The course is too much of a factor. Makes for badass video clips and IG stories but sucks for kids who bust their asses for the dream of performing well.
Get this meet the hell out of Oregon.
There's a whole season for what you're looking for. It's called track.
I want to set things straight for all those attributing SW dominance at NXN to conditions. Nobody from SW is accustomed to those conditions. SLC and Denver get among the least precipitation in the country - total precipitation is similar to Los Angeles. The climate is dry. The cross country season is rarely cold in Colorado. I bet not a single XR race in the Colorado front range (where everyone lives) was run on a day when the high temperature was less than 60. I don't think we got significant rain in Colorado's front range all fall. I lived in California for 34 years and in Colorado for the last 20. The courses in Colorado are fairly similar to California - hard packed dirt or crushed grinder trails, maybe with a little bit of grass. The state meet courses are not dissimilar. I bet most runners in Colorado hadn't worn spikes all season until NXR unless they raced out of state. So please stop saying SW is accustomed to Portland conditions. They are not. The SW is just much, much better than any other region.
Great race. A man's race. Congrats to all these kids for lining up and taking their shot.
CBA was well beaten but not bad. A solid 5th in a tough field. Barrett obviously struggled in 89th place. He was in 7th at 2k, but was clearly struggling; looking around and behind. Did what he could. Had a great year and there will be better days ahead for him.
NIWOT? Wow. Very impressive. Vause? Outstanding!!!! Took it by the horns. Refused to wait. Good for him.
It would be cool to see the HS boys national races run on modified collegiate courses. Madison one year, Oklahoma the next, Virginia another year. Moving it around would be cool. But cross country as a whole should be less manicured trail and grass and make people fight through and this course today did a great job of that.
Many runners today are happy they ran & qualified for Foot Locker Nationals next week.
No race will be more dramatically different from today than next Saturday's races in San Diego.
And, underscoring the obvious: great teams from altitude beat great teams from sea level.
UT & CO dominance for both genders began last year, peaked even higher today, and shows no sign of abating anytime in the near future.
We're probably looking at Fay-Man/Saratoga Springs-like dominance from 5 or 6 UT & CO schools for years to come.
The course is too much of a factor. Makes for badass video clips and IG stories but sucks for kids who bust their asses for the dream of performing well.
Get this meet the hell out of Oregon.
There's a whole season for what you're looking for. It's called track.
I'm talking about the weather. Not the course. The sloppy mud and standing water is way beyond your normal wet weather. And it happens every year.
Hey look at that, Herriman just completely bombed. They have no experience whatsoever racing in wet and muddy conditions. Maybe the conditions do impact others than just Californians.
I want to set things straight for all those attributing SW dominance at NXN to conditions. Nobody from SW is accustomed to those conditions. SLC and Denver get among the least precipitation in the country - total precipitation is similar to Los Angeles. The climate is dry. The cross country season is rarely cold in Colorado. I bet not a single XR race in the Colorado front range (where everyone lives) was run on a day when the high temperature was less than 60. I don't think we got significant rain in Colorado's front range all fall. I lived in California for 34 years and in Colorado for the last 20. The courses in Colorado are fairly similar to California - hard packed dirt or crushed grinder trails, maybe with a little bit of grass. The state meet courses are not dissimilar. I bet most runners in Colorado hadn't worn spikes all season until NXR unless they raced out of state. So please stop saying SW is accustomed to Portland conditions. They are not. The SW is just much, much better than any other region.
Mostly true...but CO, even the Front Range sees temps in mornings much colder than today and certainly colder than most of CA. ...and two and four weeks ago the entire Front Range had one foot dumps of snow that Denver, Niwot, and especially Academy had to train through. They might not get the rain of Portland but they get snow and cold in November
The course is too much of a factor. Makes for badass video clips and IG stories but sucks for kids who bust their asses for the dream of performing well.
Get this meet the hell out of Oregon.
Everyone runs the same course. How about we move it to New Mexico, Utah or Colorado. It's more central. Denver has direct flights from pretty much anywhere.
Niwot won without of two of their usual top scorers which makes it even more impressive. Depth is so important to win NXN. Speaking of depth, Niwot JV squad also placed 2nd at RunningLane today. Insane!
Evan Noonan is a real champion. Has had health problems, and some rough races, but still grinds out a great finish against a loaded field in abysmal conditions.
What I said about Cali being overrated still stands, Evan Noonan put things together so he's the exception to the rule.
When track rolls around it'll be fun to see the mile and 3200 times... I think we'll see something ridiculous
I want to set things straight for all those attributing SW dominance at NXN to conditions. Nobody from SW is accustomed to those conditions. SLC and Denver get among the least precipitation in the country - total precipitation is similar to Los Angeles. The climate is dry. The cross country season is rarely cold in Colorado. I bet not a single XR race in the Colorado front range (where everyone lives) was run on a day when the high temperature was less than 60. I don't think we got significant rain in Colorado's front range all fall. I lived in California for 34 years and in Colorado for the last 20. The courses in Colorado are fairly similar to California - hard packed dirt or crushed grinder trails, maybe with a little bit of grass. The state meet courses are not dissimilar. I bet most runners in Colorado hadn't worn spikes all season until NXR unless they raced out of state. So please stop saying SW is accustomed to Portland conditions. They are not. The SW is just much, much better than any other region.
for me part of the frustration is that pointing out legitimate physiological reactions humans have is seen as creating excuses and taking valor away from others
as a coach, that is definitely not my intention. it's more about understanding why athletes will have certain results under certain conditions and how they should interpret them
anyway, just look at the actual weather data over the past two weeks: the average daily high in Denver, CO has been just under 50, which is equivalent to the average daily low in Thousand Oaks, CA - these are not at all similar conditions we're talking a 20 degree difference here which is a massive difference in one's setpoint
and lets not pretend that coming down from altitude doesn't have it's advantages
The course is too much of a factor. Makes for badass video clips and IG stories but sucks for kids who bust their asses for the dream of performing well.
Get this meet the hell out of Oregon.
There's a whole season for what you're looking for. It's called track.
When I look back, are the better career runners coming from the Footlocker or the NXN winners? There's great runners from each, but I'm guessing that NXN produces better career runners. (Remembering that Footlocker has a longer history)
Races like today's in Portland requires tough as hell runners.
Help us build the best running shoe review site for a chance to win a LetsRun t-shirt.Help us build the best running shoe review site for a chance to win one of 10 LetsRun t-shirts.