Track Club to compete in NYC

SPRINGFIELD Springfield-based, Mass Velocity Track Club has been invited to send a 4x400m relay team to compete in the 100th Millrose Games at Madison Square Garden in NYC on Feb 2nd.

Mass Velocity is a track club of over 60 men and women Master sprinters from throughout New England. A little over two years old, Mass Velocity is the fastest-growing USA Track & Field Masters track club in the United States.

Competing against nationally-ranked teams from Texas, New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania, the Mass Velocity relay team consists of James Morton, 52, of Springfield; Terrence Haynes, 45, of Amherst,; Dr. David Neumann, 47, of East Greenwich, RI and Michael Needham, 46, of Kingston, MA.

The Millrose Games is the oldest invitational indoor track-and-field meet in America. The greatest track-and-field athletes ever known among them Jesse Owens, Wilma Rudolph, Wyomia Tyus, Sergey Bubka, Mary Decker Slaney and Carl Lewis have competed there, as do the icons of today and tomorrow.

Mass Velocity founder and president, Larry Libow, says that Masters invitational events such as the 4x400m relay at Millrose are special competitions held at premier open/professional track meets in the United States that showcase top men and women athletes aged 40 and up. "We feel our team has a good chance of taking first place and we are the only Masters relay team that has not competed at Millrose in past years."

This 40+ year-old relay team runs faster than many high school relay teams. The relay's oldest member, James Morton of Springfield, the new President/CEO of the YMCA of Greater Springfield has a legitimate chance of breaking the M50 age-group American and/or World Record in the 400m event at the USATF Masters Indoor Championships this coming March in Boston.

"These events add an exciting and dramatic dimension to open/invitational track meets. Track and field fans who appreciate great competition are never disappointed. In fact, they are amazed and impressed by the effort, dedication and athletic ability of masters athletes. It is a new awakening for many observers to realize that a 60-year-old sprinter or a 45-year-old miler can maintain superior fitness and perform at astonishing levels. Indeed, life goes on for runners, jumpers and throwers after 40. These events help spread the word that everyone is welcome to become a part of USATF and the Mass Velocity Track Club is honored to be sending a team to represent New England," said Libow.

Television coverage of the Millrose Games will be on ESPN2 on Friday night at 7 p.m. and on NBC on Saturday at 2 p.m. but which events will be shown is not known at this time.

For more information about the Mass Velocity Track Club, visit their web site at www.MassVelocity.org.