A decision has not been made on a date for the 2014 Midwest Distance Festival or whether it will be held.

The ideal date for the meet would be June 14, 2014 which is two weeks after the Illinois Boys State Track & field Meet. The last two years, the Midwest Distance Festival has been held with the same time difference that I was planning on having this year.

There are problems with this date. The National Scholastic Athletics Foundation has made the decision to hold the New Balance Outdoor Nationals on June 13-15, 2014. The explanation that I was given is they wanted to keep the meet on Father’s Day weekend instead of keeping the same time distance of three weeks from the Illinois Boys State Meet that they have traditionally had. Also, the New York Dream Mile will be held in conjunction with the New York Grand Prix.

The scheduling of the National Championships has been troublesome in my decision on whether the Midwest Distance Festival will be contested or not. I have looked at several options.

We cannot hold the meet on the weekend of June 7-8, 2014. There will be state meets contested that weekend in Ohio, Wisconsin, and Indiana. I have looked at holding the meet on Wednesday before the national meet. I feel that the fan and athlete interest would decrease holding it on that date.

We cannot hold the meet on June 21, 2014. If the meet is scheduled on this date, it would be too late. Interest would diminish because we are already looking at cross country summer training. Interest for the meet would diminish if the meet was held on this date.

The only option would to be hold the meet on June 14. The problem of holding it on that date is losing top athletes that option to run in the national meet. The number of athletes that compete in both the Midwest Distance Festival and the New Balance National Championships is substantial. I am a realist and know the number of athletes that choose to travel to Greensboro.

I have looked at changing the format of the meet. My goal when taking on this meet is putting on a high quality meet for athletes in the Midwest with a chance to run national class times. I am still deciding on this.

If the meet is not held, it would only be in 2014. Father’s Day will be later in 2015. That is my guess when Nationals would be held. It would not conflict with the Midwest Distance Festival Meet.

A final decision will be made on December 17, 2013.

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me at [email protected].

To those that were a big part of the meet in 2012 and 2013, I thank you for your help on running of this meet.

Thanks.

Michael Newman

Midwest Distance Festival Meet Director