Favorite/least favorite event to watch

[runtoo]

Re: Favorite/least favorite event to watch

The 800M is my fave, technically not a sprint but it sure feels looks and feels like one hitting the curve for the last 200.

[racewalker]

Re: Favorite/least favorite event to watch

Favorite: Walks (yes, yes - feel free to make the usual snide comments) followed by distance events.
Least Favorite: Pole Vault, although the women's event is starting to convert me.

[jsquire]

Re: Favorite/least favorite event to watch

I got hooked on track when my high school teammates won the Ohio championship on a come-from-behind 4x400 victory. I'd still think it was the best event anyway.

You can't call yourself a true track nut if you have a least favorite event! When I went to Edmonton, I watched every single moment of competition available. I even got to the stadium at 8 a.m. for the 50k walk -- I swear that besides the stadium workers, I was the only English-speaking person in the stands. When I got out on the course I saw some fans with an Australian flag, so I talked to them for a bit; one girl asked her friend how long it would take. When he said four hours, she was surprised and said she'd assumed it would be more like 30 minutes -- to which he replied "30 minutes? It's 50 bloody K!"

[trackstar]

Re: Favorite/least favorite event to watch

> my least
>favorite is the long hurdles (an excuse for
>people who aren't fast enough to compete in the
>flat quarter!)

Boy, that's the silliest thing I've ever read. You're saying Edwin Moses was a mediocre athlete?

I had a high school teammate who in 1985 was No. 3 in the nation in the high school equivalent, the 300H. He ran the hurdles because he loved hurdling (his form was utterly perfect -- I've never seen anyone, even on the professional level, who went over the barriers more smoothly) and it was a family tradition -- he had three other brothers who were also top-level hurdlers (state champions, I think, as was he). I assure you, he had he speed to match any flat 400 runner in the nation.

[Guest]

Re: Favorite/least favorite event to watch

You can't call
>yourself a true track nut if you have a least
>favorite event! When I went to Edmonton, I
>watched every single moment of competition
>available. I even got to the stadium at 8 a.m.
>for the 50k walk -- I swear that besides the
>stadium workers, I was the only English-speaking
>person in the stands. When I got out on the
>course I saw some fans with an Australian flag,
>so I talked to them for a bit; one girl asked her
>friend how long it would take. When he said four
>hours, she was surprised and said she'd assumed
>it would be more like 30 minutes -- to which he
>replied "30 minutes? It's 50 bloody K!"

Wow, watching a 50K walk certainly qualifies you as a track nut. As for myself, the walks bore me to tears. I worked a meet once in with a 10K walk. It was one of the most boring 45 minutes of my life.

[Guest]

Re: Favorite/least favorite event to watch

Favorite: Steeplechase.
Least Favorite: 200m. (I've been to too many meets with 435 heats of the men's 200.)

[gh]

Re: Favorite/least favorite event to watch

>You can't call yourself a true track nut if you have a least-favorite event! When I went to Edmonton, I
>watched every single moment of competition
>available. I even got to the stadium at 8 a.m.
>for the 50k walk -- I swear that besides the
>stadium workers, I was the only English-speaking
>person in the stands. >>

Wait a minute! Are you trying to tell me I talked into that microphone for more than four hours and you were the only one listening?! (my bill is in the mail) It did seem like Warsaw when Korzeniowski crossed the line, I must admit.

[Guest]

Re: Favorite/least favorite event to watch

The middle distances are the ultimate dramas, and the 5K and 10K have provided too many classically gutsy performances to count. So, I guess I would label myself a distance enthusiast.

On the other hand, I just can't seem to get excited over events where heart and mind don't come into play in the course of the competition (i.e. the pure speed events -- anything under 400M).

[tandfman]

Re: Favorite/least favorite event to watch

>The middle distances are the ultimate dramas<

No, my dear. The ultimate dramas are field events.

[jsquire]

Re: Favorite/least favorite event to watch

>Wait a minute! Are you trying to tell me I
>talked into that microphone for more than four
>hours and you were the only one listening?! (my
>bill is in the mail) It did seem like Warsaw when
>Korzeniowski crossed the line, I must admit.

Listening? Not the only one. Understanding? Might be.

Although I might admit that I did not hear the entire thing. The battery in my camera died. I walked to the supermarket two blocks down, found nothing, then took the LRT back downtown to Eaton Center and got a battery at a camera store before returning. Didn't seem like I missed much besides Clausen fading from the front.

It's the only 50k walk I've watched in real time. I liked it, but then I might be the only person who thinks marathons might be too short. (To watch, that is; they're plenty long enough to run!)

[jsquire]

Re: Favorite/least favorite event to watch

>I worked a meet once in with a 10K walk.
>It was one of the most boring 45 minutes of my
>y life.


Any race CAN be boring, if it's not close. Most junior high dual meets are more exciting than the usual GP affair where El G follows pacemakers for YET ANOTHER 3:27. I just don't find an specific event boring as much as a lack of competition. This is why relays are generally fan favorites; they are more likely to have lead changes than individual events.

As for the 50k walk, it would likely have been boring if not for the surroundings. A Worlds is great for people-watching, probably second only to an Olympics. Every local ethnic group was out in full force, as well as the non-American travelers. I was amazed that the same teenager could hold up her sign and yell "Polska! Polska! Polska!" for over two hours.

[BisonHurdler]

Re: Favorite/least favorite event to watch

>

lemme see....the IAAF controls what
>events are part of "real" t&f, the walks are
>part of world champs and olympics as per the
>IAAF, logically that makes them "real" events,
>only the to alphabet groups in the US (who can't
>get out of their own way) decide they are too
>good to contest the event.




I know you're always up to date on the walks lists Mike, but i think you're forgetting that the IAAF almost dropped the walks altogether from the WC's!

[MJR]

Re: Favorite/least favorite event to watch

I know you're
>always up to date on the walks lists Mike, but i
>think you're forgetting that the IAAF almost
>dropped the walks altogether from the WC's!

Wrong alphabet group, wrong championship. The IOC wanted it removed from the Olympics. The IAAF refused to allow it to happen.

[BisonHurdler]

Re: Favorite/least favorite event to watch

Ah, thank you very much for the correction, i kinda had the feeling i was shooting from the hip on that one. I only vaguely remembered hearing about something of the sort.


But, that being said, i've never been in the "walks don't matter" camp. While i haven't invested nearly as much time or interest into following those events, i can't say that i would want to deny the competitors the chance to excel in their event.

And as a guy with chronic shin problems, i can only watch and wince whilst imaging the pain their shin muscles must be in.