The 2012 & 2013 USA Cross Country Championships took place in Forest Park, about 2.5 miles from my home. I knew about the 2012 race months in advance before completely forgetting to go. For 2013 I briefly entertained the notion of running the community (i.e. non-elite) race, but given the extremely short distance (4K) and my recent training (for a 50K), it wasn’t a great fit. Instead I walked over there today to watch the elite races.
Women
The elite women ran 8K (5 miles), and multiple olympians were in the field.
The women start
The leaders pulled away quickly
Shalane Flanagan and Kim Conley lead for the entire race
Deena Kastor in 3rd
The chase pack
Shalane wins
The race results are here.
Men
The elite men ran 12K (7.46 miles). The announcers made sure to mention repeatedly there were 10 guys who had run a sub-28:00 10,000 meter race. A huge lead pack of about 30-40 runners stayed together through the first 4 laps of 6.
The men start
Big lead pack
Dathan Ritzenhein, Chris Derrick, and Matt Tegenkamp pull away with 4K to go
Chris Derrick, Matt Tegenkamp, Dathan Ritzenhein lead on the last lap
Second Wind runner Jeff Kelly running with the elites
Derrick won, Ritzenhein took second, Tegenkamp took third. The race results are here.
Nice pictures Rob. Thanks for sharing.