USATF should take a page from Nordic skiing to make running more popular

We love winter wrote:

Global warming means races get cancelled or they need man-made snow.

Good trolling. The real issue didn't show up until the last sentence.

Yeah

We talk about Nordic skiing at the office every day during g lunch.

I guess they canceled more skiing races in the 1930s.

1. That's a cultural thing. If you lived in Sweden or Norway,you would be talking about the past weekend's races.

2. Apart from your fanatical running buddies,who @your office talks about running? No one. I thought so.

Star wrote:

Yeah

We talk about Nordic skiing at the office every day during g lunch.

What's g lunch? You guys try to eat the ladies' g-spots?

giver of 9/10 wrote:

We love winter wrote:

Global warming means races get cancelled or they need man-made snow.

Good trolling. The real issue didn't show up until the last sentence.

Another downside are the frequent polar bear attacks in the wild.

Bad grammar wrote:

giver of 9/10 wrote:

Good trolling. The real issue didn't show up until the last sentence.

Another downside are the frequent polar bear attacks in the wild.

No, I'm pretty sure that is a huge upside for the entertainment value of polar bear attacks.

Bruce Wayne wrote:

Bad grammar wrote:

Another downside are the frequent polar bear attacks in the wild.

No, I'm pretty sure that is a huge upside for the entertainment value of polar bear attacks.

Except that they are in the wild, i.e. away from the sight of fans and cameras.

The problem with the analogy with track & cross country running is that nordic skiing isn't as hard on the joints as running. I think it's almost more like bicycling in that regard -- I just don't think you could have a running schedule as aggressive as you see with nordic world cup racing. Still...

As you say, nordic skiing has come up with some inventive approaches to make the sport spectator-friendly. Think about having a team cross country event, for example, where two runners alternate relatively short segments -- or constructing cross country racing where it's more like a relay race around a short looping course with a broad screen TV...

I think it could add some spectator appeal.

This already happens. Check out Great Edinburgh international Cross Country.

Ekiden races never caught on here either. I'm afraid we're just a niche sport that people watch every 4 years.

Are track, road racing, and xc popular in Europe? If so what are they doing that we're not doing here in the US.

Bruce Wayne wrote:

Bad grammar wrote:

Another downside are the frequent polar bear attacks in the wild.

No, I'm pretty sure that is a huge upside for the entertainment value of polar bear attacks.

You raise a good point. Nordic skiers can race every weekend [although I do think it takes its toll]. But 10k runners could do a race every other weekend.. .

Have a pack of 15 East Africans at the front of those ski races with the closest "locals" two minutes back and see how the TV ratings are.

In Europe they fill stadiums and line the streets to watch Nordic racing. The OP used this as an analogy.

There was a guy from Kenya [?] who xc skied @ the winter olympics several years ago, and came in last, very far off the pace. The issue is upper body strength , And lets face it, the Kenyans who marathon may be lightweight aerobic machines, but they could not power their way up a Nordic hill. You could give the Kenyans a 5 minute head start for a Nordic xc 10K race, and the Norwegians would still kill them.

dazed&stillconfused wrote:

There was a guy from Kenya [?] who xc skied @ the winter olympics several years ago, and came in last, very far off the pace. The issue is upper body strength , And lets face it, the Kenyans who marathon may be lightweight aerobic machines, but they could not power their way up a Nordic hill. You could give the Kenyans a 5 minute head start for a Nordic xc 10K race, and the Norwegians would still kill them.

Phillip Bolt -- yeah, he was also a very late-comer to the sport, which is actually quite technical. It isn't just the upper-body aspect -- skiing efficiency is huge. Look at Noah Hoffman on the US team. He kills the Norwegians on off-season hill climbs, but he's not as efficient a skiier, so he doesn't use the engine to full capacity. But I digress...

The best comparison in US road racing currently to what Nordic skiing does might be the 5th Avenue mile. Look at how this weekend the Nordic world cup is located in a park in Quebec City. Wouldn't it be cool, for instance, to have a running "world cup" that incorporated differently structured races in in major cities around the US?

From my perspective, Nordic skiing at the world cup level had to kind of reinvent itself after changes in ski technology led to radical changes in skiing technique (freestyle "skating" v. classical) -- so they've by necessity been open to experimentation.

Bottom line, I don't see that USATF is nearly so willing to experiment.

They do not race every weekend at least not on the World Cup level.

http://www.fis-ski.com/cross-country/events-and-places/calendar/?sector=CC&season=2017&discipline=ALL&gender=all&start=2017-01-01

To walk or run is a chore.

Skiing is a pastime. Plus snow does looks great.