Women racing a 6k in XC has never made sense to me, especially when they can compete in the 10k in track. How do the women athletes and coaches feel about this? Would they prefer to race longer distances? Do they feel offended at being forced to race shorter distances? What’s the reason they only do 6k?
No idea - should be 8k for both.
Lack of depth.
Think a lot of it has to do with tradition, but I would be for having 8-10k for the girls. I'm always curious as to why IAAF XC is roughly 12k - could be an interesting distance but I think 10k is too historic for the guys.
I've wondered the same thing. In my state girls ran 4K for a long time, then sometime in the last few years they switched to 5K like the boys. There's just so many good reasons to do it, I don't know why the NCAA hasn't followed suit. Like you said they race the same distances in track with uterus intact so I think we can safely take the plunge into 8K/10K.
I agree. A decent men's team has a 1 minute spread 1-7.. a decent women's team could have 3 minutes from 1-7. Meets would take forever.
Because the men who run the sport remain convinced that women couldn’t possibly be capable of the same things that men are.
I agree 6k is too short. Even considering that women spend more time on their feet per kilometer. Instead it should be at least 8k for women at the regional and national level. They can still run 6k for invite and conference like the men run 8k. Having that 2k jump for men come regionals and nationals makes it interesting. It wouldn’t be hard to have women run 8k because college courses are already designed for it.
Women
6k - Invites / Conference
8k - Regionals
Men (Same)
8k - Invites / Conference
10k - Regionals / Nationals
msb21 wrote:
No idea - should be 8k for both.
This. All races including championships should be 8k. There is no reason to run 6 or 10k.
Similarly, why do the women run 3K at Penn Relays? There is no 3K outdoors. Traditionally, the women had the 3K on Thursday night while the men had the Steeple. Now that the women have been running the steeple for 10 years plus, why have another exception?
This was proposed at the convention this past winter
Benedict wrote:
Similarly, why do the women run 3K at Penn Relays? There is no 3K outdoors. Traditionally, the women had the 3K on Thursday night while the men had the Steeple. Now that the women have been running the steeple for 10 years plus, why have another exception?
Benedict. I’ve been saying that for years. Squeegee guy said hello
serenity now. wrote:
msb21 wrote:
No idea - should be 8k for both.
This. All races including championships should be 8k. There is no reason to run 6 or 10k.
That's ridiculous logic. There's no "reason" to run any specific distance. It is all for fun.
The reason is that is what they have done. To change it would require a good reason which there is not. Coaches would have recruited differently had they known women would be running further.
Orlander wrote:
This was proposed at the convention this past winter
and what was concluded?
I believe it was rejected fairly strongly. I don’t really know the logic.
NCAA switched to 6k my senior year of college and I hated it. Years of breaking PRs at the 5k and then I was supposed to care about 1 more k. I don’t even remember my 6k times as I was so annoyed. I never felt offended racing less distance than the guys. I did feel offended when they changed it from 5k to 6k. It was a different race that my body was not used to racing. I was a 10,000m runner in track, so it’s not like I couldn’t handle the extra distance. The race felt foreign to my body and my mind. They did away with the 3000m in track after my senior year. That race was always my favorite to run, even though I didn’t focus on it in college. Switching to having the steeple singularly hold that 3000 spot was too bad in my opinion.
Perhaps it’s an easier transition for women now as racing a 6k is a natural progression from HS to collegiate XC, and what separates one from another.
I loved our 800 meter runners, but some of them would’ve struggled with an 8k or a 10k in XC.
I suppose if they want to keep the XC women’s race less mileage than the men’s, they may as well stick with 6k. I’m sure people have gotten used to it and have a much better attitude about then I did haha.
good thoughts wrote:
I agree 6k is too short. Even considering that women spend more time on their feet per kilometer. Instead it should be at least 8k for women at the regional and national level. They can still run 6k for invite and conference like the men run 8k. Having that 2k jump for men come regionals and nationals makes it interesting. It wouldn’t be hard to have women run 8k because college courses are already designed for it.
Women
6k - Invites / Conference
8k - Regionals
Men (Same)
8k - Invites / Conference
10k - Regionals / Nationals
^this is how it should be. Women are fully capable of running 8km (even 10k). From my experience racing collegiat, women are about 3 minutes slower than men over 8km so a more "equal" distance would be 9k for women and 10 for men. But for simplicity 8km & 10km are best.
This would also be more favorable for true distance runners rather than having 1500m women be so close to the top in xc. (Ex Jessica hull).
ElRunner wrote:
NCAA switched to 6k my senior year of college and I hated it." ..."it was a different race that my body was not used to racing. I was a 10,000m runner in track, so it’s not like I couldn’t handle the extra distance. The race felt foreign to my body and my mind."
Perhaps it’s an easier transition for women now as racing a 6k is a natural progression from HS to collegiate XC, and what separates one from another.
I loved our 800 meter runners, but some of them would’ve struggled with an 8k or a 10k in XC.
I suppose if they want to keep the XC women’s race less mileage than the men’s, they may as well stick with 6k. I’m sure people have gotten used to it and have a much better attitude about then I did haha.
1) Being "not used" to racing 6km shouldn't be a deal breaker. Men jump from 5km in high school to 8km in college and nobody bats an eyelash. It literally took me only 1 race to learn to pace myself for 8km, and then a few weeks later a 10km mid October.
2) 6km being "foreign to [your] body and mind" is one of the dumbest things I've ever heard. You ran 10kms and 5kms already. You should be the most ready of anyone to race a 6km.
3) the "natural progression" for men is 5k to 8k. No reason women can't handle the same.
4) 800m runners SHOULD struggle in xc! XC is a distance event. 10,000m runners struggle in 800s all the time. Mid-D athletes need to get used to not being the best at seemingly everything in track.
5) Being used to something is not a good reason to continue it. Millions of people are used to smoking but that doesn't mean they should keep smoking.
Bonus point) mid-d and long distance runners all do enough milage to handle 8 and 10km races. The only thing holding them back is weak mental strength.
They should have the decathlon too.