Snowflakes win again? DI Northeast regional XC championships is changed to road race because it snowed

I live in Buffalo, the issue is the snow is cleared but the ground below was still wet. With the freezing temperatures the ground turned into a jagged and icy mess with the footprints freezing. The reason it isn't safe is because of the quick onset of freezing temperatures that will make footing unsafe and dangerous on race day. These are the same conditions throughout the entire northeast with this cold snap. Freak storm leads to a freak outcome no matter where the race would have been held.

Buffalo has had horrible conditions the last 2 times before this when it hosted the regional as well....seems to me they shouldn't be hosting ever unless cross becomes a summer sport

Redd wrote:

I live in Buffalo, the issue is the snow is cleared but the ground below was still wet. With the freezing temperatures the ground turned into a jagged and icy mess with the footprints freezing. The reason it isn't safe is because of the quick onset of freezing temperatures that will make footing unsafe and dangerous on race day. These are the same conditions throughout the entire northeast with this cold snap. Freak storm leads to a freak outcome no matter where the race would have been held.

ya. i think those will be the conditions we run on plattsburgh this weekend for high school states. will be like running on slippery river rocks for 3 miles

Okay boomer(s).

This is bad for the sport. The purpose of cross country is to run on grass or dirt. A runner could be really good on grass, but not as good on the road. This will affect results drasictally. It will allow for teams that did not deserve to get into nationals to maybe get in. Every runner has acess to XC spikes, but not every runner will have acess to Vapor flys. This creates such an unfair advatange for the athletes that do have them. This is a complete diaster, and the NCAA is full of clowns.

you know every entry is scrambling to get their hands on some vaporflys now.

WeakNortheastSnowflakes wrote:

North Dakota state meet 1974. Back when men were men and didn’t cry when it got a little cold outside. I wouldn’t expect you to understand it, snowflake.

1982 NCAA D2 Championships was St. Cloud, MN was another cold one. Conditions were 15 degrees and snowcovered. I wasn't there but my coach's college teammates were.

This is such an unfair advantage for atheltes with The NIKE Vapor Fly Next %'s

Any word on the course? I am interested how they will create a fair start, how many teams are in the region?

Back in 2008 I think D2 nats were in PA and they needed to snowplow the course before the meet and it still went on, it was definitely below 20 not sure by how much

beaver225 wrote:

This is bad for the sport. The purpose of cross country is to run on grass or dirt. A runner could be really good on grass, but not as good on the road. This will affect results drasictally. It will allow for teams that did not deserve to get into nationals to maybe get in. Every runner has acess to XC spikes, but not every runner will have acess to Vapor flys. This creates such an unfair advatange for the athletes that do have them. This is a complete diaster, and the NCAA is full of clowns.

Ever heard of spellcheck?

D3 Atlantic regional meet is happening in Canton NY this year. Got about as much snow, granted they have an extra day to prepare, but race is still happening on the XC course there.

kanny +1. Rojo destroyed again, lol.

kanny wrote:

Hypocrite

https://www.letsrun.com/forum/flat_read.php?thread=8943360

rojo wrote:

What a joke. I've changed the title since it's now been changed and the snowflakes have won the day.

The title was initially: DI Northeast regional XC championships possibly going to the roads.

I can't believe this. This is Buffalo. It snowed 9 inches on Monday. That's nothing for them. The race is on Friday. The course pictures look fine to me. One of my most memorable coaching moments was coaching an xc meet in rain/snow. I guess they'll remember it now forever for being a road race but this is disturbing as to how risk averse administrators are becoming.

Any boots on the ground in Buffalo? Can someone tell me if the course is truly dangerous?

Here is the email the NCAA sent to the coaches.

For real though. Are the Nike sponsored schools like Cuse and Stony Brook going to have a major advantage with Vaporfly's? This could essentially destroy any semblance of competition tomorrow.

I live somewhat close to Buffalo, a little bit south.

The problem isn't the snow, it's the layer of ice underneath.

It's fun to hype yourself up say how tough you are because you ran in snow. There is no question if these runners are tough, poor conditions continually lead to more ER visits after races not more people not competing. But the fact is this is a qualifying meet. A snow covered course that is difficult to navigate will even the playing field, and less talented/capable runners will have a better chance to beat more capable fitter runners. It's been seen over and over that this is the case. Some people will simply find better parts of the course, or their form will move better on snow. But this isn't a midseason race and this isn't a race just for fun. This is a qualifying meet and the best trained runners deserve to go. Things like slipping/muscle tweaking/hypothermia should not determine the national qualifiers. The roads might not be "tough" or "fun" or "true cross country" but they are fair. All runners should have an equal opportunity to run to their potential.

Additionally, last year qualifiers from regional meets that had harsh conditions consistently underperformed at nationals. 1 week isn't enough time to recover from such harsh conditions and runners shouldn't be put at an advantage because of the weather 1 week prior to the meet.

Leaked Course Map

https://twitter.com/dad_xc/status/1194990218342027266?s=21

In the most literal sense possible, yes, the snowflakes won.

beaver225 wrote:

This is bad for the sport. The purpose of cross country is to run on grass or dirt. A runner could be really good on grass, but not as good on the road. This will affect results drasictally. It will allow for teams that did not deserve to get into nationals to maybe get in. Every runner has acess to XC spikes, but not every runner will have acess to Vapor flys. This creates such an unfair advatange for the athletes that do have them. This is a complete diaster, and the NCAA is full of clowns.

Chill out. No teams will make it into nationals that shouldn't; Syracuse and Iona will come out of this region as always, except now they won't tank at Nationals because they had to run a hard, muddy, icy 10k

I guess I could assume you’re a mouth breathing conservative troll with that headline or I could give you credit for the double entendre and yes the snowflakes and Mother Nature win again. Well done.