing Committee
Potomac Valley Track Club
Email: 2018mastersindoors@gmail.com
Website: https://tinyurl.com/https-tinyurl-com-2018master

Pictures, from recent USATF Indoor Championships, by Dave Albo. Thank you Dave and all the other photographers for supporting our sport.