Maynes and Geist both wondered in comments a few posts ago why the MAACs and Regionals are in Madison, CT. Here's why:
No one from the MAAC or from the Northeast Region wanted to put in a bid to host said championships at Van Cortlandt Park -- in part due to all the construction going on at Vanny.
The MAAC meet went open for bid. We were considering a bid at Bowdoin -- imagine an 8km on those hills? (Side note: Coach Horton put on such a race a few years ago while coaching at DCC!). (Side note 2: Phil and I put together an insanely hard 5-mile course for the NEC meet at Bowdoin in 1994; we were forever vilified by some old NEC coaches for such an evil course!)
Once it became clear that Hammonassett was getting regionals (Yale/Fairfield co-hosting), we decided not to bid against Fairfield (MAAC host) since it would benefit us all to get on the regionals course two weeks prior. Plus, why trash our legs on a brutal Bowdoin course two weeks from regionals?
There's more to it, but that's the relatively short answer anyway.
We are still going to Vanny for MOC, Mets and ICs. From what I understand, the "old" course will be mostly utilized again. We will see.
My feelings? Just go with the flow. If our teams are ready to run well, they will run well no matter the venue. You guys know I love Vanny, love the history, the lists ... but times change. Hopefully, the "old" Vanny will be back in business soon. And we can resume with the VCP lists and history.
FYI, for you music lovers out there, the title of this post is a great tune by George Thorogood.
3 comments:
VCP is getting close to being normal again. The half of the parade grounds where the original staring line was is now open, aside from a small fenced-in area around some new baseball fields they've added. The new baseball fields have been placed right where the starting line was, so it'll be interesting to see how they run around that. The half of the parade grounds closer to the subway is still closed. Work seems to be done, and all that appears to be happening is letting the grass grow back. So, perhaps they will re-open the entire field in a few weeks? Hard to say. Overall, no heavy work is being done anymore at VCP, and it appears they are just letting the fields grow back.
Hey, it's closer to me so that's ok in my book
My dad used to coach basketball - he said the good players could hit their shots on bent rims, baskets with no nets, etc. Same thing with XC!
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