Hacked Off in Houston

Ok – I’m a little hacked off today. My “Registration Handbook” for the Senior Olympics Summer Nationals arrived on January 3rd. There was an opportunity for freebies and $ off if you were one of the first 1500 athletes registered before December 29th though – Gee, sorry I missed the deadline. That’s not what I’m hacked off about, but it does sort of set the tone for the rest of the story.

What I’m hacked off about is that I was pretty excited about qualifying for the 2007 Nationals in Discus and Hammer during the 2006 season, and I was seriously thinking about attending. That is, until I read my “Registration Handbook”.

According to the rules, you have to pick up your registration packet a day in advance. That pretty typical but it necessitates a night’s stay in a hotel, unless you just happen to live in Louisville, Kentucky. Then, they conveniently placed an “idle” day in-between the Hammer and the Discus competitions. That makes for 3 nights in a hotel – minimum. And that’s assuming you can get a flight out of Louisville late in the day of the last competition. Otherwise, you’re looking at 4 hotel nights. Oh yeah, did I mention the non-refundable entry fee?...$115 for your first event, and $25 for the second one. Cha-Ching - $140. Plus $50 extra if you get your registration in after February 15th. ($190 for just 2 events if you fail to enter 4-1/2 months in advance! – Are you kidding me!) As if that’s not enough, the throwing events have been inconveniently scheduled between July 1st and July 4th. Gee, I guess you either have to pay for hotel rooms for your entire family too, else they just have to do without you for the holidays.

Needless to say, for a total tab on the wrong side of $1000 the Senior Olympics Summer Nationals can bite me.