With Lexi Paterna still headed to San Diego to run what is now the Brooks XC championships, I want to both look back and then look ahead to cross country racing at the highest level here in the USA. Brooks stepped in (with Fleet Feet) as the sponsor of what had been the Footlocker Championships. Before that they were named the Kinney championships and for 45 years hosted regional individual qualifiers mostly at famed Balboa Park in California (with a brief hiatus to Florida). NH has had many representatives at Footlocker and some champions as well, notably Matt Downin (edging out John Mortimer also of NH) and of course Cathy Schiro. Back in the 80’s, ’85 I believe, my former teammate Bret Cartwright made the trip out to Cali, finishing in 28th place if I recall correctly.
Not quite that far back, but certainly back a ways, the World Cross Country Championships were held in the US on the same course Brooks uses for its Northeast qualifiers, the fabled Franklin Park. That year was 1992 and another NH native, Lynn Jennings won the women’s race for a second time in a row, on a slippery and snowy course. The race also was the unveiling of two great, soon to be distance legends on the world stage in the junior race, with a young Haile Gebrselassie and Hiccham El Guerrouj, battling in a medium that must have seemed very foreign to them.
There have been some fantastic World Cross Country Championships in the interim, like the Miracle on Dirt in 2013 where the US men split the dominant Kenyan and Ethiopian teams finishing second. Run in Poland and having to plow snow off the hilly course, the US men survived the attrition the course was exacting, and led by top ten finishes by Ben True and Chris Derrek, did what had become the unthinkable. Not to mention my favorite venue, the Moersbaard Museum in Aarhus, Denmark, where the course not only runs up the grassed roof of the museum, the course winds through intentional mud bog, a “beach” of sand, through a Viking village, and if that isn’t unique enough, through the middle of a beer tent on it’s 2K loop.
Over the years World Cross has fallen out of favor for US athletes, looking to prepare for a winter indoor track campaign or taking a break before a long buildup for outdoors, or bypassing it for bigger money in marathons. However, back in the day many of the top US athletes would use it as training for their marathon careers and a break from the monotony of the track. Bill Rodgers and Craig Virgin were regular competitors at World Cross, however that was just before the big paydays potentially earned by the US top distance runners. Going pro had a significant effect on what the US team to Worlds would look like going forward.
Many of the African countries still have their greatest athletes show up, using World Cross as a springboard to their marathon careers. Again, the aforementioned Haile Gebrsalassie, his successor Kennisa Bekele, rival Paul Tergat, and more recently Geoffrey Kamworer, Joshua Cheptegei, and Jacob Kiplimo, all world record holders in distance events have been World champions in cross. Not to mention the domination of the African countries over these latter years.
This year things are a little different in World Cross Country (officially World Athletics Cross Country) will be happening again (finally!) on US soil, namely the Apalachee Regional Cross country course in Tallahassee. This dedicated cross country course has hosted the NCAA Division 1 cross county championships as recently as 2021. I’ve been there a number of years back, coaching some Valhalla JO XC athletes in 2017. The course is fast, fair and great for spectating across the 2K loop.
This past weekend we picked our teams. Not long after Maddy Lane finished up representing NH at Nike Cross Nationals in Portland, Oregon, the pros (and some collegians) took to the course and battled it out for those top 6 spots that punch your ticket to Tallahassee. Parker Wolfe would outlast collegian Rocky Hansen, with Wesley Kiptoo, Ahmed Muhumed, Nico Young and Graham Blanks running their way onto the men’s squad. Weini Kelati would run away from Kate Izzo, with Ednah Kurgat, Karissa Schweiser, Emily Venters and collegian Grace Hartmann making up the women’s squad. There will also be U20 races along with a mixed relay composed for the US by Ethan Strand and Wes Porter for men, and Gracie Morris and Sage Hurta-Klecker for the women.
And I’ll be there. Recognizing it’s been 34 years between Worlds being in the US, I figured with some PTO on the books and snow on the ground, why not sneak off for a long weekend and go south while getting a little cross country action in. With the tickets considerably cheap ($10) in comparison to other events like the National championships for track, what better opportunity to see some of the worlds best endurance athletes, up close and personal, right here in my own country. With only six races the schedule for Saturday the event is fairly compact, so we’ll get most of Sunday to explore Jacksonville, head to the beach or perhaps kayak along the St. John’s River. Whatever we choose, there stands a chance I won’t see another WXC in the US in my lifetime. so might as well enjoy it now.
I’ll see you out there.
