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Permalink Reply by Rachel M Kimber on June 23, 2009 at 12:17pm

I didn't know that WTC and the Westchester Road Runner store were partners. I just looked it up and learned a bit -- but having grown up in westchester, I had no idea the two were linked in any way (besides in name/geographic location). I've only been to the store a few times and the staff were super helpful/knowledgeable. The marketing aspect was lost on me ...

The fact that they advertise themselves a a two-tiered track club was a little off-putting as not-elite runner. And it sounds like they aggressively recruit elite runners from East Africa.

I wouldn't expect the club to provide more support than you suggest it does ... Maximum profit for minimal output ...

Having spent a few months living in Kenya (2002) I think I can fairly assume that reality is tough for the young African runners you've chatted with. The families I lived with in Kenya could not depend on their own country's infrastructure for support (health care, food, water!). They were not in survival-mode, but they existed in what we might consider poverty (no running water/electricity) without a government safety net (welfare ...) to protect them from devastation.

It sucks that these elite runners are brought to America, run ragged, and turned out by WTC ... But are they getting funding for a life opportunity they wouldn't otherwise have ... and maybe even a chance at greatness through the recruitment efforts of the club?

It would be grand if someone took the time to educate these runners about long-term planning instead of just short-term racing goals. But in Kenya, where the average life expectancy is around 56, they may consider themselves fortunate to have simply arrived on these shores and as immigrants in America, they are expected to make of it what they can.

Hope that wasn't too harsh - I'm sympathetic (and awed by their talent) ... but life isn't fair.

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Permalink Reply by Perry Scott King on June 29, 2009 at 1:27pm

Always a touchy issue and one that has been discussed a number of times at my Westchester weekend group's runs based on the publicity it has gotten in the NYC press. I almost joined the WTC a year ago but couldn't quite pull the trigger because of the systems-in-overdrive feeling you get about the club and its publicity. To be fair the WTC isn't the only one using the hired feet approach, and they also have a core group of top native somewhat older runners such as Jay Duggan, Conor O'Driscoll, and Micheal Oliva who do very well, though they can't crack the team's top 10.

The racing scene has changed in recent years and now the NYRR and other non-elite races around the US provide enough prize money that the African runners loosely associated with club teams are focussed on battling for all the top spots. Is a total of $6,000 of prize money enough to insure that some of the top runners show up for a race like this weekend's Hope and Possibility? Yup. Running is big business these days, so the WTCs and the WSXs (what is it with the letter W, anyway?) will continue their imported legs race and the rest of the clubs will set their sights on somewhat more pedestrian goals, just like most American marathoners have changed their expectations during the last 20 years. And who knows, one of the guys scorching the Central Park roads may be the future "great American hope" in the 2012 Olympics.

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Permalink Reply by Michael on June 29, 2009 at 1:51pm

Interesting that I'm not the only person who finds the subject interesting to talk about...

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Permalink Reply by Perry Scott King on June 29, 2009 at 4:35pm

Well of course it's an interesting topic up the Hudson a bit. I'm just hoping a few of the transplants settle in Dobbs and then go on to World Championship or Olympic golds so I can brag shamelessly to the other Westchester villages about our dominant local talent.

On a more serious note, during the Rift Valley bloodshed last year some of the guys from the area were also involved in the efforts to help the runners and families they had met in previous trips to Kenya. The dangerous conditions in the homelands for some of the African runners cannot be understated, and if I had a chance to go to a somewhat safer place and run for the money and the love of it, I might well jump at the chance.

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Permalink Reply by Rachel M Kimber on July 4, 2009 at 3:40pm

Perry - you understand what i'm talking about. The world is volatile. There is so much we take for granted. Happy 4th to everyone!

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