Digging Deeper Into XC

You may be asking yourself how XC came to be a common sport in the U.S, well believe it or not XC was not started in the U.S, it actually started in England. The sport originated from the "Crick Run" held every year since 1838 at a rugby school in England. After XC was introduced to England after the late 1830's many private schools in England practiced, and participated in XC. In 1878 the United States was introduced to XC by a man named William C. Vosburgh. At first when it was introduced to the United States the sport was used as training/ conditioning for Track and Field Athletics. Despite the start of the sport as being used for training, 9 years later XC running became a formal sport. Before the 1960's only men where allowed to run the sport, but during the 1960's the International Amateur Athletic Federation, allowed women to run XC for the first time !

Just like in many sports there is a scoring system for XC as well. The scoring system in XC is very complicated but I will try to explain as clearly as possible. In XC the scoring system goes in points. Take the varsity race for example, the minimum runners you need for the varsity team is 5, the most you can have is 7. So when varsity runners finish the place they come in, that is the amount of points they get. The highest amount of points a varsity squad of 7 could earn is 28 because if the runners from the same team came after each other in a consecutive order like beginning from 1st place to 7th place ( 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7) that adds up to 28 so that is the highest amount of points the varsity team could earn in a race. XC is a very complicated sport, but fun one too !

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cross_country_running

Whats Cross Country and Track & Field ?

Running is a very competitive sport. Country Cross and Track and Field are two sports that involve competitive running. Cross Country is an endurance running sport. It tests your physical endurance, and the limitations of your body, mind and heart. In Cross Country there are two different types of races. There is the 2.1 mile race which everyone runs but varsity. Varsity runs the 3.1 mile race better know as the 5K. Both of these races are very difficult and challenging. Overall Cross Country is a very physically and mentally demanding sport.

Track and Field is very similar to Cross Country, but at the same time very different as well. They are similar in the way that they both mentally and physically demanding sports. One way they contrast is the concept that they are built around. Track and Field is more built around speed " sprinting", but Cross Country is built around long distance "endurance running." Track and Field is split into two main running groups "distance runners" and "sprinters." There are running events associated with each group. The 800 meter, the mile and the 2 mile is associated with the distance runners because those are endurance based running events. Everything from the 100 meter to the 400 meter races are considered sprinting events, because these are speed based running events.

Introduction To Running

For my blog I decided to go into depth of cross country, and track & field. You might ask yourself what is cross country and track & field? Well these are sports, and they are not just sports, they are also lifestyles. Cross country and track & field, are both sports that involve running. In this blog I will go into great detail of each one, and the aspects of both. Cross country and track & field are different and similar in may ways. Both of these sports are fun, exciting, and challenging ! Get ready to explore the world of running !