Canadian Steeplechaser Goes 13:27.4

Poorly informed statement, Greg.

It's a great run for Gay, but a Canadian has run 12:47, which is faster than any American. And there are several sub-13:20. I think he will get there.

The Canadian running community is well informed on the latest performances from Athletics Canada (website, twitter et al) as well as a couple of publications.

Not sure how you measure "reaction" or "news" in Canada, but the average American also knows nothing about elite distance running, just like the average Canadian.

Wet Coast wrote:

Poorly informed statement, Greg.

It's a great run for Gay, but a Canadian has run 12:47, which is faster than any American. And there are several sub-13:20. I think he will get there.

The Canadian running community is well informed on the latest performances from Athletics Canada (website, twitter et al) as well as a couple of publications.

Not sure how you measure "reaction" or "news" in Canada, but the average American also knows nothing about elite distance running, just like the average Canadian.

This. By all means, props to the young Canadian on this PB. He'll likely get the Olympic Standard next year if for some reason he doesn't go for the Steeplechase, of which he is already running near elite times.

But Athletics Canada didn't even make a post congratulating the kid for his 5000m effort. 13:27 isn't note worthy in our sport for any senior distance athlete. It's the equivalent of a 3:55 mile. A good time but it isn't going to be anywhere competitive on the world stage. Why should anyone outside of his team and family care about his time?

If this kid was an equivalent talent in the NHL, he'd be stuck in the American Hockey League or playing in Switzerland. Maybe he'd get a 5-6th round draft chance for the NHL in a year or two. His lack of attention isn't a matter of the running not being popular to the public. The dude just isn't good enough to warrant attention. This thread was only made so washed-up average college runners could cope their sporting mediocrity by finding yet another barely elite potential white guy to idolize.

Ghost1 wrote:

Interesting that this runner chose to stay at University British Columbia where he could’ve run at any number of Division I teams in the USA. Not criticizing the Canadian university athletics scene but normally there are advantages to be had from running in the USA which are far superior to running in Canada but some Canadians may disagree disagree with that.

In normal times, maybe. Anyone attending college in Canada should be glad as hell they aren't in the US right now. There probably won't be an xc season, maybe not even fall classes in person.

Mortality rate is an irrelevant stat... the reality is that if you go to any city in Canada right now you would have virtually a 0 % chance of getting covid 19 but if you went to any city in the usa your chances would increase exponentially..

People dying from covid19 is a very relevant stat.

On the women's side - Bernard and Lee. Plus a whole host of others who are competitive at the national level (Jarron, Hooton). They do very well at developing talent without burning out/injuring athletes with big potential.

I think he would have got some metaphorical third-line duty with the Buffalo Sabres.

And, next year, I think he would get metaphorically called up quite a bit more.

He is close.

13:27 is a great time.