Before attending the University of Oregon, I had never attended a track meet in my life. But I had heard of Steve Prefontaine, seen the films “Prefontaine” and “Without Limits” and had the general understanding of the series of events that led to Nike’s founding. Now, I have come to terms with the palpable excitement a track meet can provide. It’s real. And it’s spectacular.
And yet, a cross country meet might actually be more fun to watch in person. Blasphemous? Maybe.
The Pacific-10 Conference Championships were on Saturday, with both the men’s and women’s races held in the middle of the afternoon. Attendance isn’t kept for obvious reasons, but that crowd may have been 2,500 people strong, including lots of high schoolers in town for the state meet. The races were held at Springfield Country Club, which is minutes from civilization but feels completely isolated. Because it’s the fall, the surroundings are enhanced that much more. The weather even cooperated after threatening rain early on.
But playing the role of a spectator is a joy in itself. Competitors line up in their team boxes at the starting line of a race, as spectators line up along both sides. At the gun, runners funnel into some semblance of order and the cheers begin.
The course is arranged in a number of loops, and while it’s possible to stand in one spot to watch the meet, it’s equally possible to get closer to the competitors and cheer on their progress as they go.
So they run. Men, women and children hustle over to the side of the course, pick a spot along the sidelines (no one ever has to block your view!) and begin cheering and chanting again. The runners progress to the other side, toward the initial start point, and the crowd runs back to them. Some people (this out-of-shape reporter included) get a nice workout this way.
The fact that spectators are allowed to go where the action is disguises one other fact I enjoy about cross country races: You can step on the course – while the runners are whizzing past you. If, for whatever reason, you feel the need to cross over to the opposite side of the running lane, you can do so whenever there is a break in the action. Of course, you must be extremely judicious when doing this, but consider: Spectators cannot walk along the golf course as players do during a round in progress (unless the ball is on the 72nd green).
Spectators cannot stand on the other half of the court in a basketball game.
Many sports offer fans the opportunity to get as close to the playing field as humanly possible, but none allow fans to literally run through it for a better perspective on the event.
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le to track and field, but the possibility remains that this important tenet of the sport can be fulfilled and something previously unseen can occur.
So it was when Washington swept the top six spots in a highly competitive woman’s meet, something Oregon head coach Vin Lananna could not recall having seen before.
Or when Galen Rupp set the course record to win an individual title.
The No. 1 and No. 2 ranked teams in the nation for men and women were all present (it helps that the Oregon men and women are both a part of this).
Granted, both individual titles were all but decided less than halfway through the meet, but the drama of a distance race remained very real.
Oregon has already had both home meets this cross country season, the Bill Dellinger Invitational on Oct. 4 and the Pac-10 Championships this past weekend, so interested parties will have to wait until 2009.
When cross country season comes back, be sure to bring your coat and watch out for that guy coming around the turn.
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