REASONS FOR DEMISE OF NORTH AMERICAN DISTANCE RUNNING
[the following is an excerpt from the Newsletter, "News and Views" Jan. 8, 2001 #112]
Q - Coach, I live in North Carolina, but I know this is the same for Canadians. It's pretty obvious that the North American male distance runners are becoming less and less competitive and I'm wondering why this is?
A - You are correct sir, or mam. Less competitive and less depth, as far as home-grown athletes are concerned. Importing may be the way to go, with the current World Marathon record holder, Khannouchi, forfeiting his Moroccan citizenship to run for Team America.[I sometimes wonder if eventually countries will be more like teams trying to lure athletes, "drafting" from the world pool].
With respect to depth, it's my understanding that in the U.S. the 50th ranked American male marathoner in 1983 had a time of 2:15+, whereas, in 2000, 2:23ish got you the 50th rank.
Many of my clients have asked me about this situation over the past couple of years, so I guess it's time for me to wearily climb aboard the soapbox to offer my view.
First of all, rest assured that this is not, in my opinion, an issue of genetics. Sure in East Africa, there may be more persons out of 100 having a favourable body type for distance running, but I would suggest that there are pockets in North America, such as Ontario, that produce more than an ample share of genetic wonders. Witness Kevin Sullivan from Brantford; and he's just one of literally dozens of exceptionally-gifted kids that have arisen out of what I've nicknamed, "The Rift Valley of the Niagara Escarpment". And this genetic melding pot is just getting more favourable all the time.
In any case, I submit, the following 18 interrelated reasons to account for the state of affairs:
1) Deterioration of High School programs and coaches - certainly in Ontario, the teachers' strikes and work-to-rule tactics have taken their toll, resulting in canceled competitions, seasons, and loss of potential coaches.
2) There is no system of talent identification - There is no cooperative effort between schools' physed. programs and year-round track clubs to identify kids with potential followed with team tryouts.
3) The sport is not facility dependent - This contributes in more than one way to a lack of professionalism. Compare the sport to swimming, where the number of clubs are obviously restricted to the number of pools since each facility can practically only serve one club. Thus swim coach positions are hired full-time and report to a Board of Directors. Now, the interesting thing is even endurance athletes, while exercising continuously, and maximally, only develop breathing volumes of about 140 to 160 liters/min., which is well below their MVV indicating that the respiratory muscles are more than strong enough to provide the required amount of oxygen for the exercise. And the facility-dependence also means only so many athletes can be handled, leading to tryouts, as well as a lever to push up membership fees and fundraising requirements (e.g., bingo), allowing a means of paying decent salaries for coaches.
4) Inadequate, or no financial support for coaches - I know for a fact that a major University in Ontario offered $1500 for a coach of the men and women's cross country teams. I would estimate such pay amounts to under $10 per hour for work done in what many would consider overtime hours. And some clubs may only be able to reimburse a coach's expenses and offer small token honorariums.
5) Recognition of the perils of the coaching lifestyle - The divorce rate is high amongst coaches; perhaps not that surprising given the inordinate time the volunteer coaches invest, after normal working hours, and for practically no pay. In the meantime, the economy and general trend for couples to live for material gain and even beyond their means often results in both spouses working full-time, with precious little time for each other.
6) Geeks rule - Has there been a backlash against the jock image? Perhaps the movie, "Revenge of the Nerds", was prophetic. The quintessential geek is the richest man in the world, Bill Gates. And high tech, and huge dollars rule and new "spectacled" heroes have been born [this issue's Spiritual Quote is by the co-founder of Apple].
7) "Net Worth" is the buzz word - Wealth accumulation is almost faddish - witness the mock competitions for playing the stock market. And concern for long-term security is high on folks' minds. Parents may be less inclined to fork out the bucks - to effectively act as sponsors. No wonder that many parents are supportive of their kids accepting sport scholarship opportunities, which can result in breaking of productive athlete/coach relationships.
8) Inadequate financial support for athletes - It's even to the extent that in Canada the athletes often have to pay their own way to represent the country (e.g., world cross country champs). Without some sort of sponsorship (even parental) assistance, the athlete must work to make ends meet.
9) Student athletes work - A big difference from 25 years ago, is that most student athletes work part-time. In the 70's, very few of the top athletes worked. It was just 2 runs per day, school, and good old rock and roll. Nowadays, kids do their workouts and then head off to do inventories at stores till the wee hours of the morning, and thereby deny themselves essential relaxation and/or sleep time - the time when the real training (i.e., changing) takes place.
10) Injury avoidance - In the 1950's and '60's, I presume injuries weren't nearly the order of the day in the running world since athletes, as we have since discovered, didn't train anywhere near the limits of their adaptive capabilities. But more and more athletes (such as Ron Clark, Gerry Lindgren and David Bedford) started pushing the envelope, and the mileage climbed so eventually 100+ miles per week became the macho benchmark. Those that survived such workloads often achieved great success, and so many caught the fever. Unfortunately, many fell by the wayside with debilitating overuse injuries and practically everyone got burned eventually. Now, I think there's more caution on the part of both the coaches and athletes to insure that more athletes survive, especially since just making the team is often the goal (see item #18, below).
11) The prevalence of drugs - The last couple of years have been even more daunting than previously, across all sports. It's been very discouraging for the athletes and, significantly, very discouraging to potential sponsors. I mean, think of it: if you're the VP of marketing for XYC Inc., you might think twice about putting your reputation/career on the line by aligning your firm with an athlete/sport that has demonstrated a consist bent on tarnishing itself.
12) Failure of top coaches and their athletes to train together - Athletes and coaches can tend to be independent sorts and certainly aren't going to readily leave their respective bases, never mind be able to afford doing so. In other countries, such as Kenya, Morocco, Ethiopia (admittedly not as geographically widespread), the top athletes get together to spur each other on for weeks at a time.
13) Lack of heroes to inspire and identify with - In the 70's, there were heroes for 2 important reasons:
(a) guys like Drayton, Shorter and Rodgers were the number 1 ranked marathoners in the world - everyone loves a winner; and
(b) these guys trained amongst us. I can relate that as a runner myself as it was quite cool to be in the same club and to train with a guy who just returned from Fukuoka, Japan, after winning what was regarded as the "world championship".
In Canada, our only genuine hero is 69 (or 70) year old Ed Whitlock who lives, trains and regularly races in the Toronto area. And let me assure you, the young masters are buzzing about this guy.
14) Weather - Drayton produced his performances while living and training through Ontario winters, obviously far from the ideal training situation.
15) Poor Self-Promotion - The sport's coaches, event organizers and sport governing bodies have sorely lacked hustle in the publicity department. For example, Ontario Championship results have often failed to make it into the papers. Unforgivable. Inexcusable.
16) Tough COA Standards - In Canada, some athletes have been terribly discouraged by the Canadian Olympic Association setting team qualifying standards that are higher than those set by the International Olympic Committee. Many times, young Canadian athletes have missed gaining the valuable experience of the Olympic competition by literally less than a few seconds.
17) World level performances are now higher - Drugs aside, "world class" has been redefined. Sure, there are many athletes around that have the ability to match the excellent times of the 70's - be it 13:20ish for 5 km. or 2:10ish for a marathon; but these are far below the current world levels of 12:55ish and 2:07ish.
18) Loss of heart - Because of many of the foregoing reasons, coaches and athletes, who would like to play to win, have lost heart, thinking "what's the use?", with the result that many are playing to just make teams.
[the following is an excerpt from the Newsletter, "News and Views" Jan. 8, 2001 #112]
Q - Coach, I live in North Carolina, but I know this is the same for Canadians. It's pretty obvious that the North American male distance runners are becoming less and less competitive and I'm wondering why this is?
A - You are correct sir, or mam. Less competitive and less depth, as far as home-grown athletes are concerned. Importing may be the way to go, with the current World Marathon record holder, Khannouchi, forfeiting his Moroccan citizenship to run for Team America.[I sometimes wonder if eventually countries will be more like teams trying to lure athletes, "drafting" from the world pool].
With respect to depth, it's my understanding that in the U.S. the 50th ranked American male marathoner in 1983 had a time of 2:15+, whereas, in 2000, 2:23ish got you the 50th rank.
Many of my clients have asked me about this situation over the past couple of years, so I guess it's time for me to wearily climb aboard the soapbox to offer my view.
First of all, rest assured that this is not, in my opinion, an issue of genetics. Sure in East Africa, there may be more persons out of 100 having a favourable body type for distance running, but I would suggest that there are pockets in North America, such as Ontario, that produce more than an ample share of genetic wonders. Witness Kevin Sullivan from Brantford; and he's just one of literally dozens of exceptionally-gifted kids that have arisen out of what I've nicknamed, "The Rift Valley of the Niagara Escarpment". And this genetic melding pot is just getting more favourable all the time.
In any case, I submit, the following 18 interrelated reasons to account for the state of affairs:
1) Deterioration of High School programs and coaches - certainly in Ontario, the teachers' strikes and work-to-rule tactics have taken their toll, resulting in canceled competitions, seasons, and loss of potential coaches.
2) There is no system of talent identification - There is no cooperative effort between schools' physed. programs and year-round track clubs to identify kids with potential followed with team tryouts.
3) The sport is not facility dependent - This contributes in more than one way to a lack of professionalism. Compare the sport to swimming, where the number of clubs are obviously restricted to the number of pools since each facility can practically only serve one club. Thus swim coach positions are hired full-time and report to a Board of Directors. Now, the interesting thing is even endurance athletes, while exercising continuously, and maximally, only develop breathing volumes of about 140 to 160 liters/min., which is well below their MVV indicating that the respiratory muscles are more than strong enough to provide the required amount of oxygen for the exercise. And the facility-dependence also means only so many athletes can be handled, leading to tryouts, as well as a lever to push up membership fees and fundraising requirements (e.g., bingo), allowing a means of paying decent salaries for coaches.
4) Inadequate, or no financial support for coaches - I know for a fact that a major University in Ontario offered $1500 for a coach of the men and women's cross country teams. I would estimate such pay amounts to under $10 per hour for work done in what many would consider overtime hours. And some clubs may only be able to reimburse a coach's expenses and offer small token honorariums.
5) Recognition of the perils of the coaching lifestyle - The divorce rate is high amongst coaches; perhaps not that surprising given the inordinate time the volunteer coaches invest, after normal working hours, and for practically no pay. In the meantime, the economy and general trend for couples to live for material gain and even beyond their means often results in both spouses working full-time, with precious little time for each other.
6) Geeks rule - Has there been a backlash against the jock image? Perhaps the movie, "Revenge of the Nerds", was prophetic. The quintessential geek is the richest man in the world, Bill Gates. And high tech, and huge dollars rule and new "spectacled" heroes have been born [this issue's Spiritual Quote is by the co-founder of Apple].
7) "Net Worth" is the buzz word - Wealth accumulation is almost faddish - witness the mock competitions for playing the stock market. And concern for long-term security is high on folks' minds. Parents may be less inclined to fork out the bucks - to effectively act as sponsors. No wonder that many parents are supportive of their kids accepting sport scholarship opportunities, which can result in breaking of productive athlete/coach relationships.
8) Inadequate financial support for athletes - It's even to the extent that in Canada the athletes often have to pay their own way to represent the country (e.g., world cross country champs). Without some sort of sponsorship (even parental) assistance, the athlete must work to make ends meet.
9) Student athletes work - A big difference from 25 years ago, is that most student athletes work part-time. In the 70's, very few of the top athletes worked. It was just 2 runs per day, school, and good old rock and roll. Nowadays, kids do their workouts and then head off to do inventories at stores till the wee hours of the morning, and thereby deny themselves essential relaxation and/or sleep time - the time when the real training (i.e., changing) takes place.
10) Injury avoidance - In the 1950's and '60's, I presume injuries weren't nearly the order of the day in the running world since athletes, as we have since discovered, didn't train anywhere near the limits of their adaptive capabilities. But more and more athletes (such as Ron Clark, Gerry Lindgren and David Bedford) started pushing the envelope, and the mileage climbed so eventually 100+ miles per week became the macho benchmark. Those that survived such workloads often achieved great success, and so many caught the fever. Unfortunately, many fell by the wayside with debilitating overuse injuries and practically everyone got burned eventually. Now, I think there's more caution on the part of both the coaches and athletes to insure that more athletes survive, especially since just making the team is often the goal (see item #18, below).
11) The prevalence of drugs - The last couple of years have been even more daunting than previously, across all sports. It's been very discouraging for the athletes and, significantly, very discouraging to potential sponsors. I mean, think of it: if you're the VP of marketing for XYC Inc., you might think twice about putting your reputation/career on the line by aligning your firm with an athlete/sport that has demonstrated a consist bent on tarnishing itself.
12) Failure of top coaches and their athletes to train together - Athletes and coaches can tend to be independent sorts and certainly aren't going to readily leave their respective bases, never mind be able to afford doing so. In other countries, such as Kenya, Morocco, Ethiopia (admittedly not as geographically widespread), the top athletes get together to spur each other on for weeks at a time.
13) Lack of heroes to inspire and identify with - In the 70's, there were heroes for 2 important reasons:
(a) guys like Drayton, Shorter and Rodgers were the number 1 ranked marathoners in the world - everyone loves a winner; and
(b) these guys trained amongst us. I can relate that as a runner myself as it was quite cool to be in the same club and to train with a guy who just returned from Fukuoka, Japan, after winning what was regarded as the "world championship".
In Canada, our only genuine hero is 69 (or 70) year old Ed Whitlock who lives, trains and regularly races in the Toronto area. And let me assure you, the young masters are buzzing about this guy.
14) Weather - Drayton produced his performances while living and training through Ontario winters, obviously far from the ideal training situation.
15) Poor Self-Promotion - The sport's coaches, event organizers and sport governing bodies have sorely lacked hustle in the publicity department. For example, Ontario Championship results have often failed to make it into the papers. Unforgivable. Inexcusable.
16) Tough COA Standards - In Canada, some athletes have been terribly discouraged by the Canadian Olympic Association setting team qualifying standards that are higher than those set by the International Olympic Committee. Many times, young Canadian athletes have missed gaining the valuable experience of the Olympic competition by literally less than a few seconds.
17) World level performances are now higher - Drugs aside, "world class" has been redefined. Sure, there are many athletes around that have the ability to match the excellent times of the 70's - be it 13:20ish for 5 km. or 2:10ish for a marathon; but these are far below the current world levels of 12:55ish and 2:07ish.
18) Loss of heart - Because of many of the foregoing reasons, coaches and athletes, who would like to play to win, have lost heart, thinking "what's the use?", with the result that many are playing to just make teams.