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From David Monti
© 2006 Race Results Weekly, all rights reserved RaceResultsWeekly.com
BOULDER (09-Feb) -- Tomorrow's U.S. Cross Country Championships at the Flatirons Golf Course here will offer both athletes and spectators a "Back to the Future" moment: for the first time since 1997 only one man and one woman will be crowned the open champions, and they will have to overcome both Boulder's high altitude of 1655m (5430 feet) and a muddy course to do it.
"I think it is the pure essence of the sport," said the women's top contender Shalane Flanagan at today's press conference. She added: "You just have to be tough."
Tough indeed. When the long and short course format was rolled out by the IAAF in 1998 in order to attract a more diverse group of athletes to the World Championships, traditionalists howled. Wasn't the idea of World Cross to put milers, marathoners, road racers and steeplechasers on the same course on the same day to see who was best? Instead of getting better races, the championships became bloated and the competition was watered down as talent was spread between the two races.
"I think it's great," said Adam Goucher of the reconsolidation of the 12-K and 4-K back into one 12-K race. "One race, one champion. I think it's going to be cool."
Goucher, who has four U.S. cross country titles to his credit, won the 4-K race last year when the championships were held in New York City's Van Cortlandt Park, and contemplated jumping into the 12-K on the second day. It's not his favorite distance, but he thinks it is a fair one.
"The 12-K may not be the best distance for everybody, but it's cross country," he said.
Goucher will be facing three other University of Colorado alumni who have a chance at victory: Dathan Ritzenhein, Jorge Torres and Alan Culpepper. Ritzenhein won the 12-K in 2005, and Culpepper won the 12-K title in 1999 and 2003. Ritzenhein, Torres and Culpepper all live in the Boulder area, while Goucher lived here for 10 years and has done altitude training in Gilchrist, Ore., and on a treadmill in an altitude booth in his coach's garage to get ready for these championships. These athletes should all be able to judge well their level of effort in Boulder's thin air.
"If you win on Saturday you get bragging rights, at least for the next couple of weeks," observed Torres who won the U.S. Cross Country Championships for Clubs individual title in 2004.
Outside of the "Boulder Connection," Abdi Abdirahman should be a factor in the overall race (he's never won a U.S. cross country title) and Fasil Bizuneh, recently second at the U.S. Half-Marathon Championships in Houston.
Kastor Seeks Eighth Title
U.S. marathon record holder, Deena Kastor, was the last champion when all the open women ran 8-K back in 1997, and won six more U.S. cross country individual titles after that. She lived for many years in Alamosa, Colo., and still feels an attachment to the state.
"It's just a pleasure to be back in Colorado," said Kastor, 33, who now lives in Mammoth Lakes, Calif. She called the conditions for tomorrow's race "great gnarley cross country conditions."
Despite her credentials, she's probably not the favorite for the open title because she is in the midst of her marathon training for Boston. "I'm really just here to be back in cross country," she said, calling it the "heart and soul of the sport."
The mantle of favorite falls to Flanagan who was born here and lived in Boulder until she was six years-old. She's coming off of her American indoor 3000m record at the Reebok Boston Indoor Games last month, and twice won the 4-K title in 2004 and 2005.
"What's amazing is that I do have such fond memories," she said of her short stint in Boulder as a child. "I really remeber it very clearly."
Kara Goucher, another former University of Colorado star, should also contend for the title, along with Shayne Culpepper and Katie McGregor. Olympian Kate O'Neill, who has recently returned to form after a hip fracture, could also be a factor for the podium.
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