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Cross country strategy is simple - get to the front and stay there

Rabbits in road races drop out late
October 20, 2017

Great strides - There are few Silky Sullivans or Dave Wattles in the sport of cross country. The better runners clear the pack and run from the front, while there are very few hangers and kickers. You actually find them at the end of a race, those runners who avoid the pain barrier until they spot the post-race picnic under the gazebo. It’s all about stride and back kick and leg turnover. Some individuals, like Cape sophomore Olivia Brozefsky, just have that natural talent, plus they are focused like a retriever on a wood duck, or even a real one.

Rabbit Run - I don’t like rabbits in races, even more so in a marathon. Who takes out a pack of elite distance runners and pushes the pace for 18 miles then drops out? In my opinion, it corrupts the idea of a race which includes strategies and pace. I sat on the couch and watched the Amsterdam Marathon Oct. 17, when all the pacemakers dropped out at 29K. My first question was, “How far is 29 kilometers in miles?” Eighteen is the answer, so take me to your liter or rather leader of the pack. The song “White Rabbit” by Jefferson Airplane: “If you go chasing rabbits, and you know you're going to fall, tell 'em a hookah-smoking caterpillar has given you the call.” The song goes back to 1967, exactly 50 years ago. On the Chinese Zodiac calendar, this is the year of the Rooster, which is relevant if you’re a Blue Hen. (Shouldn’t the rooster be chasing us? What’s up with rabbit man?) The weather at the start was 14 degrees Celsius and heated up to 20 degrees Celsius, just perfect for marathon running, or so I’ve read. Lawrence (don’t call me Larry) Cherono of Kenya was the winner in 2:05:05, while Tadelech Bekele of Ethiopia won the women’s race in 2:21:54. American Frank Shorter won the 1972 Olympic Marathon in Munich in a time of 2:12, largely starting the running boom in the USA, but he chased no rabbits. 

Sports on the down low - I was at the table when the athletic committee of Cape met informally to discuss adding boys’ lacrosse and cross country for boys and girls as middle school sports. I don’t think I was offered a seat at the conference table for volleyball discussions, but I was told, “You can bring your blue chair and sit in the corner.” I thought all three add-ons were bad ideas, and after all, who knows more about local sports than me? Evidently, most people. I also have always believed in giving people with passion and vision the resources and encouragement they need, then just get out of the way. Those three sports are kicking it, and I’ll bet we could add middle school swimming if we had a pool. 

Polar Circle Marathon - The race is Saturday, Oct. 28. The starting line is Kangerlussuaq - put that into your GPS and the British-accented female voice will respond “Get the freaky-deaky up on outta here!” If I were younger and limberer, I’d take on this challenge quicker than you can say, “Did a Musk Ox just enter the room or are you polar marathon training again?” The course is a 3K loop over a gravel trail poured upon an ice sheet. The website describes running past enormous glacier tongues and moraine plains and through tundra and arctic desert. For all the half steppers on the planet, there are a dozen just looking for a challenge that makes no sense whatsoever. Kangerlussuaq is in Eastern Greenland and has an airport and all that good stuff. Maybe next year I will go photograph the race. I’m sure it would be fascinating.

Yellow laces - The Cape football team, with my friend of 42 years Bill Collick at the helm, wore yellow laces last week to honor former quarterback Tom Frederick’s memory. And Monday, the Cape hockey team came to the funeral service and stayed the entire time to support their teammate Katie Fred and really all of us. And afterward, Diane Beckett met me in the parking lot to say, “Chico just got out of same-day surgery and insisted I bring him here.” Chico had two rotator cuffs repaired and was sleeping off the anesthetic. He woke up, touched me with his good arm and said, “I love you, Fredman.” We go back to our families beginning in Lewes. Chico’s sister Vanessa - better known as Pie - babysat Tom and Jack when they were infants.    

Snippets - Milford field hockey and softball player Darby Brennan has committed to Liberty University for field hockey and will play for head coach Nikki Parsley, a former Milford athlete I dubbed the knick-knacker. Parsley was an All-American at Northwestern, then she was an assistant coach at Yale before coming to Liberty. Oh yeah, I’ve heard of those places. You know who else graduated from Northwestern? Right, lots of people, including Yankees Manager Joe Girardi, who makes $15 million a year. Really? How hard can it be to say, “Go to replay.” The George Washington lacrosse team announced the addition of Meg Bartley as assistant coach Thursday. A former assistant coach at Franklin & Marshall and Virginia Tech, Bartley joins head coach Tracy Coyne and assistant coach Kelyn Freedman. “We are thrilled to have Meg joining the staff,” said Coyne. “She stood out in the candidate pool as a perfect fit for GW. I loved her background.” The Colonials are a Division I program. Arnold “Red” Auerbach is an alumnus of George Washington, class of 1940, and he went on to win nine NBA championships as coach of the Boston Celtics, including eight in a row. Red spoke at the Baycenter one December prior to the Slam Dunk Tournament after being  transported by limo from the Philly airport to the steps in Dewey. The legendary coach stepped to the microphone and said “It’s nice to be here in ... Bobby, where the hell am I?” Go on now, git!

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