I agree 100%.
The World Cross Country Championships was always unique because you had marathoners to
milers racing together, that was the idea.
Having two races defeats the purpose. I still consider the 12K to be the Championship
and the 4K the kids race.
If you can't run with the big boys, stay home.
On Fri, 16 Feb 2001 13:37:16
DLTFNedit wrote:
>ABOLISH THE 4K CROSS COUNTRY!!!
>
>That is my request. The experiment has been a failure. I would guess that the IAAF's
>idea was to bring in the mile stars, such as Morceli and El Guerrouj, to the harrier
>season. It hasn't worked. I also suspect they were hoping it would break Kenya's
>strangelhold on the team competition. That too has not happened.
>
>All it has succeeded in doing is watering down the event. The great thing about cross
>country is (was) that everyone, from 800 runners to marathoners squares off in one
>race. 10K or 12K is too long for milers? Tell that to John Walker, Rod Dixon, and
>Wildfred Kirochi, all top-3 World Cross finishers and 1500 Olympic or World Champs
>medalists.
>
>Okay, Goucher, Drossin (U.S. Champs) and OSullivan (World Champs) have won
>impressive doubles, but they've only been contesting both distances for 3 years. 9
>consecutive U.S. or 5 straight World titles. Now those are achievements.
>
>4K cross? I ran that as a 12-year old. 12K FOR EVERYBODY!!!
>I don't mean to denegrate this weekend's meet. I'll have a great time watching all
>the events. But as a cross country nut, I'd take two less races to see everyone duke
>it out over the longer distance.
>
>What do y'all think?
>sideshow
>
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