World XC will be epic - Finally learning from Cyclocross

I mostly disagree. I'm all for having a hard course, but I think this one is a bit over the top. Beer tents are cool, vikings sure, but I don't like fake hills or fake mud pits. Cross country running is not cyclocross.

A few predictions:

This will be the last World XC where the women run 10k. The course is so difficult it'll be a race for only a handful of competitors (if that). It'll be survival for the rest. Athletes will complain afterwards and the distance will be dropped back to 8k.

African runners will not win either of the senior championships.

In the future organizers will be given strict course parameters to follow. This course is a gimmick.

Conversely, the course parameters will go too far in limiting course difficulty, resulting in even more boring cross country. And we'll end up with even more random places having world XC. World XC should only be near major population centers in europe or the united states. It should only be run in places with a reasonable expectation of colder weather. For example, put it in Boston on the Saturday before the Boston marathon.

I agree with most of what you say. I like this course but I think something not so extreme might be better.

Make it a course runners could race but with more difficulty than a road course.

I agree that it should be in Europe or the USA near a population center.

Gateshead England had a good meet in 1983(?). Boston was good when they hosted (in the snow!).

GO back to the 70's and 80's there were some good courses.

It DOES need money to attract the best. Money has to go deep- like golf- that will attract pro's who might only be the top 30 or 40 in the world for all distance runners combined.

tryrunner wrote:

Finally a race to get excited about and LRC doing a great job covering it.

I notice a lot of the features resemble cyclocross, incredibly popular in Europe and somewhat in US (in fact, I noticed world cyclocross cup was in Denmark this year). I don't know if this was intentional, haven't heard mentioned, but it's a great concept and hopefully catches on.

I've heard before that XC would do well to borrow from cyclocross, and this is probably what it would look like. It's fantastic.

Agreed.

The only sports or activities that catch attention these days are "extreme" things. Distance running doesn't need to go overboard (the World XC course is NOT overboard, we've just gotten soft), but it does need to move beyond the sit-and-kick, and manicured madness that has been so pervasive these past few decades.

Cyclocross isn't just huge in Europe, the World Championships are coming back to the US, to Fayetteville in a few years, and the Waltons are throwing money at the event and town. Distance running events can fall into a similar category, if they weren't so dang boring.

Because this sure isn't:

Check out Treacy's two wins. Crappy sound on the videos. The victory ceremony is hilarious with them still coated in mud and wrapped in Tartan blankets.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Md2RcloNBC0

A hard course is fine, but this is just a step below American Ninja Warrior

Hey, look, another wahmbulance driver! So sorry you guys can't carry your selfie sticks during this one.

Completely agree with these two predictions:

"This will be the last World XC where the women run 10k. The course is so difficult it'll be a race for only a handful of competitors (if that). It'll be survival for the rest. Athletes will complain afterwards and the distance will be dropped back to 8k."

"African runners will not win either of the senior championships."

Good points. That is an awesome video.

tryrunner wrote:

Finally a race to get excited about and LRC doing a great job covering it.

I notice a lot of the features resemble cyclocross, incredibly popular in Europe and somewhat in US (in fact, I noticed world cyclocross cup was in Denmark this year). I don't know if this was intentional, haven't heard mentioned, but it's a great concept and hopefully catches on.

I've heard before that XC would do well to borrow from cyclocross, and this is probably what it would look like. It's fantastic.

There is a danger of getting too gimmicky and ending up with a poor man's obstacle/mud race. It can't be that difficult to get a naturally varied hilly course that's still reasonably easy to get to.

Sadly, not even hosting worlds in Europe, or a super challenging course, could inspire the majority of European countries to participate....even worse, the European cross country championships is well attended, but most countries have given up competing at worlds...check out the contrast from decades earlier, as it's partly why cross country is no longer, as popular, or an annual championship. Thank you, UK!

Why not? I think you're dead wrong.

zxcvzxcv wrote:

African runners will not win either of the senior championships.

.

A few predictions.

Your predictions will be exposed as TOTALLY wrong.

The course is super hilly. Big deal. I think it means the African runner will dominate more than normal. Haven't we learned from Colorado at the NCAA level? When it's muddy, it takes longer to run and it benefits the 10k guys.

This course will run more like a 12k which benefits the fittest guys which are the Africans. Will you bet $1000 to my $50,000 that an African wins both senior races? Are you crazy? Do you not think Africans can run hills?

Have you ever been to Iten?

Here is what it looks like:

The only thing that is gimmicky is the viking tent and beer tent and neither impacts the race. The other stuff is marketing - and stuff that we almost always see at world xc - it's just done better here. In Uganda, they had a man made hill. Here they have one as well but it's way cooler as it's the roof of building. Mud pit? Yep they had one of those in Uganda as well.

PS. I think World XC and most track meets should not be put in major cities. Look at freaking Eugene. When you put it in a smaller city that doesn't get many events, it's a bigger deal.

I'm with Rojo, you guys are silly. It's not a freaking obstacle course. It's hilly, and that'll be unusual. 1100 feet over 10K is actually a lot. It's kind of hard to believe the number is correct.

I disagree with Rojo that track meets should be in places like Eugene. Having it in the most inaccessible backwater town you can think of is a great way to kill the sport. Eugene only works at all because it's a track-crazy town.

I would totally have gone to Denmark for this one if it were any other year, but I have some job stuff I need to take care of. Tickets to Eugene from California are basically the same price anyway, and at least this way you'll be in Europe instead of Eugene (although I probably would have booked WOW so maybe that's a lucky break...).

Oh, that bet is interesting.

Tempted to email you about it. But couldn’t take your money in good conscience. ;)

Shoot, now I might have to watch the coverage in the morning.

zxcvzxcv wrote:

Athletes will complain afterwards and the distance will be dropped back to 8k.

Distance runners trying to negotiate two kilometres off? This is guaranteed to never ever happen.

African runners will not win either of the senior championships.

Unlikely.

These Trump trust fund kids sponsor two runners and now want to come off as high rollers talking about 50g’s and pretend he had a pair as well. Again. As it is your website, you should let trolls be trolls rather than come on here to show how much smarter you are or what places your access has taken you to. Have some decorum befitting of a website director. Unless this is just a hack forum for fanboys run by fanboy men-children.

Good thing that you are not a gambling man! Helen Obiri would have cost you a cool grand. As I type this, African men hold the top 15 spots with 2K to go.

Stick to handicapping your local middle school track meets.

The fire blasts around the course added a nice touch.

The end of the Cold War was really bad for USA and Russian athletics. No longer even remotely concerned with exceptionalism, both countries field utterly uncompetitive teams these days.

Bwaaaaahahahahahaha Get a clue.

zxcvzxcv wrote:

A few predictions:

African runners will not win either of the senior championships.