We can all sit on here and complain about how some of our best runners aren't going to worlds, or we can look at it as it is now and figure out how new opportunities can be created here. So our top runners aren't going over to Kenya...oh well. I would venture to say that even if we sent our all-star team over there, that no American media source would even be there to cover the event except for Mike Sandrock. Furthermore, even if all those guys decided to run, and they earned a third place trophy (which would be the best they would finish), does anyone outside of our LetsRun community even care? Nope! Americans like winners, they like watching the race on TV and seeing the results unfold. Neither the US winning or the race being on TV are realistic, so the general sporting public won't care. Plus, even if they did trophy, USATF wouldn't do much to hype it up, as their hype machine seems to be dying or dead.
Now onto reality. Some of our best stars are running road races in the U.S. Ritz, Goucher, Torres and Abdi are running the 8K. That is huge. It is in NYC, the media center of America and their is decent money involved. If NYRR is going their job properly then they should be promoting the heck out of this event and the stars that are going to run there. Having four or more of our top athletes in NYC is a great chance to promote the sport in the U.S. Then we have Meb, Deena, Hall and other running the 15K. Again, another chance to promote our stars in the U.S. One of the main reasons why our sport is not nearly as popular in the U.S. as other sports is because all of our top athletes leave after U.S. Nationals and go run their fastest times of the year overseas, where none of our reporters are covering it and we can't even watch the events on TV, and often times the internet. It is like our stars going into hiding for the majority of the competitive season. The way I see the 8K and 15K champs are that they are great opportunities to market the sport. Will they be marketed properly...maybe, but at least there is a chance they will be. NYRR does a lot better job or promoting the sport than USATF.
Would it be great to see our "A" team (minus Teg, Webb, Cabada, Hall and Meb of course since they didn't run) take on Kenya and other top nations in the heartland of where the best distance runners come from? You bet. But they aren't, and while it stinks, it also offers some opportunities to advance the sport in the U.S. by marketing our stars in a major media market and give some of the up and comers, who one day might beat Goucher, Ritz, etc. the chance to gain some valuable experience and see parts of the world they would never have a chance to see.