HC wrote:
V6 wrote:you've gotta be kidding me if anyone thinks Eugene has more "running fans" than Boulder. Everybody runs in Boulder. Tons of people run competitively. I mean c'mon.
The quote and question are about the quality of fans, not quantity of runners. Perhaps if Boulder had some venue - any venue other than a road parade for putzes that just happens to attract a few fast people - at which elite national and international talent regularly competed, the fans of Boulder might prove themselves better fans than those in Eugene. As it stands, the best running fans are in / show up to Eugene.
Eh, it's the same stuff everywhere. My friend that went to Oregon while Rupp was there had no idea who he was when I talked about him once. Doubt he could name a single cross country runner on the team. If by Eugene has way better fans, you mean that they have the best fans one day a year for the Prefontaine Classic, sure. But it's not like the people in the stands for Pre are all from Eugene. There are only a handful of legitimate track meets in the U.S. People come from all over, and it's gone the next day.
Running is not much of a spectator sport. You kind of have to judge a town by how many people are interested in running (both by participating in events and doing it recreationally). Otherwise you're judging a city based on one or two days out of a year.