The race has been over for awhile now. Some one has to have the results!! Please post them
The race has been over for awhile now. Some one has to have the results!! Please post them
Word is the course was pretty wet and sloppy from the rain, therefore, the times were slow!
The course was very bad. It had rained all night and right up to 45 minutes before the first race started. The mud was 6-7 inches deep in some areas and the deep mud made it very hard to get up and down the short steep hills. Unlike the Emporia course which drained pretty well and did not get near the rain Stillwater got, the OSU course does not handle water very well. I would say times were anywhere from :45 to 1:30 slow depending on which race you were in.
Yeah I ran there a while ago and if the course is still the same that would make since why the times were slow. The course is tough to begin with and half the course is on dirt trails. It sprinkeled the night before I ran there and it was pretty bad on the dirt parts.
The OSU course with the rain and mud and muck provided a true cross country experience. Colorado's course in Boulder provides some true cross country experience. Nowadays a big majority of collegiate cross country courses are becoming sanitized. Coaches complain about too many obstacles to the point that the NCAA rulebook does not allow barriers of any kinds (hay bales, logs, fences) on the course. Meets are run on absolute flat manicured grass or close to it and are becoming glorified track races.
Bring back some true cross country with more terrain and muck and such. That way it comes down to who can race and not who can time-trial. Cross country is about challening yourself against the elements, the terrain and the other athletes, not some blazing fast track like Notre Dame or Willamette. These meets brought together some great teams and great athletes but does not provide the challenging course.
Anyone have any thoughts on this? Chip in your 2 bits.