Apples and Oranges

It is always risky to compare cross-country times from different races. Every course has its own features and hazards, making it faster or slower than other courses. And these features do not affect every runner in exactly the same way. For example, a runner might thrive on Brookline's relentlessly hills at Larz Anderson Park, but not perform nearly as well (relative to other runners) on a flat, fast course like Elm Bank Park. One runner might do very well running on a hard, packed surface or on roads, but struggle badly in mud, thick grass, or snow. Indeed, that's one of the things that makes cross-country fun: it isn't like track, where theoretically every "course" is the same.

But shouldn't it be possible to compare times run on the same course, even if they are not run on the same day? It should be possible, but it is still an inexact science. Of course there are factors like the weather to take into account (heat, cold, precipitation), and whether or not the runners were going all out. But even taking these things into account, the same course is not always the same course. Think of Cold Springs Park. Is the short loop on the upper field at the start of the race always exactly the same distance? How much different might that make -- a second, a few seconds?

All these questions come to mind as we try to figure out what to make of the times posted by Weymouth and Wellesley at their dual meet last week at Elm Bank Park. Both Wellesley and Natick run their home meets at Elm Bank. Up until this year, the start/finish line was located on one side of the soccer fields, roughly halfway between the lower parking lot (near the woods and the river) and the upper parking area (Lot A , if you pay attention to the signs). The course started straight across the grass, turned left behind the soccer goal, and made its way out to the road by Parking Lot A. When finishing, runners reversed this loop. This year that first part of that loop is off-limits because those parts of the field are being reseeded. The course that we ran on Tuesday started and finished at the lower parking area and never crossed the soccer fields a all. So it was the same course but different from the one the teams ran two years ago.

But was it the same course that Wellesley and Weymouth ran during the first week of the season? There's no way to know exactly where the Wellesley coaches placed the start and finish line, so there's no way to compare times from the two meets with any degree of confidence. What we do know is that in the Weymouth-Wellesley girls race Weymouth's Becca Macdonald ran 14:44 to win. That's more than ten seconds faster than Jess Barton ran against Natick. We also know that Wellesley's Charlie Meade ran 13:02 at Elm Bank Park. David Polgar ran 13:21 against Natick. Same course? Different course? That we don't know.

And we probably won't know for sure who is faster until October 5th, when Jess and Becca, Charlie and David, run on the same course on the same day.