runn wrote:
Zam Boanga wrote:
It also doesn't help that there isn't a world championship team to make. Bathurst, Australia was supposed to host the meet this year, but it's postponed for another year.
Maybe USATF shouldn't have this meet in non-world championship years, or maybe consolidate the meet with the club xc meet? If anyone has a better answer, I'd like to see it.
Going way way way back- this race was held just to be a trials race for worlds.
There was no Club Nats, only the AAU/TAC etc Nationals held in November.
I can see only having it WC years and finding money to get the best runners there.
As to the Indoor Track suggestion in another post- I like Indoors but we don't events over 1 mile/1500.
Let the distance guys do road and cross races.
This captures it more or less.
Nationals (which was the bigger race that got the press) was held the Saturday after Thanksgiving. Then they usually had the WC tryouts in Feb. with the WCs in March. The tryouts had smaller fields, but more elite. Not even sure if there was prize money but making the WC team was a big deal. About 20 years ago they shifted and started up Club XC to get more citizen participation. They have succeeded in that, some years 2000 or so competitors, and two "Open" races (A and B) for men, each with up to 400 or 500 runners. But the top level (say top 10 or 20) competition is thinner.
The USATF XC Nationals has half or less of the participation as Club XC, but it's still open to citizen runners and masters. It usually has a deeper elite field because there are international team teams to make. Without a WC this year, the meet had less depth but that was a stellar women's field and men's was pretty good. Leonard Korir is no slouch.
As far as being so close to Club XC, as has been pointed out that's because the WCs in Australia were to be held in February (earlier than normal--which considering that's mid-summer there, not sure why they would do that. Why not late March, per usual (and getting to be autumn), and then you could have US Nationals in February, so the normal two-month gap following Club XC.
USATF could do a better job of matching the WC course with the US Nationals. e.g., 2019 Nationals were in Tallahassee (relatively easy course) while the WCs were on a very hilly course (1160 feet elevation gain and loss, with zero flat). There should be enough time to plan ahead and pick a site that site would have similar conditions as the WCs.