Could a team of US Masters runners qualify for XC Nationals?
Who makes the team?
Ritz, Webb, Hall, Meb, x,x,x?
Could a team of US Masters runners qualify for XC Nationals?
Who makes the team?
Ritz, Webb, Hall, Meb, x,x,x?
Unlikely. These guys aren't training seriously. If they didn't want to stay retired, they would be out there racing.
Bullet the Blue Sky wrote:
Unlikely. These guys aren't training seriously. If they didn't want to stay retired, they would be out there racing.
But their ability and mentality, they've been to the top. They just have to qualify. How high would they place?
Lagat, Goucher, Culpeper. Who are the other 40+ that could possibly make the team?
I'll go with "no."
Unless someone can name a team and times that these guys ran at 40+ (no hypotheticals), I'd say no way.
You know how hard it is to run really fast at that age? (I'm 51, so I've been through it.)
I don’t think you get a team of 5 that are under 30 minutes each. In 2015 Lagat was still great, but I don’t think the current crop of 40+ are still good enough.
Well there are at least four masters runners who are currently qualified for the trials in the marathon: Fernando Cabada, Malcolm Richards, Riley Cook, and Alexander Taylor. For the 5th guy you could throw in Sergio Reyes or Ben Bruce (both of whom have recent masters titles). I think that group (4 guys currently capable of sub 2:18) could do well. They'd lack a strong, high-placing front runner (although Cabada did just run a 48:xx 10-miler), but their depth (3rd-5th) would place low enough to get there.