Creative ways to make boring distance races exciting - let's hear them. Post them now.

Anyone that thinks distance races are boring shouldn't be on this website. Leave them the way they are. If you understand running and are a distance runner then they are exciting the way they are.

Good stuff. How did you come up with those years?

It looks like he started with 1999, and subtracted one from that number through multiple iterations until he got to 1972.

1. Eliminate automobile traffic from the course.

2. Ensure the course is measured accurately, preferably USATF certified

3. Use a course that has a variety of curves, long straights, and maybe a few short hills. No 180 degree turns.

4. Hold the race late in the fall when the best times can be run

5. Awards only to the top finishers. Better yet, award money

6. $10 entry fee. $20 with a t-shirt

7. Big igloo coolers of Gatorade for refreshments afterwards. Don't need all the plastic bottle trash or fruit.

8. Print the results and post them on a wall as runners come in

9. Start on time, no speeches

10. If the race is a metric distance then use metric split markers

In summary, follow the KISS principle.

There are a lot of wild race formats in cycling track races.

Premes (primes?) are the most straightforward, you get cash for finishing a lap (they announce which lap at the start of the lap) in first place. The Africans would be all over it.

There are also points races, where finishing the total distance first doesn't necessarily matter -- all that matters is who finishes with the most points. Points are awarded every couple of laps for being at the front, maybe 5-3-2-1, but sure you could also award extra for being first to arrive at the finish, or you could change the amount of points or number of people getting points.

I think it would be fun to have a mile biathlon (they have something similar in cross country skiing):

-First, get everyone to do an individual mile time trial on their own.

-Then, do a mass start mile where everyone starts behind the winner.

-So for instance, maybe you have a time trial where Asbel Kiprop time trials a 3:49.XX, Silas Kiplagat runs 3:50.XX, and both Bernard Lagat and Mo Farah run 3:51.XX.

-Then in the mass start, Kiprop goes at the gun. A second later, another gun sounds and Kiplagat goes off. A second later, Lagat and Farah take off after them in pursuit.

-Does Kiprop just start hammering from the gun? Does he jog and try to sprint the finish? Would he even try very hard during the time trial and hope to save it for his kick during the final instead?

More combined events. Have them run a 400, a mile, and a 5k, and multiply the gaps in the 400 by 12x when you add up the total time.

Just to be clear, the premes would happen several times in the race. So you'd be going along and getting up to say $10k during the race and $10k for the finish.

rojo wrote:

Good stuff. How did you come up with those years?

1) copy/paste to spreadsheet

2) filter by country

3) sort by year

4) count

Just in case you were unable to manipulate the original text data in Excel:

http://www.alltime-athletics.com/m_10kok.htm

1) copy/paste to spreadsheet

2) Data >> text to columns

3) filter by country

4) sort by year

5) count

Celebrity Marathons

Speed Dating Obstacle Course

Pick Your Own Strawberries 5k

Uphill Road Mile

7 Day Beer to Miles Challenge

Custome Track Meet

Open Team Cross Country Run/Walk for Charity

Poker Run 5 Mile

Lolcat Run

100 Mile Treasure Hunt

I'll stop now

Gambling on handicapped races.

A week-long stage race, as in cycling. A large prize for the individual winner, but also prizes for team performance. Teams of seven. 10-15 teams would be ideal.

Day 1 is a 5k road team time trial. Teams are staggered every 30 seconds. All team members must hold onto a short rope (as in the team competition in Bay to Breakers). Team time is based on the fifth runner to finish.

Day 2 is a 20k relatively flat road race. Time bonus of 30 seconds to the winner, 20 seconds for 2nd place, 10 seconds for 3rd place.

Day 3 is a 12k English style cross-country race. Members of the winning team get a 10-second time bonus.

Day 4 is a rest day.

Day 5 is a 30k race that ends ~500 feet higher than it starts. No time bonuses.

Day 6 is a 4xmile relay on the track. Members of the winning team get a 30-second time bonus, 20 seconds for second, 10 seconds for third. Remaining team members get a rest day.

Day 7 is a 10k road pursuit race. The leader in the overall standings starts first and is followed by remaining runners in a stagger based on time differential. First person to the finish line wins.

txRUNNERgirl wrote:

Bad Wigins wrote:

a BEAR!!!

You beat me to it!

You got ET by the bear!

Can't believe there hasn't been a mention of betting yet...

Encourage more contact during races. Where's that OK State guy?

Have the women race in their sports bra and skimpiest, skin tight panties.

Oh, wait........

This is a good start, but should throw in some shorter races for more variety, eg 100m immediately before/after the 12k, or a morning 500/1000m, then an afternoon 10k.

Also, a race with a very easy time goal, but no live clock or anyone giving splits, to test the sense of pace. For example, individual time trials to see how close to a 60sec 400m you can run with no watch, no clock, and no splits.

113 wrote:

A week-long stage race, as in cycling. A large prize for the individual winner, but also prizes for team performance. Teams of seven. 10-15 teams would be ideal.

Most Americans can't pay attention for 13 minutes, never mind a week.

Who would run in these races?

yourmom.com wrote:

Bad Wigins wrote:

a BEAR!!!

We can make this better.

Add a bull, too.

...and a shark.

You could do cycling's madison.

Teams of two, one racing at a time. The slow runners goes to the outside, then tags in.

The problem is it's crazy chaotic to watch. It's almost impossible to know who is what/where.

And a bear.

Stop.

No gimmicks. Let me repeat. No gimmicks.

The last thing the US Track & Field scene needs is another sideshow distracting from the athletes and sport itself. T&F is not boring. T&F does not inherently need gimmicks (Watch any DL video from Europe and look at the stands).

The stakeholders of T&F, that is the athletes, coaches, sponsors, media, recreational athletes, donors, need to decide (one person, one athlete ... at a time) to take seriously the task of developing a true professional league. A professional league where individual athletes (and/or teams) choose to perform independently of the Olympics and other national events.

No one can be forced. Each stakeholder has to see for themselves that they want to be part of a growing, exciting, competitive professional track league where they can truly see who the BEST athlete is. This professional track league should be for profit and also have its own non-profit foundation attached to it.

This is easy for me to say - action is a lot tougher - but athletes need to stop saying "I'm a professional track athlete" and start acting like professional athletes. They need to go to the FloTrack Showdown (or whatever it is called) with the idea of giving all they have every meet. None of this talk, "It was a fun race, great atmosphere." The athletes need to show every time they race that they want to be the best, that no one can beat them, and they need to want to show the world that every day, every week, every year. If the athletes, coaches, sponsors, media treat what they do as if it was the most important thing ever (which it is, for them) then slowly they will attract crowds on a weekly basis just like the NFL does. I promise.

it is an attitude that needs to be cultivated. T&F is entertainment for the fan, but the entertainment is seeing an incredible human performance (i.e. records broken, come from behind wins, triumph of the human spirit).