Post by myers on Mar 30, 2004 16:08:25 GMT -5
I'm just wondering if anyone's heard anything about the 10K road champs for this year. Supposedly they're going to be the Nordion 10K (May 29) this year, however I haven't heard anything other than a less than informative piece from the AthCan website that basically just gave the date and location.
This change would seem to have fairly major implications, if this race continues to be used as a selection race for Ekidens. Certainly, Nordion is a great race -- probably the 2nd most competitive 10 km in Canada after the Sun Run. However, the scheduling conflicts with many other events, featuring athletes that might normally be expected to compete for Ekiden spots:
1) National Marathon Champs (May 30): Even though they're both in Ottawa, I don't think anyone would consider running a high quality 10K 12 hrs before a marathon.
2) National 10 000m track champs (June 5): There is a week break here, however an athlete from the Prairies would have to fly to Ottawa, and then back to BC, which would be pretty tough.
3) National Half-Marathon Champs (May 16): Two weeks before is probably just enough time to recover, but also less than ideal.
It seems as though many high-level athletes would elect to run one or more of the above events, rather than Nordion, and might thus miss out on Ekiden qualification. I understand that Athletics Canada would like the road champs to be a bigger event, however packing 4 of the 5 major endurance events of the year into a 3 week span seems like a bad idea. Anyone have any thoughts, or know anything about selection?
This change would seem to have fairly major implications, if this race continues to be used as a selection race for Ekidens. Certainly, Nordion is a great race -- probably the 2nd most competitive 10 km in Canada after the Sun Run. However, the scheduling conflicts with many other events, featuring athletes that might normally be expected to compete for Ekiden spots:
1) National Marathon Champs (May 30): Even though they're both in Ottawa, I don't think anyone would consider running a high quality 10K 12 hrs before a marathon.
2) National 10 000m track champs (June 5): There is a week break here, however an athlete from the Prairies would have to fly to Ottawa, and then back to BC, which would be pretty tough.
3) National Half-Marathon Champs (May 16): Two weeks before is probably just enough time to recover, but also less than ideal.
It seems as though many high-level athletes would elect to run one or more of the above events, rather than Nordion, and might thus miss out on Ekiden qualification. I understand that Athletics Canada would like the road champs to be a bigger event, however packing 4 of the 5 major endurance events of the year into a 3 week span seems like a bad idea. Anyone have any thoughts, or know anything about selection?
