Who said cross country is dead in Europe? More than 8,000 have entered 2019 English xc champs

GR wrote:

rojo, it's deceptive because it covers U-15 as well. The 8000 are over the following 10 race

Timetable

11.00am: Under-17 women – 5km

11.25am: Under-15 boys – 4km

11.45am: Under-13 girls – 3km

12.05pm: Under-17 men – 6km

12.30pm: Under-13 boys – 3km

12.45pm: Under-15 girls – 4km

1.05pm: Junior women – 6km

1.35pm: Senior women – 8km

2.20pm: Junior men – 10km

3.00pm: Senior men – 12km

Basically, you need to add up all the Foot Locker Regionals and NXN Regionals + the State high school meets since there is no high school cross country in the UK. On top of that you need to add all the NCAA Regional Championships since there is no university cross country either in the UK.

We have school cross country (English Schools) and university cross country (BUCS, formerly BUSA).

When I first click on this thread I thought it meant 8,000 in one race and thought that can't be right! I wonder what's the most that have run in a single race. I think the National and even regional races may have had around 2,000.

Don't forget the English Schools Cup which is school vs school and runs before Christmas!

rojo wrote:

From Fastrunning: "This year’s championships is the 131st edition of the senior men’s event, while the senior women race the for the 86th time, with 8027 runners entered across the 10 races. The figure is down on last year’s record figure of 9565 at Parliament Hill."

Parliament Hill always gets greater numbers because of its reputation as the home of Cross Country

gbgb wrote:

Thanks, Rizzo. wrote:

Probably helps that it's a small country in terms of geography and traveling to the meet doesn't require spending a ridiculous amount on airline fares and for many it doesn't require nearly as much time spent on travel. Going from Boston or Denver to Spokane or Tally requires a bit more than just getting on the train to head up the afternoon before the race.

Tbh given the prices and times of the UKs train system these days, it's probably quicker and cheaper to fly to a destination in the U.S than train it in the UK :).

I'll make the tea.

Cheers

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ExpertKipWatcher wrote:

rojo wrote:

From Fastrunning: "This year’s championships is the 131st edition of the senior men’s event, while the senior women race the for the 86th time, with 8027 runners entered across the 10 races. The figure is down on last year’s record figure of 9565 at Parliament Hill."

Parliament Hill always gets greater numbers because of its reputation as the home of Cross Country

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parliament_Hill,_London#Activities

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ukathleticscoach wrote:

95% are not within 3 hours of Parliament Hill. Take Manchester that's 4 hours plus in normal traffic. Newcastle an hour plus more. Probably Birmingham as a venue is most central

That said compared to America it's easy.

One year a guy at our club hired a whole train for runners. On the way back there was a band playing in the guard van!

Everyone in Greater London is within 3 hours of Parliament Hill. Most of the south-east is too. Once you go further afield it depends on whether you're driving, or how good the public transport links are. I think it's probably more like 60% travel more than 3 hours.

Though Birmingham is more central, perhaps the density of population in London and the area surrounding it actually means the net travelling is minimised by holding it in London rather than the Midlands. I don't know but think it's fairly marginal.

I didn't say 95% are within 3 hours of Parliament Hill (a venue 88 miles from the south coast yet 342 miles to the northern border), shows how London-centric everything is though.

Maybe it wasn't clear, but I was talking about taking England, pick the ideal situation for travel, then 95% of the population CAN be within easy reach. Obviously it's not going to be the same if you decide to host in Cornwall for example. If you're intentionally picking the shittest venue, I don't really understand that. The whole point is it can be done - because of the geography of England. The key being - pick a venue. Pick the best one. That's the point.

As far as the post about everyone in high school trying cross country, when I was in high school everyone, literally, tried cross country. We ran once a week, it was the entire school year. The same went for athletics in the summer, we tried every event up to 1500m. No idea why anyone would say that was false. I went to 3 high schools and it was similar at each one.

I don't understand what was meant about exaggerate so strongly. None of that was exaggerated, it is all my experiences.

TBH I don't actually know why I bother, apart from the Americans on here are a lot friendlier than the Brits.

track chick wrote:

I didn't say 95% are within 3 hours of Parliament Hill (a venue 88 miles from the south coast yet 342 miles to the northern border), shows how London-centric everything is though.

Maybe it wasn't clear, but I was talking about taking England, pick the ideal situation for travel, then 95% of the population CAN be within easy reach.

I think this is an exaggeration. But I was replying to ukathleticscoach. He meant to say that is was untrue that 95% could reach Parliament Hill in three hours, but he actually said 95% couldn't reach it!

The norwegians are winning medals, but don't have depth.

A suggestion (I have no idea whether it holds weight): One factor might be that UK/Ireland doesn't have the weather/terrain for some other endurance/individual sports that people of a 'long distance running' mindset might take up - e.g. cross-country ski-ing (and other forms of ski-ing).

There are more and more stories hitting the web that behind the scenes you are given x-dollars to belittle any runners from the West. If true and the spin you guys set seems to back this story up, it’s disgusting. But lots of Westerners sell out for cash.

Why can't we just have a USA v UK (m&w, sr. & jr., masters & vets, plus all-comers race) meet on years there's no World XC, already?? I don't mean the Great Whatever XC that only appeals to C-teamers. Heck, invite the Canadians and Irish and make it a quad meet, if that helps. No need to include the Continental Euros, really.