| (Photo: NCAA)
Now the question that everyone's asking—and the reason we're focusing on the topic this week: That race was amazing and the women's competition was incredibly exciting. So, why is the women race's still so much shorter than the men's? Give us more women's racing!
In DI & DII, the men run 10K. In DIII & NAIA, they run 8K. The women, instead, run 6K in all the divisions. Even based on time, the men's DI races are about 10 minutes longer than the women's.
Should women and men race the same distances at this point? And, if so, what distance? Is the men's distance automatically the "right" one? Not necessarily!
Of course, cross-country isn't the only sport where the women's events are often shorter than the men's. Women's cycling races are typically shorter, so are biathlon and skiing races, speedskating. Women race the heptathlon v. the men's decathlon (seven events v. ten). The list goes on and on.
A lot of this is absolutely 100% based in historical structural sexism. Women were originally not allowed to compete, and then were given "smaller" events due to concerns about their health and bodies. Women weren't even allowed to ski jump in the Olympics until 2014 because people were worried their ovaries would be damaged. And women didn't get to compete in the 1500m in swimming at the Olympics until...2021!
And when it comes to NCAA cross-country, it wasn't actually until 2000 that the women even raced 6K instead of 5K—whereas the men have raced 10K since 1976 (and never shorter than 4 miles).
BUT.
That doesn't mean the men's distance or event is the right one. Why can't they do our distance instead? Or why can't we put more thought into a new different (but equal!) distance for everyone?
- Women's distances, events, locations have records and history and context now. Let the men lose their history instead!
- Shorter races in cross-country have lent themselves to a greater range of track athletes being competitive—the 10K has meant fewer first-year men in the top 40, fewer mid-distance athletes in the front. In cycling, the women's races are faster and punchier because of the shorter distances.
- There also might be an argument for younger athletes (both men and women) not to make as big a jump from 5K in high school to 10K in college.
Of note: We're not talking about when there's an event the women simply aren't or weren't allowed to do, like the marathon, the Olympic ski jump, or the four-women bobsled. We're talking about when there are two equivalent events—yet the women's is somehow seen as lesser. Like, in this cross-country debate.
A few years ago, a campaign was started to equal up the race distances. Recommendations were made to study the move to 8K, but the NCAA hasn't acted. Now, an independent survey is being taken of college runners. What do they want?
WE VOTE 8K FOR EVERYONE! That's what Canada did in 2019.
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