I feel the need to make my voice heard on this particular issue. I don’t know the process involved in selecting host cities for national weightlifting events. I believe the Competition Committee is supposed to sign-off, ditto for the Board of Directors. Phil Andrews is involved and maybe even Rogue. I believe that food availability is one of the factors that needs to be considered when site selection decisions are made.
I’ve been in Detroit for this year’s Nationals since yesterday, June 30 and will depart tomorrow, July 2. So it’s a short stay. My gripe is the lack of dining facilities or their availability hours. There are a number of establishments within walking distance of the hotel and the venue, but many are closed or have extremely limited hours which is not helpful if a lifter needs to be fed after a 6 AM weigh-in.
I realize that business in Detroit have been very hard hit by COVID, and I was informed that there was unexpected flooding earlier in the week which caused even more establishments to close.
In case the decision makers are unaware, it is not unusual for hard training weightlifters to consume 5,000 to 8,000 Calories per day. An inability to ingest sufficient calories can affect performance especially in the clean & jerk. In the event of a competition scheduled for a food desert, organizers need to bring in catering trucks should the performance and welfare of the competitors are considerations.
Wake-up decision and policy makers. You are running events that involve organisms with specific nutritional requirements. Don’t let science illiteracy generate a problem.