Monday, February 18, 2008

DtB, USATF-Minnesota Inaugurate Partnership

If you've clicked on the USATF-Minnesota logo at the top of the DtB sidebar recently, you've noticed that the local USATF Association has updated it's web-site.

And, for that matter, if you hadn't been to DtB recently, you may have been surprised to see the USATF-Minnesota logo, along with that of the TC Running Company, on the DtB sidebar at all. Just as things are changing throughout the world of media, things are changing close to home and in our sport.

USATF-Minnesota, as it announced last year, is no longer producing an ink-on-paper magazine, but has chosen to move some of the content elements that appeared in its publication Minnesota Running & Track -- features, photos, columns -- to its redesigned web-site. As the season advances, visitors to the new USATF-Minnesota site should expect lots of interesting stuff to see, USATF officials say.

"We have redesigned our own web site to offer our membership USATF-specific content, as well as many of the features that used to appear in Minnesota Running & Track magazine," Pete Miller, the Communications Chair for USATF- Minnesota explained.

USATF-Minnesota has also partnered with Down the Backstretch in an effort to make sure local fans and participants in the sport are up-to-date on all that's going on.

"The USATF Minnesota Board decided that the best way to provide news and information to our members already exists," Miller added. "That is why the organization decided to support Down the Backstrech. The board feels that it is a unique communications tool that doesn't exist in many other markets."

For its own part, Down the Backstretch, begun a hobby, is now trying to make itself a sustainable little business. USATF-Minnesota's financial support -- and that of the TC Running Company -- takes DtB a long way toward that goal. Advertisers, we hope, will also play an important role in our viability.

Down the Backstretch looks forward to covering "Running and Track from Minnesota" for a good, long time. With our partners USATF-Minnesota and the TC Running Company, we're poised to make that a reality.

Keep reading ... we'll keep reporting.

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