Opening up cross-country for sprinters. Is it possible?

Chivito550

A bit of a hypothetical topic. Cross-Country season is in full swing now, and despite being a big athletics fan, I generally find it hard to care about it at a local level (I’d watch Euro Cross of course). I love watching distance races on the track, love the buzz of a big city marathon, but for some reason I find it hard to truly get cross country. I think it is something that sprinters never really truly appreciate, but is something very much loved by distance runners, and rightly so. Despite this, people talk about the decline of cross-country, poor numbers etc etc.

This got me thinking. Would it be feasible for cross-country to be opened up to include very short distances? Like a 300m cross country, 500m and 1000m. The course could obviously be designed in a way that includes turns, dips, jumps or whatever else is generally part of cross country. Such events could be held on the same day as a big cross country event. Would this add a new dynamic to cross country, open it up to sprinters, which could be useful as part of winter training, bigger numbers on competition day, more buzz, more variety?

Or, given that this is probably not done anywhere, is it too farfetched an idea?

Wottle

Chivito550 wrote: »

A bit of a hypothetical topic. Cross-Country season is in full swing now, and despite being a big athletics fan, I generally find it hard to care about it at a local level (I’d watch Euro Cross of course). I love watching distance races on the track, love the buzz of a big city marathon, but for some reason I find it hard to truly get cross country. I think it is something that sprinters never really truly appreciate, but is something very much loved by distance runners, and rightly so. Despite this, people talk about the decline of cross-country, poor numbers etc etc.

This got me thinking. Would it be feasible for cross-country to be opened up to include very short distances? Like a 300m cross country, 500m and 1000m. The course could obviously be designed in a way that includes turns, dips, jumps or whatever else is generally part of cross country. Such events could be held on the same day as a big cross country event. Would this add a new dynamic to cross country, open it up to sprinters, which could be useful as part of winter training, bigger numbers on competition day, more buzz, more variety?

Or, given that this is probably not done anywhere, is it too farfetched an idea?

Could be a good idea. To mark the start of the XC season I organised a 5x500m XC relay for our juveniles. Both the kids and spectators gave very positive feedback. Like on a track spectators could see the whole thing, the drama of changeovers and tactics.

For seniors a nice 4x600m, teams to consist of a sprinter, MD, XC and a female (like the wwr)

Krusty_Clown

Couldn't really see it being anything but harmful to attempt shorter distance sprint races on cross-country terrain, particularly given the fragility of sprinters (i.e. their muscles are configured to work in one specific dimension). Better for sprinters to attempt longer cross country distances (if anything), to improve general strength and mobility, though I'd imagine improvements are unlikely. Sprinting just doesn't align well with XC-type stuff. Now middle-distance - different story. The novice race this weekend is expected to be quite stacked with middle-distance track runners.

Chivito550

Krusty_Clown wrote: »

Couldn't really see it being anything but harmful to attempt shorter distance sprint races on cross-country terrain, particularly given the fragility of sprinters (i.e. their muscles are configured to work in one specific dimension). Better for sprinters to attempt longer cross country distances (if anything), to improve general strength and mobility, though I'd imagine improvements are unlikely. Sprinting just doesn't align well with XC-type stuff. Now middle-distance - different story. The novice race this weekend is expected to be quite stacked with middle-distance track runners.

Yeh the potential increased injury risk was something I was thinking about after I posted the thread.

demfad

Chivito550 wrote: »

A bit of a hypothetical topic. Cross-Country season is in full swing now, and despite being a big athletics fan, I generally find it hard to care about it at a local level (I’d watch Euro Cross of course). I love watching distance races on the track, love the buzz of a big city marathon, but for some reason I find it hard to truly get cross country. I think it is something that sprinters never really truly appreciate, but is something very much loved by distance runners, and rightly so. Despite this, people talk about the decline of cross-country, poor numbers etc etc.

This got me thinking. Would it be feasible for cross-country to be opened up to include very short distances? Like a 300m cross country, 500m and 1000m. The course could obviously be designed in a way that includes turns, dips, jumps or whatever else is generally part of cross country. Such events could be held on the same day as a big cross country event. Would this add a new dynamic to cross country, open it up to sprinters, which could be useful as part of winter training, bigger numbers on competition day, more buzz, more variety?

Or, given that this is probably not done anywhere, is it too farfetched an idea?

Will never happen but I would reckon uphill races might be useful alternative season races for sprinters. Good surface, technique critical, strenght and endurance tested. e.g races that take 60-70 secs for an elite 400m male runner 500-600m uphill @ 4%? Maybe not....

Myles Splitz

demfad wrote: »

Will never happen but I would reckon uphill races might be useful alternative season races for sprinters. Good surface, technique critical, strenght and endurance tested. e.g races that take 60-70 secs for an elite 400m male runner 500-600m uphill @ 4%? Maybe not....

That was my first thought alright.

Something along the lines of a less extreme version of this

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S7WRCi0J2j8

I still think that there is room for traditional XC (short and long courses) for the likes of 400/800 runners mind you as there have been some very successful types performing well in US Collegiate system over XC

RayCun

there's a 4x500 XC relay for juveniles. Seems to be one of those races Dublin doesn't enter to give other people a chance
on the same day as the short course championships. Only 4k, practically a sprint
There was talk of starting an XC relay for seniors. There used to be such a race. It didn't get a lot of support because people felt (accurately or not) that clubs outside Dublin wouldn't send teams

shels4ever

Do sprinters go outside in the winter? Thought you stick to the warm gym and indoor tracks;)

I can't see that working really but do remember back in the BlOE days that there was something like this at junior level once a year. Really cross country races with distance for both sprinter and XC runners. I remember having to run 300m leg one time and was a disaster.

Wottle

RayCun wrote: »

there's a 4x500 XC relay for juveniles. Seems to be one of those races Dublin doesn't enter to give other people a chance

Another side project for you

IvoryTower

I think it's the buzz of being part of a team and working together that sets it apart from everything else. That's what I took from watching it for the first time this year. If you were running on a team or if you used to id say you'd start to see why people find it so exciting.

The relay idea sounds good!