Alistair Cragg

[sarunner1]

Just wanted to know what you all thought. He has not recieved much love from other sites? I think he is the best athlete in the NCAA, especially when it comes to the distance anyway....
And his coach saying that he thinks Alistair can run 5 seconds faster at Nat's? That will be amazing. Coach Macdonnel is a great coach, I ran against Alistair at the South African National Championships one year and he was good, but not this good. So it has to reflect some on the coach, plus look at all the other athletes?!
Just wanted to know what you all thought.
Cheers, jp

[palladium]

Re: Alistair Cragg

>Just wanted to know what you all thought. He has not recieved much love from
>other sites? I think he is the best athlete in the NCAA, especially when it
>comes to the distance anyway....
And his coach saying that he thinks Alistair
>can run 5 seconds faster at Nat's? That will be amazing. Coach Macdonnel is a
>great coach, I ran against Alistair at the South African National Championships
>one year and he was good, but not this good. So it has to reflect some on the
>coach, plus look at all the other athletes?!
Just wanted to know what you all
>thought.
Cheers, jp

definitely have to give credit to the coach. but i think you have to give more credit to his talent. i don't care if you're being coached by God himself, you can't run 7:38 without an abundance of talent.

i too am perturbed/confused as to why he isn't receiving more love from the 7:38. maybe because he's not American, but i just don't know about that. when you think about the utter amazement that people were in when goucher ran 7:46. That kind of time puts you third in the nation this year, and substantially inferior to the 7:38. I can't explain the lack of hype. not that there isn't any hype, just not as much as i would have expected; i mean i nearly fell out of my chair when i saw the results - went directly to t&fnews, then to letsrun, and found nothing. odd.

[kuha]

Re: Alistair Cragg

It's the attention deficit problem. Rather like the recent episode in which Webb was getting ALL the attention on these boards for 4th at the US X-C race, while the winner (Kennedy, for those who weren't paying attention) was getting no mentions at all. Who can explain why some "names" generate the buzz and others don't? Contrary to what some might say, it's clearly NOT a matter simply of talent and ability. If it isn't clear by now, I'm sick to death of the Wxxx and Gxxx fixations.

[Dutra]

Re: Alistair Cragg

>It's the attention deficit problem. Rather like the recent episode in which
>Webb was getting ALL the attention on these boards for 4th at the US X-C race,
>while the winner (Kennedy, for those who weren't paying attention) was getting
>no mentions at all. Who can explain why some "names" generate the buzz and
>others don't? Contrary to what some might say, it's clearly NOT a matter
>simply of talent and ability. If it isn't clear by now, I'm sick to death of
>the Wxxx and Gxxx fixations.>

He's not American. Simple as that.

[kuha]

Re: Alistair Cragg

However, as I was trying to say above, this selective attention syndrome affects Americans, too.

[EPelle]

Re: Alistair Cragg

Is it because he competes for Arkansas? He is one more good athlete along a long line produced in their track factory. Expectations are high for athletes from AR. When you read about AR winning (another) national title, does it make you proud for them? I agree with the comment about Lincoln not getting the press he deserves: another AR alum.

They have a good, clean program which gives us all something to talk about - results which continue to amaze and dazzle.

[Cyril]

Re: Alistair Cragg

Cragg is exellent and deserves alot of credit as do the two Lincoln and Kennedy (its too bad we don't have a Washington in there). However, the reason that there is so much focus on Webb (and Jennings for that matter) is that they are 1500 guys and like it or not the mile is a focal event where as the 5/10 aren't.

Look at Webb's senior year. Even before his 3:53 he was getting all the press where as Ritz was getting only very limited attention.

[kuha]

Re: Alistair Cragg

Not to open this hideous can of worms yet again, but Wxxx got all the popular attention because he was a MILER, not a 1500 guy. (Imperial, NOT metric.) Gxxx got (past tense) the attention because he was so "delightfully" colorful.

[sarunner1]

Re: Alistair Cragg

I definately think that Cragg has more natural talent than an army of mediocre runners put together, please don't get me wrong, but i just wonder what would've happened had he not been with coach MacDonnel? But that is a question that can never be answered, i just think it is good he ended up there. I am glad that most of the people on this form has shown their love for Cragg, he is just an awesome talent and a great person as well....
I love Kennedy as well and think he gets way too little credit especially seeing how hard he works. He is getting a little older and doesn't have the recovery rate he had a few years ago. I am not a big Webb fan either, at all.
But it's good that there is some love out there for Cragg. Hope he does awesome at NC's

[Cyril]

15/ mile vs. 5/10

Kuha-

I think you're getting a little nit-picky. The 1500 is a big event all over the world. In most meets a focal point along with the 100.

Of course, superstars can change that a bit. Putting Geb into a 5 brings plenty of attention to the event. However, everything being equal the 15/mile is more interesting to the general public (in US or Europe). You have to have a bit more knowledge to appreciate a 12-1/2 or 25 lap race from start to finish.

[miler monkey]

Re: Alistair Cragg

I think Webb got attention (and Jennings to some degree) because there was some hope (particularly with Webb) that they would ascend to become world beaters. People were excited that we'd have someone contending for gold.
I think Kennedy is absolutely brilliant, the greatest five and dimer we've had, but the fact is he was never truly in the top echelon in his events. And he's aging and perhaps past his peak -- which is another reason to give him all the credit for his recent achievements. It just doesn't compare to Webb's one-time perceived potential for being the best in the world -- and the soap opera of his trials and tribulations since then --

[kuha]

Re: Alistair Cragg

Cyril: My point is simple. Webb got all the attention he did here in the US because he was a MILER. If he'd run the equivalent of 3:53 at ANY OTHER DISTANCE, he wouldn't have gotten a fraction of the popular (and I emphasize popular) attention that he did. This seems pretty self-evidently true to me. There is no other point (at present!) that I'm trying to make, so don't read any more than this into my original comment...

[Guest]

Re: Alistair Cragg

Bob K. was "never in the top echelon"...?? He was ranked 4th in in the world 1994 and 6th in 1996. Finished 6th in the Olympic Final in Atlanta. If that's not top echelon, then only a half-dozen athletes were.

[kuha]

Re: Alistair Cragg

Miler monkey: It's interesting that Kennedy actually DID run with the best in the world in his event, whereas, with Webb, it's merely our HOPE that he MIGHT do so... Reality vs. Dreams. Which is more powerful.....?

[Guest]

Re: Alistair Cragg

Bob K. was "never in the top echelon"...?? He was ranked 4th in in the world 1994 and 6th in 1996. Finished 6th in the Olympic Final in Atlanta. If that's not top echelon, then only a half-dozen athletes were.