One of the best track meets to ever be established in NKY over the past 25 yrs came to an end yesterday. What started out as the Bellevue Invitational Track meet or BIT and later changed its namem to the Pep Stidham Invitational is now over.

 

I remember attending this event while in HS and watching some phenomenal athletes who came up from all over the state. The track surface at Bellevue has become the reason for many teams not willing to participate in this event which is too bad.

It's a shame that this meet has come to an end, but the meet has been only a shell of its former glory for some years now. The track surface is awful! I might rather run on the old cinder track than on the surface there now.

I remember when I was younger always heading down to the track and watching the events all day long. What was once one of the best days in Bellevue has all but been forgotten, which is a shame.

It's a shame that this meet has come to an end, but the meet has been only a shell of its former glory for some years now. The track surface is awful! I might rather run on the old cinder track than on the surface there now.

 

Agreed, the track is terrible. Just another part of BHS history.

What's wrong with the surface? I remember running on the cinders there back in the day. I also got to run on it after it was resurfaced. I saw a guy roll in the cinders in the 300 hurdles. It wasn't pretty. The BIT was always a good meet and I remember running the regional there my senior year.

The surface is an old, and very slick, blacktop. It is extremely hard and useless to wear spikes. There are cracks and uneven spots throughout and is not a very good surface to run on. It is a shame, because the folks at Bellevue run a very nice meet and it is still a good atmosphere.

I must agree it is well run and great atmosphere over the years.

Thats sad. That track meet was the first one I ever ran varsity in my sophomore year of high school. Track was actually alot of fun because of the down time between races, meant alot of cutting up with your team mates and meeting people from other schools.

The track was just resurfaced this past spring or summer was it not? I realize that it had gone from being one of the biggest events in the state to a small meet.....but what a tradition.

One of the other issues was the inability to keep a specific date on the calendar. I noticed that 6 or 7 years ago they changed weekends then changed back a few years ago. Why the changing of the date 6 or 7 years ago to conflict with a major meet (Ryle Relays) really hurt.

What hurt more than anything was the format (which was changed recently).

The qualifying in the morning ... and then running finals at night is a thing of the past in track. That is when things really started to go down hill.

 

Starting out at 8:00 am ... and not finishing until 1:00 am was not something that many people looked forward to. Those days wear on you .. but they really wear on the athletes.

 

Even the state of Kentucky has done away with prelims in all races at the state championships ..... so basically ... the writing was on the wall.

QS I thought that was part of the mystique and fun of the meet.........cold weather, raining, and being there for 16 hours!!!!!! Hey the local fast food places always thought it was a good idea.

I ran in the Bellevue Invitational for 4 years for St. Henry. It was always one of the highlights of the track season. Trips to Arby's and Lee's Famous Recipe between prelims and finals.

 

Sorry to see this one go.

QS I thought that was part of the mystique and fun of the meet.........cold weather, raining, and being there for 16 hours!!!!!! Hey the local fast food places always thought it was a good idea.

 

I think that you may have gotten "mystique" and "misery" mixed up!

 

Besides ... if I caught the kids in our program eating fast food between the prelims and finals ... they wouldn't be running in the finals to begin with ...

 

Overall ... I am sure this meet was fun for some of you ... but there are much better meets now--on much safer surfaces--that are ran much more efficiently than the old format.

I think that you may have gotten "mystique" and "misery" mixed up!

 

Besides ... if I caught the kids in our program eating fast food between the prelims and finals ... they wouldn't be running in the finals to begin with ...

 

Overall ... I am sure this meet was fun for some of you ... but there are much better meets now--on much safer surfaces--that are ran much more efficiently than the old format.

 

You may be right, but sometimes history and "old school" and tradition beats the new 2.0 version anyday