Ritzenhein and Rupp running Edinburgh cross (link to story)

I think its a good idea to do team scoring for elite cross country. However, I am not sure what to think about the fact that Rupp and Ritzenhein are in a different race than the Africans. On the one hand, it would be great for them to win, and probably will be good for local support of the race to see british guys do well. This format increases the likelyhood of those things happening.

On the other hand, it kind of seems like they are in the "JV" race.

Oh whaaaaat? No, I got excited when I read this title just to have my dreams crushed.

I don't care if they are over there doing the damn team challenge. Switch to the 4K! Race Kipchoge and Kiprop! How is it going to challenge the African domination if you aren't racing any Africans?

I apologize for the misleading thread title - it wasn't intentional, I just didn't read closely enough.

However, the race might be somewhat competitive. Lebid is confirmed for the Euro team, let's hope Farah runs for Great Britain.

The Waterboy wrote:

Oh whaaaaat? No, I got excited when I read this title just to have my dreams crushed.

I don't care if they are over there doing the damn team challenge. Switch to the 4K! Race Kipchoge and Kiprop! How is it going to challenge the African domination if you aren't racing any Africans?

It is NXN all over again at the international level!

Dathan Ritzenhein (Team Captain)

whooptie friggin do

captain my arse

The Waterboy wrote:

Oh whaaaaat? No, I got excited when I read this title just to have my dreams crushed.

I don't care if they are over there doing the damn team challenge. Switch to the 4K! Race Kipchoge and Kiprop! How is it going to challenge the African domination if you aren't racing any Africans?

You are right.

At first Glance you see Kiprop, Kipchoge, Rupp and Ritzenhein and you get excited at the prospect of the four of them meeting.

Why would they have a separate 8k for the team challenge? They are diluting the event.

Maybe the Africams only wanted to do a 4k. Kiprop is a miler. Maybe he has not trained for distance.

yeh this is a little lame. US team is weak. where is Teg, solinksy, webb, jager, etc....

"The Team Challenge is a major opportunity to build up standards, in a bid to challenge the ongoing domination of the African nations, particularly Ethiopia and Kenya." -so by not racing the africans this race is going to help these countries challenge the africans? odd logic.

why does europe get the WHOLE pool of europe to choose from?

It's a joke. Waste of a trip over there. Ritz always races with the big boys in cross country. I'd have loved to see him race Kiprop etc.

Now I can't be bothered to even watch. Team challenge my ass. Dodging the Africans should be the name of their race.

The Kenyans probably did request the 4km or the meet management said what can we do to get some of the best in all distances.

The 4km is a chance to get Kipruto, Kiprop and Kipchoge all on the field together. And because it is only 4km maybe we can see the management sign some of the other shorter racers.

Kipchoge is no stranger to xc and did well at the junior level and has finished in the top 5 in the senior long race a few times. But he is also one of the best distance runners ever.

But I also agree that the 8km is a waste of a trip.

Put all the men in one race. Americans will never get better if their feelings and morale are protected.

The 8k race is probably an attempt by the organizers to create something to appeal to the home crowd: an event where the best British runners will compete as a team and although the competition from the Americans will be challenging there is a chance they can win. If they just had the 4k at the British and American athletes ran that, the British fans would probably get bored watching the Africans dominate, perhaps the odd American being able to keep up, and the Brits being nowhere in sight.

However, they want to retain their status as a world class event, hence they keep the 4k race.

In my experience while Americans and Brits both get beaten by Africans, Americans have an attitude of wanting to fight back. Brits do not. Hence the Brits have set up this meet to favor the attitude of themselves.

Although who knows, maybe on eightlane.com they are having this same discussion right now. Maybe it's the race organizers but not necessarily the fans over in the UK.

Has the course been, you know, Rupp certified?

Does this suggest in any way that Ritz and Rupp might run World XC Championships in March?

Mister Oblivious wrote:

Has the course been, you know, Rupp certified?

lol, beat me to it.

Go Team Go wrote:

Does this suggest in any way that Ritz and Rupp might run World XC Championships in March?

Not really. They would have to qualify first. Ritz could probably make it, but Rupp would have a hard time.

Going to Worlds would then mean a total of at least three arduous cross country races for the season. I can't see them doing that.

Yanqui wrote:

Going to Worlds would then mean a total of at least three arduous cross country races for the season. I can't see them doing that.

Right, no one here has ever run three "arduous" cross country races in a season........................

footlockers wrote:

Not really. They would have to qualify first. Ritz could probably make it, but Rupp would have a hard time.

Rupp is a National Champion at the 10k where he beat Ritz