Scott Christiansen Leads US Men's Team For WC

Stillwater coach Scott Christensen will lead the US men's team at the IAAF World XC Championships in Edinburgh, Scotland on March 30. He had to go through a bit of red tape to get clearance for the trip from the school district, but will be the men's head coach in Edinburgh. In that capacity he watched the USATF Championships in San Diego last weekend.

He provided the following observations on the performance of some of the Minnesotans: "I did watch my own Sean Graham(Stillwater High grad who now lives in Oregon) fade a bit over the last 4K, which was disappointing, and the Junior Men with Ryan Little in the top nine runners during the whole race, showing just how tough he is. He just could not crack the top six and a place on the team. Elliot Heath looked great early on and then, like Sean, faded. Katie McGregor has been on many teams. She knows how to race and showed it Saturday. She was in second for much of the race hoping for (Shalane) Flannagan to fall back. That never happened and Katie tucked in for a place on the team. "

On the men's team and the challenge facing them in Scotland, Scott adds: "Only Ryan Hall, the fifth place finisher, will not attend the Worlds. So having nine of the top 10 finishers at our National Championships (going to Worlds) is an attractive and strong team. The veterans like Dathan (Ritzenehin, USATF champ), and the Torres brothers are super excited. The course and weather in San Diego was nothing like Edinburgh is going to be. Mission Bay Park is flat and along the ocean. It was sunny and 65 degrees. The World course is ferocious with steep, steep uphills and downhills, many hairpin turns, plus it is the rainy season. The Scots pride themselves in serving up real European cross-country and have the course set to be just that."

A few personal observations to add. I lived in London for a year from September of 1992 to 1993. Three days a week I ran on Hamstead Heath, a wonderful north London park near Camden Town, which was also the site of the UK XC national championships that year. The race started with a 400 meter uphill climb and the rest of the loop course was equally brutal. If you weren't going up or down, you were coping with the shoe sucking mud.

This is no joke. After the race notices were placed in the British running publications about the many shoes recovered from the course. February and March are the rainy season in the UK and Scotland, which means that the ground is often saturated with moisture, making footing alternately slippery and akin to quicksand. Pictures of athletes after races in these conditions resemble photos of mud wrestlers. The Brits boast that it is cross country as it's meant to be. It is certainly different than the manicured golf courses that serve as the sites for US XC meets.

Those running in Edindurgh might get lucky and get a dry spell this year, but don't count on it. Prepare for the worst and hope for the best. Ritzenhein has run on the course and came away with an injury because of the difficulty of the up and downhill segments, so that will only add to the challenge the runners will face. They won't merely be running against the top runners in the world, they will also be fighting the course. One positive is that the Africans will be no more used to it than the US runners. Their courses tend to be flat, fast, and hard baked. Maybe the cold, mud, and rugged conditions will decrease their motivation, or, frightening thought, make them try and run faster to get out of those conditions and back into a warm shower or bathtub.