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 O’Sullivan (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?
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