The Good, the Bad and the Brrr-ski at the 2025 USATF Masters Indoor Championships

Here’s the high-banked curve of the 200-meter track. This entire setup is delivered to the venue in sections and assembled on-site.

​By Leah Rewolinski
The Villages TLC Word Nerd

THE GOOD
Those of us who competed in or watched the 2025 USATF Masters Indoor Championships feel lucky this event took place so close to The Villages: the Alachua County Sports & Event Center in Gainesville FL, February 20-23.
 
This was way more than your average track meet. Masters athletes from all over the country came here to compete. Some even arrived from other countries, no doubt tuning up for the World Masters games to be held here in March. (Since this was the USA track and field national championship, entrants from other countries weren’t eligible for awards.)
 
The 200-meter track with banked curves was like tracks at elite meets you’ve seen on TV or streaming broadcasts. But media coverage doesn’t convey the thumping of runners’ shoes and the challenge of sprinting at that angle.
 
Inside the oval was a straightaway for sprints, as well as the long jump, triple jump, pole vault, and hurdles for pentathletes. The shot put/weight throw and high jump occupied one corner outside the oval with their own bleacher section.
 
The amazingly fast scoring system kept things interesting for everyone. Finishtiming.com listed each heat’s entrants in “live” format before the race. Within a few minutes of the finish, every athlete’s time and place appeared in order, and we knew immediately who had qualified for finals. (For details on timing, see P.S. 2 below.)
 
THE BAD
The bleachers must have been designed by a personal-injury law firm. They created the spectator pentathlon: step, slip, trip, fall and bounce.
 
THE BRR-SKI
Those chilly temps and biting wind that often plague our Villages track workouts followed us to Gainesville. No problem for an indoor meet, right? Well, yeah, except the warm-up area was outdoors.  <shiver shiver> "Brrr-ski!"
 
It was no one’s fault, really. (Don’t you hate when that happens? There must be a scapegoat!) This sports center, which also hosts basketball and volleyball competitions, has no extra room for jogging or practice sprints.
 
So competitors searched outside for wind-protected and sun-warmed areas when possible. And after a cold warm-up (oxymoron alert!), they returned indoors where the action was.
 
And really, that’s a minor flaw for those of us with decades of track experience who can recall gyms as cold as a meat locker… or an event dragging on for hours because of poor marshaling… or an entire women’s heat left out. As the coach in “Chariots of Fire” put it, “I’ve seen better-organized riots.”
 
So that left us all the happier to enjoy this top-notch indoor facility, great officiating, meticulous scheduling and first-class posting of results. Great for competitors, fun to watch – it was an event to remember.

​Leah
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P.S. Brrr-ski is Upper Midwest Pig Latin: to emphasize a word, add “ski” to it. It’s part of our rich Polish heritage.
 
P.S. 2: See for yourself: Go to Finishtiming.trackscoreboard… click “All meets,” scroll down to February, then scroll down and click on “USATF Masters Indoor Championships Gainesville.”