The national rankings were updated on Milesplit today and something stuck out. 4 of the top 6 times in the USA came from this race that was run Saturday in Georgia. The winner improved PR 29 seconds to run 14:26. Second place improved 23 seconds, third place improved 23 seconds and 4th improved 36 seconds. Did they mislabel the course as a 5k? Seems very suspect if not. Anyone know anything here?
LOL. No way that course is 5k. It might even be less than 3 miles!
The course the race is run on (Foxhall) is a near pancake-flat course with mostly-optimal footing throughout, though it still has a history of suspiciously fast times coming out some years, and more reasonable ones being produced in others. Last year they readjusted it to be 5000m (the old course was measured at roughly 4950m), and the times were quite reasonable, though this year the times were crazier than ever. To be fair though, the winner Justin Wachtel is a huge up and coming talent and 2nd place Silas Winders is a Footlocker finalist and sub-9 runner. Despite that, with the monstrous improvements from runners throughout the race, I have a hard time believing it was a full 5000m course
Yeah, the course is definitely short. Great American ran about 25 seconds slower according to speed ratings, and Great American is already a very fast cross country course
I think we can say that about all the top times in the country. Just because these guys throw down a fast race doesn't mean it's short. After endless weeks of hot and humid weather, they race in great conditions on a fast course. Give them some credit.
This is exactly why "times" don't mean squat in XC. All that matters is the place you finish. You just can't compare two courses as they are all different.
I’m a D2 female runner. Our coach explicitly told us not to visit LetsRun forums.
Great interview with Steve Cram - says Jakob has no chance of WRs this year
2024 College Track & Field Open Coaching Positions Discussion
RENATO can you talk about the preparation of Emile Cairess 2:06
adizero Road to Records with Yomif Kejelcha, Agnes Ngetich, Hobbs Kessler & many more is Saturday