2026 World XC was great. How do we turn it into our sport's Kentucky Derby or the grass version of the London Marathon?

I think you're really underestimating how many people have parasocial relationships with athletes they follow and how powerful those connections can be.

I saw plenty of spectators going crazy cheering, in fact more so than the usual high school meet. I overheard a team of high schoolers absolutely geeking out over seeing Ethan Strand, daring each other to go shake his hand, young fans were practically gushing asking for autographs after races. Plenty of spectators were cheering on American athletes by first name. Did you not see or hear people wondering what happened with Weini as she dropped throughout the race, or darting about the course to see their favorite runner?

Even those without parasocial relationships, you can still get excited about watching athletes. One Mexican-American dude at the logs was going wild cheering for Mexico, he didn't know their names but that didn't stop him getting his friends to chant "vamos Mexico!" Then of course the crowd also cheering for the small nations athletes bringing up the rear.

The energy was palpable, sorry you missed out on it.

Fundraising admittedly would've been easier before GST blew up, casting a shadow over investing in athletics, but the types of funders would be the same organizations putting money into non-marathon mass participation races like Peachtree Road Race, Shamrock Shuffle. The same companies putting money into Hyrox and toughmudder, etc. The money is out there if the pitch it creative and good enough ROI.

As for revenues, I wouldn't expect this to be televised, streamed perhaps, but I can't see a network picking this up unless it became a massive event years down the line. Instead you focus on 1) tickets 2) race entry tickets 3) concessions and merch commissions 4) add ons. This will not turn a profit it's first year, everyone would have to have that expectation.

The goal wouldn't be to emulate the Derby per se, like I said, an XC event will never have the draw of the Derby, but we can get creative and do things bigger than we have before. World XC had 10K spectators, why we can't have 20K with 10% staying for a public xc race? Maybe instead of creating something from scratch we just latch on to already existing events, like an elite XC race at state fair followed by a public race.

It has better attendance when it's in Europe because of the convenience for more spectators.

I don't know how many Europeans made the trip but there has to be a draw for that to get them here.

Then, and I got some down votes for this but it's true- some Europeans and likely Africans did not make the trip because of the immigration crap going on.

I have a friend from Romania, we have a decent size Romanian community here. She told me that people aren't visiting lately because of ICE. Like it or not it's true.

And add a VIP section at the start/finish. That's where the real money is. For $100 bucks you get a couple of drink tickets and a meet-and-greet with Craig Virgin or some other running celeb.

So Lord Coe wants Tallahassee (temps on Saturday in the 70's and humid) to host World XC every year, but he also insists it is a "winter" sport that belongs in the Winter Olympics. Make up your mind, Seb.

They already have XC in the Winter Games… It’s called Nordic Skiing.

I know that my athletes enjoyed the experience. Good to see many of the crowd cheered on the Australians.

In order to make it bigger you need to have major sponsorship. Imagine if Nike, Garmin, and other companies (let's run) jumped on board.

What you need though is much better marketing of the event. Aarhus did a fabulous job of marketing back in 2019 and I think Tallahassee could have done a little better. I mean to be honest I thought the crowd was going to be around 10,000 but what does it need to make it 20,000 and with much better video coverage of the event.

Prize money is an issue:

Individual
Gold: US$30,000
Silver: US$15,000
Bronze: US$10,000
Fourth: US$7000
Fifth: US$5000
Sixth: US$3000
Team
Gold: US$20,000
Silver: US$16,000
Bronze: US$12,000
Fourth: US$10,000
Fifth: US$8000
Sixth: US$4000
Mixed relay (per team)
Gold: US$12,000
Silver: US$8000
Bronze: US$6000
Fourth: US$4000

Imagine winning the gold medal in the relay and winning $3000.

I think they need to go top 15 deep in prize money for both men's and women's races and increase team prize money totals as well.

Although I didn't attend Tallahassee I did go to Aarhus and Bathurst and these events in person were amazing and it is great to hear Tallahassee had the same vibe. Really important that the next edition is not in 2029 which is a long, long time from now in the span of athletes careers.

Prize money is minimum wage at WA and DL events. No Dodgers 2.5 Billion dollar payroll. No Nike $20 Billion underground city, film studio, T&F venue, high rise apartment complx in Hollywood.

Worlds and USATF club nats were spectacular. I loved your article.

1. charge more than $10. It makes the sport look stupid if you make it nearly free. How many of those 10,000 spectators would have gone if it was $50 or $100? Probably most.
1. Betting, alcohol, and story lines need to be there. And for those who complain saying it will ruin the sport, get over it. This sport has to start appealing to spectators or it will die. When spectator/viewer revenue goes up, then you can talk about more prize money for athletes.

Tallahassee- you guys nailed it. Perfect all around.

Great, so the geeks liked the vibe. Nobody here has any idea how to get the non-geeks to show up.

Most spectators can’t name a single East African so I doubt there would be many bets placed. They wouldn’t even know that Kiplimo has run 56:42. You want someone spewing “up close and personal” stories over the PA? It would take a pretty serious alchy to attend a meet just so he could pay about $15 for a beer rather than watching it on Peacock and buying two six-packs for the same price. I’ve watched professional golf on TV and have no clue how much the spectators spent so I don’t know why low ticket prices make our sport look bad.

It was snowing just west of Tallahassee yesterday. Winter rather in the Florida panhandle is varied and unpredictable.

The Kentucky Derby Is Decadent and Depraved by Hunter Thompson
Total chaos, no way to see the race, not even the track … nobody cares. Big lines at the outdoor betting windows, then stand back to watch winning numbers flash on the big board, like a giant bingo game. Old blacks arguing about bets; “hold on there, I’ll handle this” (waving pint of whiskey, fistful of dollar bills); girl riding piggyback, T-shirt says, “Stolen from Fort Lauderdale Jail.” Thousands of teenagers, group singing “Let the Sun Shine In,” ten soldiers guarding the American flag, and a huge fat drunk wearing a blue football jersey (No. 80) reeling around with quart of beer in hand.

Moments after the race was over, the crowd surged wildly for the exits, rushing for cabs and busses. The next day’s Courier told of violence in the parking lot; people were punched and trampled, pockets were picked, children lost, bottles hurled.

Cross country wouldn't survive long if it became just another venue for boozing, ogling boobs, betting and fighting. Not a good fit for this type of crowd.