I haven’t posted anything for a while due to getting caught up in heated online debates about equality in cross country races in the UK (except Scotland which already has equal distance for male and female races). I was going to write a post to sum up the debate, but then I found an article online which perfectly addresses the key points; A commentary on Race Distances in XC by Andrew Kirkland who is a coach, sports scientists and university lecturer.
Please have a read as it will help both those who can’t understand why this is even an issue and those who don’t understand why there needs to be change. I know which side I’m on!
Along with race distance, I do believe that there are other issues that cross country racing in the UK should be looking at. The group of athletes attracted to the sport is not as diverse as in other areas of athletics and the U20 age group (and U17 Women) seems to always suffer from very low entry numbers, or end up added in and swallowed up in other races, like the seniors. Cross country does need to move with the times to keep attracting new athletes. It is a fantastic sport to take part in both for your fitness and strength and the joy of taking on whatever nature has to offer with hundreds of other nutters!
Running Tips by Coach Julie 