Best US City for Distance Running - March Madness Tournament

Well this is certainly creative.

I'm going to make this 3 matchups a day, to ensure we finish in March while likely missing some days here and there for days i'm not online.

3rd matchup of the day is #17 Indianapolis vs. #48 Salt Lake City. Despite the lower seed, I was thinking Salt Lake City would come out on top. BUT, Indianapolis got lucky with the category draw, with the local marathon picking up wins in 2 categories. SLC still made it go the distance, by winning the 2nd (most prominent peak within 75 miles) and 4th categories (fastest runner at LA marathon - this was actually close with a 4:18 winning it!). Indianapolis picked up wins in the 1st (lowest cost of living), 3rd (bq's run in the city), and 5th (bq's in city per population). As a runner, I'd pick Salt Lake City, but sometimes the category draws could put a city like Indianapolis over the top.

Indianapolis will have a very tough 2nd round matchup, waiting the winner of the first matchup tomorrow, #16 San Francisco and #49 Providence. Also tomorrow will be #9 Dallas vs. #56 Duluth and maybe the most contrasting battle in round one, #24 Detroit vs. #41. Honolulu.

I've got PVD in an upset over SF.

If you have NYC as the #1 seed you have no idea what you’re talking about.

my two pennies wrote:

If you have NYC as the #1 seed you have no idea what you’re talking about.

Seeds were simply based on population size, not predicted outcomes.

Back for Day 2.

The first matchup is #16 San Francisco vs. #49 Providence.

The first category, # runners in the Boston Marathon. Uh oh, proximity to Boston makes me think that PVD may indeed get the upset as suggested by the poster above. Nope. SF wins this category handedly, as do they win the 2nd category, # of races within 25 miles. 3rd category is an interesting one, # of bars per capita. Providence edges out SF, avoiding the sweep. The 4th category is the high school running scene, one of the few subjective categories of the possible 45, and SF takes it for the win. SF wins 3-1.

Second matchup, #9 Dallas vs. #56 Duluth

First category, % of total area that is park. Duluth the smaller city wins this by quite a bit. 2nd category, better running weather in October. This category is interesting, both average 5 days or rain, with Duluth having an average high of 52 and Dallas an average high in the high 70s. 52 sounds a lot better than me, but thats the high each day and I'm rarely running in the mid afternoon. Dallas wins by having much better "running hour" temperatures, as one can avoid the freezing morning temps that sometimes plagues Duluth in the fall. Tied 1-1. The next 2 categories are which city has the most running clubs, and which city has the largest running club. Dallas wins these 2 to close out Duluth 3-1.

So the 2 larger cities win the first 2 matchups of the day, the 2nd being a slight surprise to me. Can Detroit continue that trend and take down a tropical paradise? Third matchup, #24 Detroit vs. # 41 Honolulu.

First category, lower cost of living. Many times the smaller city can pick up the win in this category, but Detroit wins by a long shot. 2nd category, fastest runner at Chicago marathon. Uh oh, this has to be Detroit also right?, due to its proximity and size. Nope, Honolulu wins this one and ties 1-1. Honolulu also takes the 3rd category, number of running clubs. The running scene in Detroit just doesn't seem to be very active for its size. Honolulu up 2-1. Detroit does tie it back up with a win in the 4th category, most parks. I'm not sure if that makes it a better running city, but its one of the 45 categories. 5th and deciding category, most runners per capita in the Boston Marathon. Honolulu wins this deciding category easily and takes down Detroit 3-2.

Honolulu and Dallas will meet in the 2nd round, while San Francisco will be matched up against Day 1 winner, Indianapolis.

We have the following matchups on the schedule for tomorrow: #25 Oklahoma City vs. #40 Minneapolis, #57 St. George vs. #8 San Diego, and #5 Phoenix vs. #57 Burlington, VT.

the winner is obviously flagstaff

Minneapolis a strong underdog in the upcoming matchup.

tuccone wrote:

Well this is certainly creative.

Yep, it is that.

How did you pick the 64 cities, OP?

I think it would have more merit if you maintained the same set of criteria for each matchup, personally. But it’s definitely a neat idea.

One that might be missing from your batch of 64 is Des Moines, Iowa. Admittedly I have a limited perspective, but I was shocked at the parks and trail system here and it blows every other place I’ve lived (Iowa City, Cedar Rapids, Carbondale IL, even Bellingham WA) completely out of the water. The fact that it hosts the historic Drake Relays and seems like the 2nd most popular destination for U.S. and NCAA championships after Eugene only helps its case.

No set standard for picking the field and Des Moines didn't make the original field. Made sure to pick the cities known for having elite training groups, important races, etc, and filled in the rest by just largest cities. Your points make sense, and I snuck Des Moines into the field as the #50 seed with another city dropping out due to Covid precautions. Des Moines will be matched up against Charlotte late in the first round.

Having random criteria makes it more interesting I think. More chance of an upset, similar to march madness, if a city just beats another in 3 key categories and they are lucky with the draws. The better running city should generally have a greater chance of winning, but unless they are better in every single category, there is some chance for an upset in every single matchup. Next year I will pick categories that may be less biased towards large cities, as the ones I picked this year may give some advantage for simply having more runners. I'll also put more thought into the seeding/bracket structure. Having more runners does matter in some regard I think but may be over weighted among the 45 categories available. Regardless, I have no idea how this will turn out.

bgod wrote:

the winner is obviously flagstaff

Flagstaff is only the 58th seed, going against the #7, San Antonio in the first round. Despite the seedings, Flagstaff should definitely get through at least one round, unless San Antonio gets lucky with the category draws. It's going to be a battle for Flagstaff to get into the sweet sixteen though - they will be up against Portland (OR) unless Portland loses to Miami in the first round. Maybe the best potential round of 32 matchup. Some really interesting first round matchups later on with Boise matching up against Seattle and Big Bear going up against Los Angeles.

Gnarshralper wrote:

Minneapolis a strong underdog in the upcoming matchup.

Yes, despite the seedings, Minneapolis should be seen as the favorite I'd think.

my two pennies wrote:

If you have NYC as the #1 seed you have no idea what you’re talking about.

You are incapable of reading.

Day 3:

First up for the day is #25 Oklahoma City vs. #40 Minneapolis. Minneapolis jumped out to an early 1-0 lead by having the most runners in the olympic trials before an interesting category that took me a while to research - most prominent peak within 75 miles. Neither city has a peak with more than 400 ft. prominence within 75 miles it seems, but Oklahoma City does have the higher of the two nearby, bringing it back to an even score, 1-1. The third category also took some research, lower average annual humidity - which turns out to be Minneapolis, also not by much. Minneapolis finished off the win by having the fastest marathon either city hosts for the 4th category. Minneapolis wins 3-1

Next up is #57 St. George, UT vs. #8 San Diego. No surprise, San Diego sweeps this category convincingly, 3-0. Categories drawn were # of races within 100miles, fastest runner at the Disney Marathon, and number of registered running clubs per capita.

The final matchup of the day is one that doesn't get much different geographically, #5 Phoenix vs. #60 Burlington, VT. Another clean sweep by the bigger city, winning the high school running and most parks category, and then Burlington being finished off by having fewer number of sunny days per year. Phoenix wins 3-0

San Diego and Minneapolis will be paired up in Round 2, while Phoenix awaits the winner of the first matchup tomorrow, #37 Omaha and #28 Memphis. Also tomorrow we'll see who wins as the better running city between #21 Boston and #44 Toledo, followed by #53 Boulder vs. #12 Jacksonville. I'm pulling for a Boston vs. Boulder round 2 matchup, but we'll see if it plays out that way.

If Toledo beats Boston this whole thing is busted

list grandmaster wrote: Your points make sense, and I snuck Des Moines into the field as the #50 seed with another city dropping out due to Covid precautions.

Woohoo!

Day 4:

Ok, first lets get the two obvious outcome summaries over with - #21 Boston sweeps #44 Toledo and #53 Boulder sweeps #12 Jacksonville. Boston won by being the healthiest city in the US News rankings, hosting the fastest marathon, and having the most races within 100mi. Boulder won by having the better women's college distance program in town, having more runners in the olympic trials, and hosting the best race between the. Boston and Boulder will meet up in an epic round 2 matchup.

Our first matchup was #37 Omaha vs. #28 Memphis. Each of the categories drawn I really had no idea who would pick up the point. Omaha ultimately jumped out to a 2-0 lead by having the most races in town and having the most parks. Memphis picked up the 3rd category, having the lower cost of living. My intuition was that Omaha would finish Memphis off by winning the 4th category, most runners in Boston per capita. And that was the case, not only per capita, Omaha had more overall Boston runners. Omaha beats Memphis 3-1 and will face Phoenix in the 2nd round.

Next time we'll hopefully have some more competitive matchups, #13 Fort Worth vs. #52 Richmond, #45 Madison vs. #20 DC, and #29 Milwaukee vs. #36 Colorado Springs.

I've got PVD in an upset over SF

Very creative, good stuff.