Vikings, a beer garden on the course, and more, as Aarhus welcomes the world cross country championships...
 |
| Map of the IAAF World Cross Country Championships course (photo courtesy IAAF/Aarhus LOC) |
A beer garden.
A 10-degree hill, which is actually the roof of the Moesgaard Museum.
A 72 foot climb in the first 400 meters of the race, not to mention pits of water, sand, and mud.
Did I mention a beer garden, where you can hang out with legends of cross country like Paul Tergat of Kenya and Lynn Jennings of the USA?
And how are you going to fill five hours of time on television AND keep the fans attending entertained?
Welcome to Saturday’s IAAF World Cross Country Championships in Aarhus, Denmark, where Jakob Larsen, the head of the Danish Athletics Federation and the Aarhus organizing committee, along with his team, will try to revive what once was a true test of who the best all-around distance runner is.
Back in the glory days of the world cross country championships, 10000 meter specialists often dueled against milers and marathoners for the title of world’s best all-around distance runner.
However, several factors—most notably the dominance of this meet by the East African nations, and the fact that big payday marathons such as Boston and London, are contested only a few short weeks after the world cross country championships, have all made these world championships less relevant.
Cross country at the top levels of the sport is quite frankly, sanitized, and a grass version of a track meet.
If for example, the NCAA were to hold the national cross country championships on a course similar to what Larsen and the Danish federation are attempting to pull off this Saturday, you can be guaranteed that coaches will bitch about the climb at the start, not to mention the obstacles thrown in throughout the 2-kilometer loops.
As two excellent articles on this year’s world cross country championships, written by Jason Henderson of Athletics Weekly and Jonathan Gault of letsrun.com stated, the apathy towards the world cross country championships began in 2008, when Edinburgh hosted the meet, despite having it in one of the world’s most iconic cross country venues, Holyrood Park.
In 2010, when Bydgoszcz, Poland first hosted the meet, European countries began skipping the meet, because their federations felt that their teams/athletes had no chance at garnering a podium finish.
Three years later, Bydgoszcz got the world championships again, because the IAAF couldn’t find anyone willing to host the meet. What did the Poles get from their neighboring countries for hosting the meet?
They got Germany, Ukraine, Russia, and several other Scandinavian and Baltic countries to say thanks, and oh by the way, we’re not sending anyone.
Larsen told Athletics Weekly that the goal is to make the course a true test with numerous challenges over each 2-kilometer lap; that’s the reason for the sand, water, and mud pits, not to mention the climb at the start, and the 10-degree climb up the roof of the Moesgaard Museum, which he hopes will be lined with spectators the way the fans line the Alpe d’Huez, the most famous climb in the Tour de France.
Courtesy of the Aarhus LOC, here’s a video preview of the course:
IAAF World Cross Country Championships 2019 course preview from Jakla on Vimeo.
University of Washington alum Eleanor Fulton returns to Team USATF as a member of the 4 x 2k mixed relay.
Olympia native and current Oklahoma State coach Dave Smith will serve as the men’s coach of the USA Under-20 (junior) team.
Here’s a link to the USA national team roster for the world cross country championships.
paulmerca.blogspot.com will be in Aarhus, Denmark to cover the world championships beginning on Thursday.
NOTE: The IAAF, USA Track & Field, and the Aarhus local organizing committee contributed to this report.
Comments