So we agree that racing 12K in Australia hurts one’s ability to be fully prepared for track season. Got it.
the thing about Rojo is that he is not smart
Remember the video Rojo made 1-2 years ago of him seeing a single cicada, and that this was somehow proof that Cheptegei was going to break the 3k WR the next day. Even as a joke, it didn't make any sense whatsoever. The guy has problems.
Do you people not understand metaphors? Not everything is to be taken literally, and you don't have to parse every post word for word. We could have skipped about 30 posts on this thread and actually had a good conversation about the important subject that was brought up. But pedantic dunces have to hijack every conversation here.
Dude, the whole premise of this thread is pedantic.
Who wouldn't want to go to Australia? I could understand not wanting to go to Europe or Africa, but Australia is a bucket list destination. Beautiful beaches, unique flora and fauna, beautiful women, great fishing, etc. Other than a lot of things that can kill a person, I can't see not wanting to go there for a paid vacation.
Hell if I was the BTC. I'd go there then make a training camp out of it afterwards at Falls Creek. Where would you rather be in February? Australia? Or Dumpy Eugene? Or whever they are putting their altittude camp this year?
A fair point, on the face of it, but from a practical standpoint their coaches now also work at and have to be present at the U of O.
Tough to fly to Australia to conduct a workout and visually keep tabs on athletes and be back for university practice the next day.
Thanks for stirring the pot as usual. I'm sure a lot of guys will skip the 20 hour flight to go race at BU instead. Have their pro cards stripped?
Were you ever a pro runner?
People can schedule themselves. I'm sure they've had their plans for a while.
John Kellogg rarely had weldon race. When I coach people, I rarely want them racing either.
But I think a big part of my role now is to be the voice of the fans.
Only somewhat related, I honestly think there should be a fan union for pro sports. How cool would it be if we strated a fan union in the US?I was thinking for the major sports. No, after watching 162 games of baseball, you aren't putting the playoff game at 1 pm on a workday making it hard for people to watch. You aren't spending $2 billion of taxpayer dollars on some boon doggle of a stadium to benefit a billionaire.
A better starting point would be to create an athletes union and put the power and money where it is rightfully due and out of the hands/pockets/mouths of the USATF anointed millionaires.
rojo, I'm not seeing any USA XC results for you. Can you share how many times in your career you lined up and raced USA XC to attempt and qualify for a World Team? Or are you being hypocritical?
That has nothing to do with the conversation here. Why do so many people look to score some imaginary conversation point? You are not adding to the conversation.
Hypocrite-much? Hilarious response. It does add to the conversation: espouse your values.
After reading the responses to this thread I want to poke my eyes with some nice rusty XC spikes. The usual dross being spouted from the dimwitted LetsRun community missing the point completely, as per. The root of the problem lies in that Cross Country is treated by World Athletics with, at best, apathy.
As a format it is one of the most exciting disciplines, with a proper cross country course (for you USA lot, a glorified golf course doesn't count) creating a more unpredictable outcome than what the majority of amoebas on here dream of - a deadly boring paced 10,000m or similar (also, the Diamond League SUCKS).
What the morons on this page fail to grasp is the fact that the XC format is the only time where runners from a range of distances go head to head, and governing bodies (World and National), shoe companies and athletes are missing the bigger picture - I think responsibility lies to some degree with all of them. Imagine Kipchoge v Ingebrigtsen.
The key for the survival of athletics is keeping relevance outside of the Oly's and WC's, and the key to athlete survival is exposure. We saw athletes turning down opportunities to run in other large events, notably the Commonwealth Games, which ironically then boosted winning athletes profiles immeasurably eg. Eilish McColgan, a second tier championships which amusingly ended up being far bigger than the World Championships.
Why on earth can shoe companies and athletes not see this, and why do governing bodies not incentivise/force attendance to these events, IT BENEFITS EVERYONE. It's a policy of sporting self harm/pea brain thinking from all involved.
So yes, Rojo is right, push these pros into attending National Champs and WC's if they qualify, boost their own and their sport's profile.
Hi as a Sydney sider I will be travelling to world championships at Bathurst.
”Golf courses…”, Bathurst is not that and is a regional town that has hosted large sporting events for decades so they will do a great job however…
Centenial Park in the heart of Sydney would have made a truly spectacular and challenging cross country course. Hills, slopes, change of surface and so much more.
John Kellogg rarely had weldon race. When I coach people, I rarely want them racing either.
I see what you’re really communicating here, sorry I didn’t catch it sooner. I agree that pro runners need to realize they’re freelance, independent contractors and thus the president and CEO of their own enterprise. They employ the coach (and agent), not vice versa. Let the coach act as the boss and you give up tons of autonomy. When you’re no longer on a high school or college team it’s time to adult up. If it’s your goal to run at USA XC and qualify for World XC then the coach’s job is to help you prepare to do that. One or two extra races on your schedule shouldn’t negatively impact the rest of your year significantly, right? If the coach won’t work with you towards your personal performance goals then you should fire that coach and find a better one.
After reading the responses to this thread I want to poke my eyes with some nice rusty XC spikes. The usual dross being spouted from the dimwitted LetsRun community missing the point completely, as per. The root of the problem lies in that Cross Country is treated by World Athletics with, at best, apathy.
As a format it is one of the most exciting disciplines, with a proper cross country course (for you USA lot, a glorified golf course doesn't count) creating a more unpredictable outcome than what the majority of amoebas on here dream of - a deadly boring paced 10,000m or similar (also, the Diamond League SUCKS).
What the morons on this page fail to grasp is the fact that the XC format is the only time where runners from a range of distances go head to head, and governing bodies (World and National), shoe companies and athletes are missing the bigger picture - I think responsibility lies to some degree with all of them. Imagine Kipchoge v Ingebrigtsen.
The key for the survival of athletics is keeping relevance outside of the Oly's and WC's, and the key to athlete survival is exposure. We saw athletes turning down opportunities to run in other large events, notably the Commonwealth Games, which ironically then boosted winning athletes profiles immeasurably eg. Eilish McColgan, a second tier championships which amusingly ended up being far bigger than the World Championships.
Why on earth can shoe companies and athletes not see this, and why do governing bodies not incentivise/force attendance to these events, IT BENEFITS EVERYONE. It's a policy of sporting self harm/pea brain thinking from all involved.
So yes, Rojo is right, push these pros into attending National Champs and WC's if they qualify, boost their own and their sport's profile.
"What the morons on this page fail to grasp is the fact that the XC format is the only time where runners from a range of distances go head to head..."
That's just the point, they don't anymore, which makes the rest of your post pointless.
And you refer to "dimwitted morons" failing to grasp, FFS you couldn't make it up lol.
After reading the responses to this thread I want to poke my eyes with some nice rusty XC spikes. The usual dross being spouted from the dimwitted LetsRun community missing the point completely, as per. The root of the problem lies in that Cross Country is treated by World Athletics with, at best, apathy.
As a format it is one of the most exciting disciplines, with a proper cross country course (for you USA lot, a glorified golf course doesn't count) creating a more unpredictable outcome than what the majority of amoebas on here dream of - a deadly boring paced 10,000m or similar (also, the Diamond League SUCKS).
What the morons on this page fail to grasp is the fact that the XC format is the only time where runners from a range of distances go head to head, and governing bodies (World and National), shoe companies and athletes are missing the bigger picture - I think responsibility lies to some degree with all of them. Imagine Kipchoge v Ingebrigtsen.
The key for the survival of athletics is keeping relevance outside of the Oly's and WC's, and the key to athlete survival is exposure. We saw athletes turning down opportunities to run in other large events, notably the Commonwealth Games, which ironically then boosted winning athletes profiles immeasurably eg. Eilish McColgan, a second tier championships which amusingly ended up being far bigger than the World Championships.
Why on earth can shoe companies and athletes not see this, and why do governing bodies not incentivise/force attendance to these events, IT BENEFITS EVERYONE. It's a policy of sporting self harm/pea brain thinking from all involved.
So yes, Rojo is right, push these pros into attending National Champs and WC's if they qualify, boost their own and their sport's profile.
"Why on earth can shoe companies and athletes not see this, and why do governing bodies not incentivise/force attendance to these events"
Because hardly anyone cares about "these events", obviously you're not in business or involved in funding with public/private/organisations money otherwise you'd realise it's all about "bang for buck".
As a side note, I was at Champs XC on Saturday and I asked 6 of the kids if they were going to try to make the u20 world xc team. None of them even knew about it.
When I explained it to them, that they would get a free trip and get to represent the USA, they all said they weren't interested. They all wanted to focus on indoor track.
Representing the USA in international xc just doesn't seem to be a popular thing to do. Most runners have other priorities.
Is this a joke? Most depressing thing ever. But I heard Leo and Lex want to do it. Isn't that true?
A little bit of a joke because Ellie Shea appears to be signed up already. I have a hard time believing that many would rather be couped up indoors when they can get $1000s in gear, a free trip, coaching and world "running" experience in Australia for some stuffy meet indoors. There is drug testing commitments though.