USATF Silver Medal - Awarded A Year After

We arrived Moreno Valley from Pismo Beach on 03Jun10 at about 6pm. Nothing much was expected during the day except unpack and pack for the scheduled departure for San Diego the following day.

To my great surprise I received a phone call from DAVE SNYDER, the Race Director for the INLAND EMPIRE RACEWALKERS who were the host club for the 2009 USATF 15k Race Walk Masters Regional Championship held at Riverside California last May 17, 2009. Complete details of participation then can be viewed in my last year's blog "2009 USATF 15k Race Walk Regional Champioship - A Personal Validation and Confirmation".

During the event then, I finished 2nd place, the event was a sanctioned event of UNITED STATES of AMERICA TRACK & FIELD (USATF) as such I should have received the silver medal for my age category then, but, the ruling then was that I was a non-US citizen as such my entry was as a guest category and I was not eligible for the USATF Medal. However, Dave Snyder informed me that the Federation has reviewed and corrected their ruling that “a foreign citizen if he finishes on a medal standing is eligible for the medal category he finished, however, the US citizen that finished next to him will also be entitled to the same medal category that the foreign citizen got”.

Dave Snyder wanted to present the USATF SILVER MEDAL for 2009 USATF 15k Race Walk Regional Championship Age Category 55-59 year old to me!

On Jun 4th at 10am Dave Snyder came personally to my daughter’s house at Moreno Valley to present to me the medal. It was an unexpected award. I now possess a United States of America Track  Field SILVER MEDAL (it is big and heavy).