Cross Country review

average_runner

So will the cross country run right into Feb again this year? Basically from Oct to Feb?

Just seems so dragged out.

RayCun

average_runner wrote: »

So will the cross country run right into Feb again this year? Basically from Oct to Feb?

that's not particularly long!

I don't think there was a decision made on when to have the combined Inter Club/Inter County race, but it could be before christmas.

Masters XC will be February anyway (I assume)

Sacksian

That's a real shame about the short course - could easily have been held same day as something else, maybe IUAA champs or even Novice. Which wouldn't have suited me, but it would be a great day. I would have loved to see it, even if I couldn't run - less of a war of attrition than 10k xc.

Same day as Inter Clubs would be cool too, give juniors and middle distance guys a run out but obviously people like John Coghlan, CO'L or Travers would fancy their chances at both.

I suspect I was the only person entered anyway - if I don't get a refund, I'm claiming the title by default.

+ thanks for the info, Ray!

KielyUnusual

Sacksian wrote: »

That's a real shame about the short course - could easily have been held same day as something else, maybe IUAA champs or even Novice. Which wouldn't have suited me, but it would be a great day. I would have loved to see it, even if I couldn't run - less of a war of attrition than 10k xc.

Same day as Inter Clubs would be cool too, give juniors and middle distance guys a run out but obviously people like John Coghlan, CO'L or Travers would fancy their chances at both.

I suspect I was the only person entered anyway - if I don't get a refund, I'm claiming the title by default.

+ thanks for the info, Ray!

I think if they put it in September/October they'd get a lot more interest. By January/February, there's a bit of cross country fatigue kicking in and in general the weather is a lot worse and subsequently the ground a lot wetter. A week or two before or after the Dublin Novice would be sweet.

I remember they had some excuse for cancelling it (even though they said delay at the time) but was it for sure just lack of interest?

Sacksian

The race in January was cancelled due to "travelling conditions", which seemed a bit odd at the time.

I think it could have been combined with something else and I thought the post-christmas idea was decent as a transition to indoor/track. But if the races aren't going to be promoted and clubs aren't getting behind them, there's no point.

I thought the Interclubs race was a really good watch last year - loads on the line for both clubs and individuals. I'd be hopeful that - if they get the course right - it could continue to grow and we'll see something like the size of the UK fields in future years.

The year is 2015. Parliament Hill is abuzz and oozing. The multi-coloured flags of innumerable running clubs flutter in the breeze. Lines of tape have long replaced paper-trails. Some 8,797 runners have registered for the Saucony-sponsored National Cross Country Championships as it makes its once-every-three-years sojourn to the south of England. Runners will compete across 10 races, with the youngest athletes aged 11 and the oldest in their eighth decade.

The runners pour forth from every corner of England, an A-Y (not quite Z) of clubs from Abingdon AC to York Knavesmire Harriers. They come from the corners of England: Guernsey Island in the south, Sunderland Harriers in the north, Lytham St Annes in the west and Medway and Maidstone in the east. No outfit would outnumber the athletics juggernaut of Serpentine AC, however, with the London club registering 85 starters.

The National is the pinnacle of English cross country running, the London Marathon of the mud. The race, therefore, is ferociously competitive. The top-100 – a who’s who of English runners – is hallowed territory. Danny Kendall, who became the highest-placed Briton to complete the Marathon des Sables ultramarathon – dubbed the ‘toughest footrace on Earth’ – in fifth in 2014, will only be 91st. Ben Livesey, a 2.17 marathoner, will finish in 85th. Phil Wicks, who ran a 64-minute half-marathon a fortnight earlier at Wokingham, will be 38th.

At 3pm, a pack of 2000 men are released up a gradual hill of liquid mud. It is the final race of the day. They move as one; a breaking, silent wave, a charging army, that funnels and narrows from what was a vast, sprawling line. The ground grumbles, reverberating to the rhythmic slop of numerous spikes. There are few more beautiful, romantic sights in British sport, let alone running. And it is the ugliness that makes it so beautiful. Much Parliament Hill mud will swill down plugholes tonight.

More from that article here

Wonder when this will be ready?

19th August 2015 - NSCDA Chairman, Sean Benton, and Peter O’ Brien, from Peter O’ Brien & Sons (Landscaping Ltd.), sign contracts on the National Cross Country Track at the National Sports Campus. Works will commence on Campus shortly

youngrun

Very disappointing to see Intercounties and short course shafted . Voted against. The senior season is now one month long Mid Oct- Mid Nov.
XC should be the base for distance /endurance runners and I dont know where the likes of World cross teams /selections are coming from now. the AI focus on indoors/AIT and on themed runs 1916, GT etc has helped kill it through lack of attention and interest. Should be aiming to host an IAAF permit race here or get involved in a home international with UK for eg to revive things. No thinking only to diminish it.

Sacksian

I think the indoor emphasis is probably influenced by the focus on encouraging juveniles to stay in the sport, isn't it, rather than seniors? Despite the great venue at AIT, xc is still a bigger draw for masters and the senior indoors is mostly an afterthought (or not a consideration) for everyone from 1500 up.

Wrongly or rightly, the perception is probably that kids (and parents) are more likely to rock up to Athlone through January/February/March than they are to congregate in a public park or cow field during those months. There's a certain amount of pragmatism involved in that - it's probably more important to keep parents onside than they had to 20-30 years ago, when kids would have been more likely to do more activities without their parents. That's just my own hypothesis though.

However, you're right that this might be a little shortsighted - the UK seems to be going through a bit of a resurgence in support and enthusiasm for xc. Ultimately, it pays off for senior athletes.

youngrun

UK calendar here for example . http://www.englishcrosscountry.co.uk/xc-fixtures/

Masters works ok as does novice and interclub , intermediate full of vets, should be an open race .All the races are full of masters. Thats where the short course might have worked bring young lads thru. Plenty of good XC venues but needs more and they need to be top class eg Santry . the likes of Munster/connacht need to up their game venue wise and attendance wise at adult events or be pushed along to do so. There was a motion in to establish an XC committee to push this end of athletics and promote it and think anew about it which i think was put on the long finger

Sacksian

Masters, senior interclub + novice are possibly the three most competitive races in the country every year, and races that clubs really go for. No one really cares about inters.

Winners of the novice are normally there or thereabouts for the inters. Replace inters with short course and you might get some different faces near the front.

youngrun

Sacksian wrote: »

Masters, senior interclub + novice are possibly the three most competitive races in the country every year, and races that clubs really go for. No one really cares about inters.

Winners of the novice are normally there or thereabouts for the inters. Replace inters with short course and you might get some different faces near the front.

Would agree with you. Its a very short season with the second senior gone and the powers that be seem to be avoiding world cross country , and separately, content to kill off races with no attempt at the same level of promo/marketing, inititiatives and ideas that are given to indoors ( eg indoor league new), and the myriad of themed races . Surely some of these proceeds could fund a proper XC programme at low cost