US news
2002 Cross Country

IAAF World Cross Country Championships
Mar 29-30, 2003 at Swiss National Equestrian Center, Avenches, Switzerland

John's Diary - part 1
Why I Love Cross Country

 


by John Nepolitan

Subject: World XC diary
Date: Wednesday, March 26, 2003 8:38 AM

I have always wanted to do this - write a diary type report from a major
meet - so here it goes.

I am not sure when it happened, but XC has become my favorite sport. There
are 2 events I now look forward to every year - the NCAA Division 1 Champs
and now for the 2nd year in a row the IAAF World XC Champs. Every distance
running fan should get to at least one NCAA XC Championship meet. You see a
race with thousands of other fans (yes, I mean thousands) That never
disappoints.

As for the IAAF World XC Champs - I guess it helps if you have a boss who
allows you to take an extra day off - even though this is only the 3rd
Championships I have been to, I am planning on making this an annual trip if
at all possible. In Dublin last year I was able to pull off the trip only
missing 1 day of work - leave Friday night and go directly to the race site
once I landed. Sure it made for a long day, but I was so excited to be
there it did not matter. Then go to the races on Sunday - which still
leaves time to enjoy where you are and fly home on Monday so that you only
miss one day. During this time of year flights are cheap to Europe so a
fast jump over the Atlantic is possible. This year I was able to get an
extra day off so I left on Thursday evening which will give me an extra day
to play tourist.

Going back to my original thought, I am not sure when I first fell in love
with XC. It was not during high school that is for sure. I was an average
HS 800 - miler so XC was just discomfort over a longer period of time. I
guess it was when I started coaching that I found it was a sport that any
school should be able to have some measure of success in. All that you need
is a few kids who are willing to work. And XC is more of a team sport than
track if you ask me, but it is more than that. XC is pure. Times for the
most part mean nothing, it is all about competition with so many different
factors involved - type of course, weather, mix of runners on the line, just
to name a few. Don't even try to compare it to or say road racing is the
same thing - if you say that then you just don't get it.

So with all that said, over the next few days I will be sending in not only
race reports, but other little things about the trip that make travel like
this fun. So as I finish this first report I say - GET YOURSELF TO AN NCAA
XC CHAMPS(2003 in Cedar Falls, Iowa-N. Iowa Univ) AND/OR WORLD XC
CHAMPS(2004 Brussels - very doable) sometime in your life, you will not
regret it. I take off for lausanne tomorrow night(Thurs) and cannot wait.

From: "John Nepolitan" <[email protected]>

World Cross Country Championships


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