How To Watch The Desert Dream Last Hurrah Invitational

Some of the nation's top athletes are heading to San Tan Valley, Arizona this weekend to compete in the Desert Dream Last Hurrah Invitational. The meet is slated to take place Thursday, June 11th through Saturday, June 13th at Poston Butte High School.

MileSplit will be live streaming the track events on Friday and Saturday, click the link below to watch some of the nation's best compete.

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 CLICK HERE TO WATCH THE DESERT DREAM LAST HURRAH INVITATIONAL LIVE JUNE 12-13

Field events 6:00 pm (NOT LIVE)

Session Four		Saturday Field
Time Start	Event #	Event	Entries	Flights
4:00	26	Woment Pole Vault Flight 1	32	2
5:00	30	Men Long Jump	26	2
6:00	25	Men High Jump	12	1
6:00	34	Men Discus	30	3
6:00	39	Women Shot Put	21	2
8:00	29	Women Long Jump	9	1
		Flight 2 PV starts at conclusion of 1

Additional Notes: 

Trainer on Site. There will be a trainer on site for Friday and Saturday. She is there in case of emergency injury. She will not be there to tape you. Her ice is for injuries.

Lane assignments. Posted on live.wingfootfinish.com. During the meet results will be posted rather rapidly after each race or even after every jump or throw. Take a look at the website and familiarize yourself with it. 

Where is the school at? Poston Butte High School. Located at 32375 N. Gantzel Road. San Tan Valley, AZ. Poston Butte is a member of the Florence School District. This district stepped up and said "YES, Let's do this" when I approached them in May. San Tan Valley is in the southeast portion of Phoenix. It's an area that was farmland that in the housing boom of 2007 turned fields into nothing but houses. Unfortunately for the residents of San Tan Valley, they did NOT improve the roadways in and out of town. Thus there is limited number of roads that lead here and they are often clogged with traffic. Do not trust your phone's drive time. The other day my phone said 20 minutes and it took 40.

What do I do when I get there: The only entrance into the track is located at the north end of the school. There is a large student parking lot and a stop light. If it's the first day you are there you will check in at one of two tables and turn in your permission slips. You will get a wrist band (athletes will). You will need to wear this for all the days you are there at the track meet. This will signify that you turned in your permission slips (There are two of them). After checking in proceed to the gates for a thermal temperature check, then proceed into the stadium. If it's your second day and you have your wrist band on proceed to the gate for temperature check. We had about 13 athletes late add. You will need to pay your entry fee when you check in for day one.

Report to your event: If you are a thrower you will get five jumps or throws. Throwers, remember you are to bring your own implement. They will be weighed. Following USATF guidelines you will need to retrieve your own implement. The further you throw the further you will need to walk!!!

If you are in a running event report to the starting line. There will be at least one person who can assist you. Starting blocks will be sprayed with disinfectant in between all races. Distance runners will get two sets of hip tags. One for the jersey the other for the left hip tag, make sure your jersey or shirt is tucked in. Remember your number in case your tags fall off. We will need to ask you for your number if it falls off. During the season we have jerseys we can identify runners with. When you are done you are free to leave or stay and watch the meet. There are no awards. We have some of the nation's best athletes and I personally can't wait to watch them all.

Jerseys. Arizona athletes, this track meet not is sanctioned by the AIA since it's summertime, However you can NOT wear your high school Jersey. Out of state athletes that is up to your association. There will be no uniform inspection.

Track Facility: The track is relatively new and will require 3/8-1/4" spikes. The pole vault runway runs east to west and the long jump pit runs parallel but in the opposite direction. PER NFHS new rules there is to be NO running backwards on the runway to count steps. There are plenty of bathrooms at the facility. The main stands which seat maybe 2000 will have the shade side as the sun sets.

Hammer and Javelin: These are on Thursday morning. I know when I didn't list them in an earlier email some individuals panicked thinking they were on a different day.

Officials: Some of the lead officials are USATF or NFHS certified. They are all volunteers as your entry fee covers only a portion of the expenses. They want all of you to succeed. IF you are not happy with your performance, do NOT take it out or blame them.

Heat: Don't let 105 scare you off. I once ran a 10K at Prospect Park in NYC. It was only 90 and 90; degrees and humidity. It was the worst conditions that I have ever competed in, and I thought it would be a piece of cake since the temperature was so low. In Arizona it's a dry heat and once that sun has set, it will feel a lot better. With that said make sure you start hydrating yesterday. Do not wait till Friday to start to drink water. CDC does not call for common 10 gallon water jugs, so there will be none. Gatorade and Paragon Marketing (Some of my partners for my Chandler Rotary Track Meet) has donated 80 cases of Gatorade for you athletes.

4x400 Relays. I was asked by a local coach to have this race. Of course none of his girls are running in the meet. Even though it's listed as an event coaches were unable to enter unattached athletes for a relay. I will run a heat of boys and a heat of girls if there are teams that want to do this. They don't have to be from the same school. We will have NO Batons, so if you are planning on running a team bring a baton. These races will conclude the meet and will be after the Elite/Pro Mile race.

Time Schedule should be attached to this email. We had to make some time changes in the field events due to the entry numbers.