Improvements...
New changes at the 2009 Mt. SAC Cross Country Invitational

We are extremely pleased that the Mt. SAC Cross Country Invitational has grown to be the largest, and we feel, the best cross country invitational in the country.

Last year we had more than 25,000 entries, but we also know there are physical limitations to just how many runners and spectators we can safely accommodate and how much time we have available during in the day; therefore, we will be instituting a few changes in this year’s schedule to try to ameliorate some of the problems created by so many runners and spectators wanting to be a part of this great event.

One major problem that has arisen in recent years is simply finding room for all the teams and spectators on our facility. The overlap on Saturday when the morning Division is finishing its final races and the afternoon Division schools are already arriving has become our most pressing concern.
To alleviate this overlap, this year we have inserted a 90 minute break in the Saturday schedule separating the morning Division and afternoon Division.

This break will be helpful in three very important areas.

First, it will allow time for the majority of the morning schools to break down their camps and get to their buses before the majority of afternoon schools begin to arrive to set up their camps. This should provide more space for teams and spectators and will lesson the bottlenecks that occur both in the stadium and the parking lots from schools coming and going at the same time.

Second, it will give all of our volunteers and medical personnel a much needed break. Last year we ran races every seven minutes for almost nine hours. In reality, our finish line never had a break from runners coming through the chute.

And, third, another exciting advantage is this new later afternoon schedule will allow us to run the all-important afternoon Division Varsity races later in the day when it is much cooler. Instead of racing at 1:00 pm in the toughest heat of the day, the majority of the Varsity Division races will be run from 3:30 to 5:00 PM.

In order to accommodate this new schedule and also to cut down on the shear number of competitors, we have decided that we must eliminate some races just to fit every thing into the schedule, so, unfortunately, we will eliminate most of the regular Junior Varsity races from the schedule. We will hold our ten (five boy and five girl) “Junior Varsity National Championship” races in all five divisions and will also hold two open J.V. Races (one boys one girls) on Friday, October 23rd at 11:00 am and 11:20 am.

We are very sorry we cannot accommodate every runner on every team, and we realize that junior varsity runners are certainly important, but we must take some action to ensure the safety of all the competitors and spectators.

We would also would like to remind you there are two other invitationals that are run on the Mt. SAC course during the season—the Fastback Invitational in early September and the SGV Championships in early October--both meets accept unlimited entries, so this may be an excellent opportunity for your Junior Varsity runners to get on the course in competitive situations.

Finally, we must reiterate that health issues resulting from athletes who are not well conditioned continue to be a concern. Despite our repeated warnings, we still have some coaches who bring athletes that are just not prepared to compete on this demanding course, and these athletes put too great a burden on our Medical Staff.

We still get runners who are already walking and weary after only the first mile! Considering that is the easiest part of the course, we know we are going to be sending our medical personnel out on the course at the top of Poop Out or behind Reservoir Hill to pick up those athletes who should never have been on this course in the first place.

We already have by far the largest medical staff of any invitational. On Saturday alone, we have more than 30 trained medical personnel working; however, we still have some schools that end up with as many as ten or more athletes from one race in our medical area. Obvious, when this happens we know that coach does not understand the importance of bringing only athletes that are properly conditioned to handle a difficult course such as Mt. SAC.

We obviously feel these athletes should not be competing in the Mt. SAC Invitational, and our intention to try to prevent coaches from not entering this type of ill-prepared athletes is not one born out of our desire to cut down on our work load or “punish” any athletes. In fact, we feel the coach is being unfair to his or her own athletes by not ensuring that they are properly prepared for the challenges of this course.

However, we have an even greater concern. If our entire medical staff is wrapped up dealing with  athletes who are only in our medical area because they were simply not prepared to complete this course, we may not be ready to respond to that one athlete out on the course, who really was ready to race, but on this day gets into distress and needs our immediate attention to a serious medical problem.
Therefore, we will continue to use our “Saftey Gate” at this year’s invitational.

The Safety Gate is located at the bottom of the Swtichbacks at about 1½ miles into the race. It is an area removed from the majority of spectators where there is gate leading off the course into the track stadium area.

We will have members of our Medical staff at that point, and any athletes who are obviously already having trouble completing the course will be discreetly diverted off the course and required to stop.
The Medical staff member will have the “final word” at determining whether an athlete will be allowed to continue. If our Medical personnel tell a runner to stop, that runner will be required to stop.

As always, we appreciate any comments, questions, or suggestions on any aspect of the Mt. SAC Invitational. You can contact Doug Todd, Coordinator for Special Events, at dtodd@mtsac.edu, or Tim O’Rourke, our high school meet director, at torourke@emuhsd.k12.ca.us.