Are xc races too elitist?

11 watchers

stuart little Mar 2017 12:19pm, 11 Mar 2017 1,245 posts	0 stuart little The only thing I'd add to the other comments is that your local xc league isn't "elitist" but rather has a combination of venues that struggle with current numbers and some decades old politics that (wrongly IMO) limits which local clubs can run them.
The_Saint Mar 2017 12:52pm, 11 Mar 2017 5,992 posts	0 The_Saint The perennial problem I see is that there are any number of people with strong opinions about what they would change but the overwhelming majority are very reluctant to step forward into one of the volunteer posts that run the organisation. In particular the person who does the results and tables performs miracles in amazingly short periods of time with no aids such as chip timing, just stopwatch and finishing token - like parkrun without the barcodes.
Cyclops Mar 2017 1:04pm, 11 Mar 2017 2,859 posts	0 Cyclops My little club isn't an official part of our local league as it was getting too big and there weren't enough venues that could host big events. Saying that, they let us run as guests and at £5 for the first race and number then £2 or £3 for subsequent races it is not at all elitist. Slow runners are most welcome and we all have a ball!
oi you Mar 2017 1:05pm, 11 Mar 2017 360 posts	0 oi you At the risk of starting an argument with myself I'm now going to have a grizzle about the SEAA at Parliament Hill. On the entry form for the 2016 event there was a comment that said that (for the Men's race only) no times would be recorded after 90 minutes. In the event they did record them. I finished in 1:58:xx and was shown a time in the results. On this year's form the same comment was underlined, and that was indeed what happened. I recorded 1:31:xx but was missing from the results. It's not as though they withdrew any marshals or other race officials, they simply pulled the plug from the chip timing mats. I've not seen any reason published for the cut-off, so I'm going to assume that it's intended to discourage the slower runners. I certainly won't run the Southerns again if they persist with it. Not that I might call elitist
Cyclops Mar 2017 1:15pm, 11 Mar 2017 2,860 posts	0 Cyclops I suppose if they had said that that's what they would do then fair enough. Odd though. I wouldn't run that one again if I were you! There must be nicer races down there - even if it isn't as friendly as 'oop North' (joke!).
The_Saint Mar 2017 1:52pm, 11 Mar 2017 5,993 posts	0 The_Saint I find this one really difficult as in Wales we really struggle with numbers at the Championships so anyone is welcome but if you have the opposite problem then the organisers have issues such as scheduling a multi-event meeting and grumbling volunteers standing at the finish line in driving rain and perishing conditions for a completely open-ended amount of time.
rhb Mar 2017 4:26pm, 12 Mar 2017 856 posts	0 rhb Elitist? No way! Local league, MACCL is great, and Divisional structure allows runners not at the pointy end to compete still. Diamond League Athletics tho....
Dvorak Dec 2018 6:54pm, 9 Dec 2018 16,981 posts	0 Dvorak Aye and naw. Aye in the sense that most events are not open (club runners only); naw that within that, it is generally cheap and encouraging. Then again, at my best (upper part of bottom half) I've seen xc where I would have been DFL Ono). So that might exclude quite a few who would eg be happy with s 30 minute parkrun
Mr. K. Dec 2018 7:19am, 13 Dec 2018 3,493 posts	0 Mr. K. Southern Cross Country League - which Cove Joggers are a member of - has a rule to stop fast runners from racing in their events. I joined Windle Valley Runners as a 2nd Claim runner purely to do more XC - their league Thames Valley Cross Country doesn't have, that I'm aware such a ruling.
Wriggling Snake Dec 2018 7:34am, 13 Dec 2018 20,464 posts	0 Wriggling Snake You are allowed to run in XC as a second claim. No. As rhb says MACCL has everyone of any standard...just because it is clunky only does not make it elitist!