Agree or Disagree: IAAF wants Cross Country to become more extreme / edgier to attract audiences & "new breed of runner"

cross country should be across the countryside. not some golf course or trail.

I think this would make a HUGE difference. I might add why limit it to professional races? Why not have college/HS meets have an open race as well? Keep it low key, focused on competition, and cheap. I'd love it.

I'd pay $10 to race in an open race at a HS XC meet.

The local trail had a trail run loop that blasted Techno Music at the start and finish of each lap. Nothing like the songs of birds and river gurgling mixed with Skrillex.

Cross country is what it is, there are already trail runs,and mountain runs, orienteering, adventure runs and obstical courses that aren't XC. XC is massively popular with respect to the number of people that actual train and participate. It's done just fine not being in the Olympics for decades, and will continue to just fine. It should be in the Olympics but please don't call something that's not XC, XC just for the Olympics. Unlike sports like synchronized diving or cc ski sprints which were literally created for Olympic broadcasts , XC has proven to be able to stand on its own merits.

Plus no way should we eliminate the track 10k to add XC. With the shear number of distance runners out there, compared to literally every other individual sport, there should be more than enough room for both. I mean there is literally long and short track speed skating at the olympics. With that logic why don't we have indoor and outdoor track both in the Olympics, let alone XC. There are probably more serious womens XC athletes in Region 2 Texas high school, than the entire sport of womens speed skating.

Over the long term the Olympics have done very little to help for the sport of distance running in my opinion, and XC doesn't need to change for Olympic recognition.

Totally in agreement with much of what you said. Too many cross country races these days at the pro level are loops on golf courses. Even high school races have even gravitated towards faster courses. Mix it up a little with some hills, water crossings, hay bale, maybe some tight turns. Edinburgh is a good example, that is a great race to watch. But the ostacle course run would be a step too far.

The idea of more open races at high school/college XC meets is another great idea. As an adult, the opportunity to run XC races are few and far between, despite them being some of most fun races out there. Slapping a community/coaches/parents race into the program could really spark some fun competition and get the kids excited to see the adults racing.

I think the IAAF's concern (and many fans as well) is that professional cross country is basically on life support. Many of the top runners don't show up, World Champs only happen every two years, there aren't that many professional races and most of the world outside of Europe doesn't even have a XC circuit. They are looking for ways to revive professional cross country.

I just think the money in the road race scene and pro contracts that don't put any emphasis on cross country have steered pros away from the event. And now there are plenty of fast full and half marathons during the cold months for most of the world, so those type of racers might be more inclined to focus on the full/half rather than jump in a XC race. Plus, it seems like everybody not named Dewi Griffiths, Yuki Kawauchi, and Kamworor just don't like to race a lot.

Personally, I would love to mix up for the part the year with a few country races to break up the winter base training cycle, but it doesn't seem like the pros feel the same.

I have said for years that XC should be like orienteering - start at point A and run to point B over natural terrain using whatever route you prefer. No mown grass or other landscaping, that stuff is a joke. Real-world grass is long and impossible to run through, though it might be a better choice than rocks or mud.

That would make things strategic and interesting.

Allow spectators to race the leaders for 800m, separated by ropes. And then continue running on the local track or measured loop.

That's what I did this season at the Van Cortlandt Mets women (just my speed). Unfortunately I was blocked on the sidewalk by an incoming high school team, so all I had left at the track was a chest pain of unknown origin and a slight bounce.

Previous tries resulted in 30-60" speed-ups, but no permanent form changes (my coach isn't intersested in cross country.)

I remember at the last world cross in Uganda hearing that the next world XC in Aarhus Denmark 2019 would be old school cross country with hills and mud and what not. I think they just want more courses with a challenge not pancake flat parks with a few manmade hills.

Also I think they said there would be a mass participation race. Does that ring a bell?

Only barriers PLZ... Good god

XC is dead. The only purpose high school and college XC has is to ready runners for the real sport of Mountain Ultra Trail.

In college, we ran an XC race that was so muddy that our coach had to give us all new singlets because our singlets were all stained with mud. We ran another course that was at an "Ag" school with a big agricultural research area. The night before the race, the field irrigation system was intentionally turned on, flooding a big portion of the course. It was great!

Nothing wrong with this ...

http://seatonjurassic.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/8.jpg

Need more info wrote:

Here's another picture from the Olympic cross country race in 1924 showing the runners going over a wall---more or less equivalent to a tall steeple barrier:

https://1.bp.blogspot.com/_8_ENa7sVpug/TGf6-m9xqZI/AAAAAAAAOkA/1HkSQJXq9MQ/s1600/The+cross-country+race+5.jpg

Bring back some of that. Not so extreme people get injured but enough to make it different from a track race.

That's what I call cross country, not golf course running. That's one of the reasons I find cyclocross more interesting than road racing or time trials.

Need more info wrote:

Here's another picture from the Olympic cross country race in 1924 showing the runners going over a wall---more or less equivalent to a tall steeple barrier:

https://1.bp.blogspot.com/_8_ENa7sVpug/TGf6-m9xqZI/AAAAAAAAOkA/1HkSQJXq9MQ/s1600/The+cross-country+race+5.jpg

Bring back some of that. Not so extreme people get injured but enough to make it different from a track race.

Nurmi was one BAMF

If they want to make athletics more interesting they should get rid of the 50k racewalk, bring "old school" cross country as well as the half marathon.

Ahh ... the good old days.

http://running.competitor.com/files/2012/07/251931_463399180346298_1856447147_n.jpg

I can relate to both the challenge of barrier-laden, muddy and hilly courses AND the pleasure of flying over well-groomed, moderate terrain. No reason why a course can't have both. Allow both the gazelles and the mudlarks their opportunities to shine.

I don't want to see cross country in the summer Olympics in any form. I wouldn't want to see Olympic XC become JV track for the people who couldn't make the Oympics on the oval. And I also wouldn't want to see the talent diluted in a way where the two best 10k runners in the world don't face off in the same event because one ran xc and the other didn't. I understand this already happens because of the 5k or marathon, but it offers another opportunity for competition to duck each other in favor of a more assured gold medal. People would be stupid to not weigh which event they would compete in based on what they would win. Part of the beauty of cross country is that it brings together the best runners of all different distance running disciplines to see who could win in the same race. An Olympic set up would not do that.

Who cares. The nhl players are not playing hockey at this Olympics. But it's going to give a great opportunity to the other hockey players to represent their country. Besides, the Winter Olympics have many niche sports that are watered down and no one seems to mention that fact. As long as it's competitive, it's a worthy sport. I found it interesting the article was quoted as intending to summon a new breed of runner to the sport. That sounds as if something of at least a slightly drastic change will have to be implemented in order for that to happen.