73 boys break 15:00 in Running Lane champs; Salhman wins in 14:03

Anyone able to find and link to a strava entry for the course so we can see distance?

That course was downhill tho…

Based on Strava measurement of 3.10 miles, it's probably a tad short, not enough to make a stink about. They may have actually run 5,000 meters today, assuming they weren't hugging the inside to the maximum degree. I do think high school and collegiate XC is in a weird place these days where the mantra is "times don't matter ... but they also do." 🙄 Either get rid of labelling courses as a standard distance and make courses interesting (e.g. up and around ski slopes), or just have pancake-flat, non-wet, wide-turning, putting green-like grass course of exactly a standard distance and everyone runs on that same course for every race every year. These guys may have beat Ritz's record, or they may have not; nobody knows the truth.

Most people's Stravas today say 3.13 or more

Literally the start and finish are next to each other, it can't be in any significant way a downhill course like liberty bell in colorado is

Bit more than a tad short.

I can see the N.P. guys, but when 73 kids break 15 it makes a mockery of the race. I guarantee outside of aforementioned NP and a few others, none of the kids could even sniff 15 on a track.

This course runs around one minute faster than what would be a standard cross country course. something that isn't easy, but not really challenging either. In 11 years of coaching, I have never seen a course that runs more than 30 seconds faster than a standard course.

It must basically run the same speed as a track.

im not gonna be the get off my lawn guy and say if this is good or bad. But it has the potential to drastically change high school cross country in the United States. People will see these times and become thirsty for them. Courses like this will be in demand, and perhaps, if RunningLane can get some funding to pay for teams to come, it could overtake NXN. Or maybe NXN will create their own hyper speed course.

Last year jenna hutchins ran significantly fast on a track 5k 3 weeks later, still not track speed.

runnercp wrote:

That course was downhill tho…

90 ft net elevation

GPS was at 3.17, 3.14, 3.19, 3.12 on the course for 4 athletes.

high school xc coach wrote:

It must basically run the same speed as a track.

The only way a non-track course can run the same speed as a track (all other things, such as course length and optimal shoe selection, being equal) is if it's net downhill or signficant net tailwind.

jamin wrote:

high school xc coach wrote:

It must basically run the same speed as a track.

The only way a non-track course can run the same speed as a track (all other things, such as course length and optimal shoe selection, being equal) is if it's net downhill or signficant net tailwind.

... and of course this is excluding any theoretical setups such as if you created a 5000m straight stretch made up entirely of those spring-loaded gymnastics floors.

high school xc coach wrote:

This course runs around one minute faster than what would be a standard cross country course. something that isn't easy, but not really challenging either. In 11 years of coaching, I have never seen a course that runs more than 30 seconds faster than a standard course.

It must basically run the same speed as a track.

No.

Kid from somewhere wrote:

Last year jenna hutchins ran significantly fast on a track 5k 3 weeks later, still not track speed.

Justin Wachtel was at both of the same races as her. He ran 20 seconds faster on the track than RunningLane. He got 4th place at RunningLane.

say huh? wrote:

runnercp wrote:

That course was downhill tho…

90 ft net elevation

GPS was at 3.17, 3.14, 3.19, 3.12 on the course for 4 athletes.

Do you equate that to your guys not all running good tangents or the inaccuracy of their watches?

Not running tangents on a 3.1 mile course does not even come close to adding 0.09 miles. That’s nearly half way around a track. Anyone using Strava/GPS to say a course is long/short is completely ignorant of how inaccurate watches are.

Can someone post a link to Strava of Ritz's performance/course?

Thank you.

Stanely wrote:

Can someone post a link to Strava of Ritz's performance/course?

Thank you.

LOL

Sahlman running 13:4x on a track right now seems very realistic. Fast course, but no in comparison to a track.