Running at Watkins

Old Officials

I officiate cross country meets.  I also managed large cross country meets, back in the day.  We (there were a lot of us making it happen) ran a meet that was one of the top three biggest in the state of Ohio.  We also ran the absolute largest District (state qualifying meet) in Ohio. And, I coached cross country teams for twenty-eight years.  So I know way around the cross country world from a number of directions. 

Back in the day, our officials would show up, fire the gun, rule on uniform infractions, and hang out at the finish line.  Occasionally there would be a “running infraction” to determine, but, like most cross country meets, there were officials at the beginning, then three miles later at the end, and not much in between.  (The District meet was different, with ten umpires scattered along the course).  

But what the course looked like:  creek crossings, roots, rocks and branches; that was all a meet management concern.  A local trivia question:  in the over fifty years of races on our cross country course, I can’t remember an official actually touring the entire course. 

OHSAA Mandates

That’s now changed.  The OHSAA mandates that the referee is directly responsible for the course, just as I as a pole vault official am directly responsible for the legality of the pole vaulting area.  And the National Federation rules make it clear:  no crossing running water, and no jumping barriers.  The starting “stretch” must be at least 100 meters before first turn, and the course should be at least 3 meters wide (10’) at the narrowest.  And all of that now falls directly on the referee (not just meet management). 

So at our home course at Watkins, two full miles of the course are located in the school forest.  While it certainly didn’t start out this way, now every “path” used for the course in the woods is greater than 3 meters wide, many parts are much wider.  The creek we used to splash through now has a 3 meter wide bridge, capable of driving a car on.  The swamp we used to run through has mostly dried up, but also has two sections of wooden walkway.  You can choose the walkway, 2 meters wide, or you can run to the side, at least a meter more (though the walkway is much smoother).  

If a tree falls in the forest, we not only hear it, but we remove it from the course.    

Roots

But trees also come with roots.  And there are definitely roots on the Watkins course.  Roots can trip an unaware runner.  Roots blend in with the dirt path.  But if we removed all of the roots on the course, then we would have two issues.  First, roots help hold the course together; tearing them out encourages erosion.  Second, roots also hold the trees up, destroying the root base along the trail jeopardizes the trees that line it.

From a meet management standpoint:  we need to keep the roots, but we need to “mitigate” the impact of roots on the race.  So we paint them – “bright white”.  And we repaint them before each meet of the season. 

So there’s a bridge – but it’s wide enough.  And there’s a walkway, but there are alternatives if the runner chooses.  The course has no “barriers” to jump, nor is there any running water to run through.  But, there are some muddy stretches.  And there’s roots.

Old School

Back “in the day” we ran through creeks, used ropes to get up steep banks, and, at one meet, even had to jump hay bales.  Today, many cross country courses are simply laps around athletic fields.  They’re fast, so fast that the whole sport has changed to meet the requirements.  But they aren’t too much different than making left turns around a running track. 

Here at Watkins, there’s still some “old school” cross country.  We don’t jump barriers, and the creek has a bridge over it.  But you still might get muddy if it’s rained in the past few days.  And you need to keep one eye on the race, and one eye on the course.  You won’t miss the roots, if you look.  I painted every one of them today, three days before the race.