Farah and Rupp are being SELFISH by not running world XC

Most people here seem to want running to be a professional sport. Professional athletes need to do what seems in the best interests of their careers and finances.

I have no problem with them doing what is in their best interests.

Running is a selfish sport by nature.

It's a sport where you can gain glory without the help of others.

That's what attracted me to the sport when I wouldn't get enough passes thrown my way in football.

OP, you've decided World Cross country is the most important thing they could be doing at the end of March. That's a questionable and arbitrary conclusion.

Yeah really. With those two in it the US would surely win GOLD!!!

It might be a valid comment during the off year when there are no world championships or Olympics. But, this year is WCs building into 2016. Athletes who want medals in 2016 and at WC are not going to be willing to take the risks running XC for little in the way of financial rewards.

Also, road racing money has steadily increased since Bekele was running XC in 2000s. 1/2 marathons have displaced XC in a big way in terms of attracting top talent. In some ways, this may be better for running in general. 1/2 marathons are mass participation events. XC is a pure championship event. Recreational runners will not have a clue that there is an XC race. But thousands of hobby joggers attend 1/2 marathons and will have some exposure to the pro race.

What could they be doing in March that is better for the sport?

When you reach the level that Farah has (transcendence), it is important to keep perspective. Would you rather be known as the 3rd greatest runner of all time rather than the 10th, or as the man who helped revive the sport that made you famous?

Being part of a team or movement will always be more meaningful than defiantly standing one's own ground for one's own personal benefit.

Cross Country died years ago. Get over yourself.

Bring the back the 4k and you'll see more runners participate. Not everyone wants to run 12k in the mud. 4k is doable.

Top athletes choosing not to run aren't ruining World XC, the IAAF is. There is hardly ANY sort of tv or video coverage of the races, we basically just have photos and live updates. How can Rupp, Mo etc. be "the face" of the sport when the fans have no way of watching the competition other than twitter and by looking at the results? There aren't even any archived full-race videos online anywhere, not of any recent World XC at least.What's the point is of the guys at the top bothering with World XC when their competition is going to be C-team Kenyans and Ethiopians anyways? Let's face it, World XC is irrelevant, A-listers like Rupp are harming the sport in absolutely no way by declining to attend. In fact they're probably doing MORE the sport by staying in-country and preparing as best they can for the races that actually matter like the Diamond League meets and the World Championships instead of taking like 5+ days to travel to and race in the mud in freaking China. Get off your "I know what is best for the sport" high-horse and let the guy's who have Olympic and WC medals on the line do their thing.

Hey a-hole, get off your "I know what is best" high-horse and let 'A concerned fan' do his thing.

This is why Track and field (and XC) is dying. This attitude that runners have to do only what's best for themselves and nothing more.

We all complain about the top track stars avoiding real competition, not interacting with the fans, limiting their races, running time trial races, the sit and kick mentality. Those are all products of the me-first running attitude that is pervasive in Track.

Pretty soon those athletes will realized that they helped put a stake in our dying sport becuase of this.

Plus they are being monumentally stupid. XC is a great way to increase strength without adding a ton of impact.

I give Dathan a pass though...he ran 3 XC races this year including Nats....and he seems to be no injured. Hmmmm.

I agree. With them it is all me, me, me. How about getting on an actual team and helping your country win world xc medals? And Rupp cannot say that the U.S. has no chance at this or that he's a bad xc runner.

Dewey_Runner wrote:

Top athletes choosing not to run aren't ruining World XC, the IAAF is. There is hardly ANY sort of tv or video coverage of the races, we basically just have photos and live updates. How can Rupp, Mo etc. be "the face" of the sport when the fans have no way of watching the competition other than twitter and by looking at the results? There aren't even any archived full-race videos online anywhere, not of any recent World XC at least.

The BBC is showing it live.

This is a classic example of losing sight of cause vs effect. If Mo would declare for these champs, and everyone knew it, all of the other top names would show. If all of the top runners were present, more networks would care. As it stands, with Gebrehiwet as the top runner, networks have no incentive to broadcast this race. BUT, if the top dawg and his chasers are all involved, the $ equation changes.

To those of you stating that individuals chasing their medals is all that matters, I ask you to ponder:

What is more important to the sport, a champion winning medals on the track, or increasing exposure, acting as a role model, and giving the fans a 3rd championship to care about.

No one cares when LeBron wins a title. Everyone tunes in when he loses, then has to fight his way back to the top. This is not just a "Mo" problem, it is an epidemic that is turning people away by ruining rivalries. Coe gets it, Haile got it. Now we need Mo to get it.

Yet people can't understand why the sport (XC) isn't in the Olympics? It no longer attracts the best (as the OP pointed out), so is now a peripheral activity. It needs to regain a profile of a the race ALL want to attend, if getting into the Olympics is ever going to be a reality. It has become a school race that a few lesser lights choose to run at the IAAF level to enhance their status, but the very best don't bother anymore. Sad really.

They are doing what almost everyone does in their careers- acting in their own self interests. I don't fault them.However, imagine how much publicity with hard core runners they would have gotten if they showed up at World XC and gave it a go. One could make the bigger view that if you got beyond a very short sighted traditional view it would be beneficial for them to run World XC.

HRE wrote:

Most people here seem to want running to be a professional sport. Professional athletes need to do what seems in the best interests of their careers and finances.

Running IS a professional sport. However, I believe the sport would benefit if athletes were incentivized to not act only in their traditional short term interests. Another way would put it would be the sport would be better off if they were forced to compete in certain events (and be compensated for competing there).

Nearly every sport that is successful has a body exerting some market control. Team sports obviously have leagues that control where people play. The PGA Tour and tennis have rules that make the athletes compete in so many events if they want to keep their cards/get ranking points. A problem with track and field is athletes don't have to compete anywhere. They generally are just free agents. It it something the sport should try and change.

Think about the Olympic Trials. I would argue the sport is better off because athletes have to compete at the Trials. The US could select its team by committee or something but the Olympic Trials are great for the sport. They are one of the few meets athletes are forced to compete at (if they want to go to the Olympics). Thus it becomes in the athletes interests to compete at the Trials.

The IAAF needs to make it in countries/individual interests to compete at World XC. I think the easiest way to do this would be to tie it to participation at other events.

At the very least the IAAF could say to federations, "You want to compete at Worlds on the track? you have to send a team to world XC." Or come up with a system where the X top ranked distance teams had to send teams or they lose spots at Worlds on the track. There are ways to do this. Ie countries with only 3 guys in the top 50 at World XC get 3 entries in the 10k at Worlds.

Somehow the PGA tour and tennis get around the anti-trust concerns. Track needs to as well.

Although athletes never say it, but the decision is mostly about money. Most of your elite long distance athletes can't afford to give up $15K - $50K potential earnings from one or two spring road races. The March 28th date is bad scheduling, it interferes with nearly half a dozen big money road races. And, for the track guys, 12K on a WXC type course is almost like a half marathon. WXC is not never going to die because it is too ingrained in running culture. The IAAF just needs to tinker with it a little bit. Cutting the distance down, moving WXC up Dec or Jan or even a couple of weeks would solve most of the problems. Also, stop awarding the event to the highest bidder, China is a strange place to hold a global XC championship.

'People aren't interested in world XC because the current "best runner on the planet" isn't showing up.'No, they aren't interested because....they aren't interested in World XC.I'm certainly not. Who gives a shyt?