National Cross Country- Sunderland

UKJON wrote:

Who's G Thornton?!?!?

Good run whoever he is

this guy I presume

Great run again for Jermaine Mays. I look forward to seeing some fast steeple times this year! Hue Lobb solid as always and not a bad run by Mr Deed.

Which team won the mens? Looks like Leeds from Bedford looking at a glance...

Leeds romped it. From Bedford and Sale. Course was runnable pretty much the whole way through, the predicted mudbath never happened. So much for all the predictions on this site. Riley pulled out - a real shame as it would have been good to see him race Tickner.

Why did P Riley pull out?

any photos available?

them results are shit,

Will be interesting to see what kind of summer performances this winter will translate to for Tickner.

worst national ever in terms of depth.

number of finishers in senior men's race

1998 Leeds 1666

1999 Newark 1554

2000 Stowe 1419

2001 Durham 1228

2002 Bristol 1220

2003 London 1258

2004 Leeds 1399

2005 Birminginham 1316

2006 London 1288

2007 Sunderland 916

rubbish field wrote:

worst national ever in terms of depth.

28 runners within 2 mins of the most dominant domestic athlete in 12 years?

Given that even by 1998 the National numbers were in decline - I am sure that about 2200 ran at Newark in 1988, this decline is very alarming.

I raised this point a year ago and forecast that numbers at Sunderland would be reduced due to the long journey required, much to the annoyance of some other posters. There has been a similar decline in the womens' event. Also, I am sure it did not help holding the Southern event in Norfolk - thereby creating another "long" trip for those west or south-west of London.

Venue is one one factor of many. Trying to look forward rather than back what can be done to try and at least bring back some semblance of decent sized fields (areas Champs had bigger fields not too long ago)? Or is the demise of The National inevitable?

Certainly we need to look beyond the declining numbers of die-hards and engage some of the "new runners".

Suggestions:

Keep rotating the venue around the areas but keep within a boundary of London, M4 to Bristol, M5 to Birmingham, M6 to Manchester, M62 to Leeds, M1 to London to retain reasonable access for most

On line entries

Remove obstacles like needing to enter the area champs

Active promotion other than just sending the entry forms to club secretaries e.g. posters at other events, advertising in magazines,

The whole presentation has a very tired feel to it. Has the format of the race programme changed in the last 25 years? Even the entry form only the dates and venue seems to change.

Also, Luton - Stopsley Park - was a great course/venue. Just off the M1 and millions of people within say, a three hour drive - why is this not used any more?

and it just goes to show how bad things are when our most dominant domestic athlete hasn't even broken 14mins for 5k (of course, it's not his fault that everyone else is so flippin slow)

with an event this size you need a willing local authority to host it - could well be Luton council have other priorities these days.

Whilst Sunderland may not be that central - its hardly the back of beyond. Same goes for nearly any venue in England - compared to some countries (US, Canada) we're hardly massive and this is the once a year national championship - if people decide not to run on the grounds 'its a bit far' then I doubt they're the types who are doing enough training to have an impact anyway. The decline in numbers reflects the decline overall in the number of 'serious' runners in the sport. Thats a far bigger issue (and has been discussed on here many times) that has nothing to do with the venue of one race.

Agree with some of the other points about promoting the event a bit more, but the ECCA could be fighting a losing battle on that one as UKA arent interested in the event really - on Friday I could not see a preview on the UKA site and this morning the headline is about BUSA indoors rather than the National.

Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear wrote:

and it just goes to show how bad things are when our most dominant domestic athlete hasn't even broken 14mins for 5k (of course, it's not his fault that everyone else is so flippin slow)

Are cross country courses pink and oval shaped with lots of white lines?

? wrote:

Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear wrote:

and it just goes to show how bad things are when our most dominant domestic athlete hasn't even broken 14mins for 5k (of course, it's not his fault that everyone else is so flippin slow)

Are cross country courses pink and oval shaped with lots of white lines?

Foster, Bedford, Goater, Rose, Hutchings, Martin, Lewis etc etc etc - all these guys were miles inside 14mins for 5k.

whatever - give it a rest old timer. you can only beat the people who turn up

I think you should reserve judgement until the track season comes.

am fairly confident i'm in sub-14 shape thank you