2022 Outdoors

[LuckySpikes]

At the Serbian Championships Angelina Topic jumped 1.96 on her third attempt to equal the World U18 Best, adding 1cm to her PB from a few weeks ago - https://www.european-athletics.com/n...-championships

[marra]

Yeah, as I said in an earlier post, Oregon is the size of the UK and has only 4 million people in it. The only way they were going to fill this was with out of state people and I just don't see that happening when those people likely had to choose between the US champs and the worlds.

[Chafford1]

And the population of Eugene itself is only 170,000, so not much of a local hinterland to fill an athletics stadium.

[Pierre Johansson]

She has amazing foot and comes on at the end with outstanding speed. She says that she has not been disadvantaged by her massive progress this year.

She's already run two sub-49 400 relay splits this spring/summer, so if the US team gives her a chance to run on their 4x400 team at the World Champs and she runs a low 48, maybe she'll focus on that instead of the 200. If the intersex athletes from Namibia are not banned from running with the biological females, and if, let's say, some talented Jamaicans like the Clayton twins and Brianna Lyston join Stephen Francis' training group and show up with braces (like all his female athletes do when they've joined him) within a few years, Steiner, and DAS too for that matter, would probably have to run 21.4 to even medal in the 200 in the future.

[Pierre Johansson]

I was being a bit cheeky. Give me Eugene everyday over those places. And I'm not even a fan of the people of Oregon (although there are apparently some beautiful scenery in that state).

[Occasional Hope]

I imagine she will, as she ran both at the Jamaican trials. She was third in the 800.

[Ladyloz]

I've always felt British Champs should rotate, rather than holding them in the same venue year after year.

[marra]

The track fans in both the locale, wider oregon and the USA are also upset and surprised and I have not seen your points expressing reasons fully replicated. Somebody mentioned the attendance figures as much larger at the old Hayward Field a few years back for a major national meet.
A cool windy day at Manchester doesnt really compare with the high quality meet a couple of weeks before the WC in very pleasant weather and the alleged support for the sport in the area. Apparently some fan said the price of seats was 100 dollars. A similar plethora of posts by fans on Letsrun recently was very pessimistic about the future of the sport in the USA as to spectators. I wonder if we could have seen our nationals having a bigger attendance if the trials had been at Birminghsm or a refurbed CP or even London's OG Stadium.

I mean, I'm a track fan living in the USA. So I know a bit about what I'm talking about here. And every conversation I've read about the attendences have outlined similar reasons to those I have.

I'm sure the numbers were down from what they have been in other years. But, as jjimbojames points out, in other years there wasn't a higher profile event, in the same location, less than 4 weeks away. Then add in that we've already had the Pre Classic AND the NCAAs (only 2 weeks before these trials) at the same location.

Consider this hypothetical. The WCs are going to be held in Moscow. The British champs, held 4 weeks before, will ALSO be held in Moscow. So will the British Diamond League AND the British university champs that year - all in Moscow. Would you be surprised if turnout for the trials wasn't great?

Because that is essentially the distance from where I am to Eugene. And I live pretty much in the middle. For anywhere on the east coast, add another 1000 miles onto that.

Sure it is easier if you live on the west coast but we're still talking about large distances. Seattle is the nearest really big city to Eugene and that's the distance of London to Paris. San Francisco is the next nearest and that's London to Berlin.

Then add in things like the fact that the USA has terrible holiday rules for many people and it's not hard to see why numbers were low. Christ, they weren't even smart enough to hold the trials when students would be around at the University to pad the numbers.

We can be disappointed they were low whilst understanding why that might happen. If the same thing happens next month, that would be a real problem. But we shouldn't ignore geography and other factors just to try to prove a point about the US's supposed lack of interest in the sport.

[trickstat]

Holding it in Birmingham may have also resulted in similar issues to Eugene with locals not attending because they are saving their money, goodwill, annual leave etc to attend the Commonwealth Games.

[Ursus]

Holding it in a cavernous venue like Alexander stadium makes for a poor spectacle for the watching viewer at home.

It’s also uninspiring for athletes and spectators. Much better to hold any event in a smaller stadium where whatever crowd there is will be nearer the action and might even generate a bit of atmosphere.

[CAML]

Spectators don't attend our national champs. Holding it in a cavernous venue like Alexander stadium makes for a poor spectacle for the watching viewer at home. I really enjoyed this years champs in Manchester, the quirky setting made it feel like a shared experience for athlete, spectator and viewer. The love for Azu, Burgin throwing up or Lake having a domestic with her dad all added extras to three days of mostly good competition.

[trickstat]

Manchester has been a handy compromise for the English Schools with Birmingham unavailable and Don Valley having gone. I think Gateshead is a better facility but its location makes it a nightmare for the south-west and south coast in particular.

[trickstat]

Mu has had Covid which may be a factor.

[Sovietvest]

Adele has officially switched to Jamaica (see her WA profile). I wonder if she’ll do the 8/15 double now? Ironically, it should free up spaces in the GB team but because of the importance of WA rankings it actually now makes it less likely Ellie Baker will get selected because Adele will now appear above her on the 800 ranking list.

[jjimbojames]

I think previous years won’t tell the true story for the WC - attendance at USTAF if the WC/OG are in another country will be higher. If you wait a month, you get to see the US stars and the global ones, for the same air fare. Who wouldn’t do that. British Trials in 2017 had lower attendance than the WC.

As for the British Champs - I would put money that attendance would be higher in Birmingham than in Manchester. I feel for the people north of Birmingham, having to travel far and wide so much, but the sport needs to be in a location most people can and will travel to without too much of a travel time. English Schools is at Manchester in a few weeks, and the vast majority of counties will be hoping for a return to Birmingham, I’m sure - I imagine parent attendance will be lower than Birmingham.