In the U.S. now there is a post collegiate system which takes care of elite level runners, and even runners who run around 29:00 for 10.000 - think of the Hanson outfit, the setup in Mammoth Lake for the endurance runners, and other setups in California and the East Coast, which take care of runners' basic needs.
In the U.S. it is not a federal system, but rather private sponsorship that foots the bill for most of these good level runners. Look at a guy like Carney, who ran 27:43 for the 10.000 at Stanford. At Millersville (Div. 2 PSAC)his best was 14:00, but then he was fortunate to get sponsorship from one of the shoe companies.
Same goes for guys like Rupp, who, although not rich, live a professional runners' life, with their lives devoted to running. Ritz and others follow the same path, and although most of these guys are not super rich, they have enough to pay the bills.
In the U.S. now, there is a big emulation process in operation, because runners like McDougal, Carney, Moran and others have achieved great times at 5000/10.000 and this inspires others to do the same, or at least try.
Think how strong the U.S. is in swimming - U.S. has shown they can do well in endurance sports - but the U.K., I get the feeling is still comfortable with the club system, which no longer provides a super competition level for most British athletes.
Meb. and Deena did a wonderful thing for the U.S. in Athens (2004) by winning silver and bronze in the marathon. They showed American runners that they can compete with the best and be in front.
Runners like Andi Jones and the Norman brothers (in Britain) who are 29:20 type runners for 10km would be running faster, one feels, if immersed into a U.S. system. But people like Andy Jones and the Normans waste a lot of energy doing little 10km races, and not focusing on better planned training, like the Americans. Carney raced very sparingly before Stanford. Moran as well - and both went under '28' mins.
ghost
coach:
christophe_moulton@yahoo.ca