It’s official: Shelby Houlihan won’t be running World Cross

sconehead wrote:

Not nice but sane wrote:

Unsure why that poster would be banned but pornography and cursing are allowed. How about drug accusations? Those things all seem much worse and they make me uncomfortable and cause me to recommend young people not use the site.

Because it's SPAM?

SPAM?

rojo wrote:

wejo wrote:

Bowerman Track Club coach Pascal Dobert confirmed the news.

As a fan it pissed me off but rationally I understand it.

Instead, I'll wait for the latest time trial by some US pro at some meet no one has ever heard of. I've been hearing there might be a 5000 the week of USAs. If that happens, anyone who does that meet is going to get ripped by me..

Actually, the ADP/WCAP guys, who all accepted their World cross country spots, are staging the BU 5k.

Shelby's legacy depends on her performance on the track, not World Cross. The risk of injury is too high in the latter. I hope she defends both of her US Indoor championships next month, and takes down the AR at 1500 this summer. That's probably on Schumacher's mind also.

rojo wrote:

3hr-marathoner wrote:

This is the reason to put XC in the winter Olypmics.

I've always been against that just because I don't think any other athlete can win Winter and Summer games medals in basically the same sport.

But I sort of agree with you know. I"'m willing to get rid of the 10,000 in the summer Olympics. And put it in the Winter Olympics as xc. Then the winner of that would not only get prestige but they'd get a ton of publicity as the kind of kings or queen or queens which is the beauty of xc.

It would GREATLY elevate XC. And it would be amazing as the winter Olympics are in the year when there is not world outdoors so everyone would be focused on it.

There are so many tiny tiny sports in the winter Olympics and even summer Olympics, - - - XC running and distance running is the biggest participation sport in the world and also has a large competitive base, no reason XC winter and 10k summer both cant be supported. If the 10k track were to disappear it should be in favor of 10k road. Cross to winter, and just throw down some snow so it fits the Olympic charter.... It would be huge for African nations in the winter Olympics that is for sure.

XC is huge in USA wrote:

- - - XC running and distance running is the biggest participation sport in the world and also has a large competitive base.

The sport may be 'participated', but that doesn't mean it's watched. The biggest reason top US athletes don't do World XC is because only a small, small percentage of people care. Yeah, tons of High School kids run XC. How many of those kids do you think watch World XC? How many do you think bother to look up the results? How many do you think even know there's a race and could tell you what month it's in? Out of the roughly 500,000 High School XC athletes in America, I'd be willing to bet less than 100 watch World XC/follow the results. Not many college runners even follow it... heck its really not even that big on these Boards compared to the other events.

If you're mad at anyone for not running World XC, be mad at your fellow running fans for not caring enough about it to make it something worthwhile enough to compete in. "Well, if the Big US stars actually ran, maybe more people would watch/care." Maybe... I'd say that's true to some degree. But there's enough Big events, that the big stars don't feel the need to 'create' more by showing up to meets people don't care about- especially when their overseas.

People also bring up 'competition'. "I just want to see the best compete each other instead of time trialing, training, etc." Right or wrong- this is how it works: The top athletes want to win on the biggest stage. To be a big stage, there has to be a big audience. USATF Outdoor Champs in years with World Championships: Big Stage. A couple, Select Diamond League Meets: Big Stage. OUTDOOR TRACK World Championships: Bigger Stage Olympics: Biggest Stage.

Pretty much every other meet is practice. You train/race to compete on the Biggest Stages. A true competitor, a true Champion wins the Big ones. Every single arguement about GOATS across all sports ALWAYS involves; "How many rings did they win"? "How many Championships/Titles did they win?" World XC isn't inlcuded in that (except for in Rojo's mind). And nothing against Rojo there, if you can excel in XC, the roads, and Track, I think that's proves you're just an all-around great runner/competitor. My point is, to the rest of the United States (and most of the World) people don't talk about World XC as a major championships. Right or wrong, that's how it is. It's similar to Ultra running (how dare I bring up ultras). XC and Ultras are both tough, competitive, take certain skill sets, and are honestly great events. Plus they have some diehard fans and almost all of the fans/participants truly love the sport for all that it is. But most people in the World just don't care.

Another factor is the race is March 30th. In the US, we've been conditioned that XC is in the Fall, then Indoor Track in Winter, And Outdoor starts mid March. Then when you're a pro runner, the Track season gets extended to October and XC isn't really a thing. US runners like Shelby have been running Outdoor Track in late March (or at least beginning serious prep work) for the past 10-15 years. The only people that have XC on their minds in March are those runners that just aren't that good in Track. Or they're like their 5th guy/girl in XC... so they can have team glory in XC, but they can't achieve anything individually. Also, particularly in Shelby's case, she's always been a Track runner and loved the Track...not so much with XC. (Quick, off the top of your head, name her XC accomplishments in High School/college). Most of you were surprised she even ran the US champs to begin with. XC in late March is just weird... its Outdoor Track season... the season most of the 'average-fans' actually care about". That's not necessarily a good reason to not run it, but again, that's how it is.

*This is an explanation for why the top US runners don't run World XC and why you shouldn't be mad at them (even though it's frustrating)... I'm not making a statement about if XC should be in the Winter Olympics (although as a biased runner, I'd love to see it in the Olympics).

Perhaps I am expanding RoJo's point too far, but I think the 10,000 outdoors should seriously be on the chopping block. The skillset is too close to the 5,000 to begin with - case in point in that 5 of the last 12 Olympics featured a double 5/10,000 champs. What really tips it for me, is how infrequently the event is contested outside of championship meets. Talent wise, athletes are moving up to the marathon very early in their careers.

Solution - drop the 10,000, XC as an Olympic sport (winter probably won't happen, but very intriguing), then let's let nations field a team in the marathon if they have 5 or 7 runners that hit the A standard! That would better reflect how top elites are distributed between track and road.

Is there any Winter Olympic sport that isn't contested on snow or ice? I don't know, but that right there may be why XC in the Winter Olympics is a non-starter.

maj wrote:

Is there any Winter Olympic sport that isn't contested on snow or ice? I don't know, but that right there may be why XC in the Winter Olympics is a non-starter.

It looks like all Winter Olympic events are on either ice or snow.

Shoebacca wrote:

Let's be real. They know it's a prestigious event. That's why they're dodging it. They get paid to appear on a podium. They know they won't at world cross.

World Cross is NOT at all a "prestigious" event. Certainly not to Americans.

maj wrote:

Is there any Winter Olympic sport that isn't contested on snow or ice? I don't know, but that right there may be why XC in the Winter Olympics is a non-starter.

Yes, that is part of the Winter Olympics charter. There must be snow/ice involved.

Weazzle 5 wrote:

food stamp henny wrote:

I will gladly take those in bold. The others are quitters. Don't honor commitments and are not loyal to their country.

running through a cow pasture does not show loyalty .

NOT HOULIHAN CERTIFIED!!!

I feel like the real story here is something along the lines of “How can we so a better job of marketing World XC and drastically increasing the prize fund?”

Road racing = big prize money plus appearance money

Track = big endorsements

World XC = none of the above

I feel like the decline of World XC is on the fans and promoters... not the runners.

maj wrote:

Is there any Winter Olympic sport that isn't contested on snow or ice? I don't know, but that right there may be why XC in the Winter Olympics is a non-starter.

There is no big deal running through the snow. I could bound through 1 1/2 feet of snow with no special training.