Some of you may baulk at this suggestion, but don’t you think we need to have a re-think of cross country competition in Greater Manchester?
I think we’re all in agreement that endurance club running is on the decline, both at junior and senior level. Although there has been the success of park run and the mass participation races, competitive club running has seen a decline recently and this has been reflected in the numbers taking part in cross country. Fewer runners means less revenue generated, but more importantly juniors who do compete are missing out on valuable local competition which they need, to progress up the continuum.
In Greater Manchester alone, we have three leagues; SEL, MaD and RR. When comparing finishers, say in the Men’s race from the first race, we have 110??, 300 and 215 respectively. In order to provide better competition and the pooling of resources, is forming a more competitive ‘super’ league the answer? I know, for example, the SEL is steeped in history and goes back many years, but isn’t it time we moved on and modernised the delivery of cross country? Perhaps we could open these leagues and advertise them to non club runners too?