Cross Nationals: The Red-Headed Step-Child
Cross Nationals are easily my favorite National Championship each year (NCAA Cross Country, notwithstanding). In the past few years we’ve had Messrs. McDougal and Withrow make auspicious in-roads toward elite senior status as college kids. Max King had everyone asking “Who’s Max King?” in New York. A photo finish on frozen tundra in Indianapolis, and a local guy making good in the long-course race. (I forget his name; I just remember the gist of the story.) Ryan Hall claiming the mantle of Best American Distance Runner in 2006 (though we didn’t know, at the time, that this one dominating race was only the beginning). Last year, Boulder’s best defending their home turf — er, home mud. This is one of the most exciting races every single season because everyone gets thrown together, irrespective of their particular tastes in track event. And the “purity” of the racing is unmatched, with the size of the field playing catalyst: no slow, sit and kick affairs here. Everyone out in the elements, be it rain, snow, sleet, blood or frogs.
So: where is the hype this year? I recognize the field doesn’t have quite the luster of last year’s “everybody-and-his-brother” affair (even my hetero-better-half ran in Boulder). But you still have Ritz v. Hall, Fam as a wild card, a pair of guys coming off strong showings in the Half-Marathon Championships, and the chance for Don Sage and Louis Luchini to reclaim a portion of the national spotlight. Does no one care simply because, this time around, we’re not in Boulder? Is the sport in America worn out, as a collective, after the gushing love-fest over that 2007 edition? Did the rampant non-participation at Worlds last year make this event seem less relevant? Are we seeing that Peter Julian really was that integral in raising the profile of the event? Why could Baltimora never produce another song as good as “Tarzan Boy”? All of the above?
The answer is…. God transcends time. In other words, we can’t be sure, but yes. (Excepting Baltimora, which will forever remain a mystery.) Perhaps we were spoiled the past two years when the event was backed, respectively, by a major organization (NYRR) and a highly-motivated, highly-visible race-director/cheerleader/Pan-Am-bronze-medalist with exceptionally strong grassroots community support. If that’s the case, why are we going to San Diego this year? In any year? Now, I’m not necessarily advocating that we move this event to Eugene, Oregon for the next three decades; to be honest, I think if the race were held in Boulder every year, the initial nationwide buzz would probably ebb a bit over time.
But why not go on a tri- or quad-annual rotation that eases travel for runners in each part of the country every couple of years, awarding the event to communities and organizations who can give it the support it deserves, while allowing them to fine-tune the event as repeat hosts? I’d vote for a rotation of NYC/VCP, Boston/Franklin Park, Boulder/Whatever Golf Course That Was, and San Francisco/Golden Gate Park - great cities, historic courses, strong grass-roots support. Heck, maybe throw the Midwest a bone by having it in Cincinnati every 5th year - I hear they have fantastic chili and extremely tolerant law enforcement officials there.
Finally, it would be easy to always point the finger at the USATF — and maybe I’m crazier than a white-bearded gold-prospector who’s slept out in the woods a few nights too many — but, personally, I think they should do more for their events than award hosting privileges, throw some money at the hosts and then walk away. Cross Nationals are not some hooker you can take back to your New York City penthouse with its floor-to-ceiling mirrors, so you can admire how good you look while she does all the work. Nor should they be given away like a baby, just because they poop and sometimes spit up a little, regardless of how much child-support money you are giving the little girl who lives next door to you and who got so excited to receive this “warm, heavy doll.” In other words, a NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP is four days away. Why are there no articles on it on the front page of the USATF website? I know there is a press release for the event bouncing around the Interwebs. Can we really not be bothered to put it on our own site?
The answer… again, God transcends time. Moral of the story: Cross Nationals could be one of our most easily-marketed events because the fields are deep, the story-lines bountiful, the racing pure and easy to understand (no rabbits)… and it even just looks a lot more interesting than guys running lap after lap on a track.
So: how do we make Cross Nationals everything it could be?
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February 12th, 2008 at 3:17 pm |
Jeremy,
I live in San Diego, and only this morning received a call from Don Norcross, the running writer for the Union Tribune. He’s doing a story on Ryan Hall, and was looking for some perspective.
But at last night’s Running USA dinner in La Jolla I asked any number of race directors and industry leaders if they were staying around for the race this weekend. “What race?” was the general response. And even when Team USA California showed up en masse - the Halls, Meb, Steve and Sarah Slattery, etc. - very few people even knew who they were.
We should not kid ourselves. This is not a sport anymore. We are a few, insignificant voices crying out in an increasingly distant wilderness. What once was an honorable sport has morphed into no more than a fitness activity with an absentee federation landlord, and a collection of jogger-thon race directors who claim their largest media attention comes from the 12 year-old cerebral palsy victim being carted down the race course in a stroller.
Somewhere along the line (we saw it happening as much as 15 years ago) we allowed this great sport to turn into the Jerry Lewis Telethon. Sadly, I don’t see it ever coming back. As a media friend in L.A. who has seen just enough of our sport to get a grasp of its scope says: “I don’t see anyone in your sport who looks like they are on their way to being an NFL owner.”
The roster at the Running USA conference could just as easily be the Waste Management City Employees of Middle America Convention. It’s dispiriting.
February 12th, 2008 at 3:38 pm |
[weeps quietly on keyboard]
February 12th, 2008 at 5:15 pm |
first off, big time +1 to Toni, that rant had everything. Great metaphors, succinct anecdotes, perspective, everything.
secondly, the west coast shouldn’t be trusted with this sort of thing. Cross country is midwest/eastcoast property (Boulder is the lone exception because last year was a success), the south and west should butt out. We’re not trying to hold a surfing contest or a hippython over here, are we?
February 12th, 2008 at 11:53 pm |
Don’t blame Paul Greer and Thom Hunt, the two meet directors. Both have worked very hard, and have long, impressive credentials in the running world. They had almost no budget to put this thing on, much less to publicize it. It comes back to USATF handing off what his their national championship, and expecting one-time-only local promoters with no budget to put it on effectively. We were lucky to have NYRR two years ago and Pete Julian and the smaller, more runner focused Boulder community last year. But San Diego is a difficult market to get people to come together for anything. The music biz has a tendency to skip San Diego and go from L.A. directly to Phoenix, cause even top acts can’t sell out in San Diego. It’s the nature of this beautiful weather place. People do their own thing. They don’t go watch someone do theirs. And with zero promotional dollars, nobody even knew this was happening. Time for USATF to take control of its own business, or at least support those who take on the task thanklessly.