Blogs : Trackshark

Track & field rises with internet coverage

Remember when you had to wait for that issue of Track & Field News to arrive in your mailbox (or in my case, under the door in my dorm room at college) to catch up with the latest news and information in the world of our sport? Those days are long gone as you can now find news and results (and even video) nearly instant after every meet on a Saturday night.

Scott Bush of Milesplit.us recently shared his views on this new world with his blog entry at Runnerville.com. From the latest marketing ideas to what USA Track & Field truly cares about, Scott hits a home run from every angle.

Perhaps the drawback in all of this is that our sport is very difficult to cover. How does one cover a meet with so many events going on at the same? If you set a long jump record, how do you get pub when someone may be filming the second heat of the 200 meters? The sport of track & field can be, at certain times, a roller-coaster affair of media coverage.

Here at Trackshark, our focus is at the collegiate level. By no means can I cover every single event at every single meet. It took me four hours this past Saturday night just to look at all the results from every meet across the country to compile in the weekend review.

Four hours just to look at results and that doesn't even take into consideration everything else at the professional level. 

Right now, I can head over to ESPN.com to get the latest baseball box scores in a matter of 15 minutes.

With our sport, there are so many athletes, so many events, so many heats of a darn 200 meters that it can be somewhat boring for an average fan to even keep up. We can talk all day about how to better serve the fans as that's for another day.

Where do you get the latest news on professional track & field? What about running? If you're a running fan, do you care at all about the field events?

I can say, without a doubt, there is not one place to get this news. You have to visit a conglomerate of websites to gather all this information (Letsrun.com, Trackandfieldnews.com, IAAF.org, etc.). I visit Letsrun.com every day just because they know what news is important to the running fans of the world. You can't get this information anywhere else.

If you want to see the latest video highlights, you should know where to go with Runnerspace.com and Flotrack.org in the mix. However, what about the field events? This is, after all, track & FIELD. I'm sure both sites are working on this and they do a tremendous job already with what they do. I just don't want to see the field events being left out of any coverage. If you don't think they're important, just ask the coaching staff at Arizona State.

If you want to see the latest headlines in the sport, you can head over to TrackandFieldNews.com or IAAF.org.

If you want to find the latest high school information, just head over to MileSplit.us or Dyestat.com.

If you want to find the lates college information...well, you know where to go.

If you want to download or listen to some excellent podcasting with some of the top runners in the world right now, check out TheFinalSprint.com.

I'm sure there are many, many more that I'm leaving out.  As you can see, that's the point of this entry.  There are a ton of sites out there, none of which focuses only on the sport of track & field as a whole.

So what's the solution? How do we best serve the current fans while also trying to gather new one's? Should we all be competing against each other in a sport with very little revenue to play with in the first place?

It takes time, money, patience and good 'ole fashion hard work.

No one should be forced to read 98% of their coverage focused on 800 meters and up if, and only if, their intention is to cover all events within the sport.

The fans deserve to see an equal balance of news, insight and information for all events.

As someone who's been involved in covering the sport for nearly a decade, I realize that it's impossible to please everyone. That just comes with the territory.

A year from now, I hope to see a site that can cover all the events with the kind of passion that every fan can appreciate. As noted, it's going to take plenty of patience and hard work. The athletes deserve it. Our sport deserves it. You deserve it.

Untitled Comment

5:10 PM, April 8, 2008 .. Posted by Anonymous

True, not everyone should have to read 98% about 800 meters and up, however, about 98% of the people that are interested and view such site regularly are in fact distance runners.

Reply to above

5:56 PM, April 8, 2008 .. Posted by trackshark

"however, about 98% of the people that are interested and view such site regularly are in fact distance runners."

I would have to respectfully disagree with that. Have you ever visited The Ring? You'll be surprised just how big the throwing community is. Anyone remember the site Sub 10? That site alone yelled the tone of the passion in the sprinting events.

My point was that if someone or somebody is creating a site to cover track & FIELD, then they need to cover the field more often because the audience is there. Only distance runners seem to have this misconception of ignoring the reality of the masses.

Great Blog!

7:34 PM, April 8, 2008 .. Posted by RunnerSpace

You bring up some great points. This could be a looooong post, but I will keep it short. It really boils down to money and timing. We try and get field events when possible, but if we only have one or two people at a meet it is impossible to capture everything. The biggest challenge is timing... For example, we know when the 100 and 5000s are going and can have someone ready, but we would have to dedicate one person to watch and film every throw with the chance of catching the winning toss... many other problems stem from this issue. Money could solve many of the issues, but when you don't have much money, like us, your kind of stuck.

That is why we made it so anyone can contribute to our event pages. I see so many parents and friends filming the field events, if people upload them to the site, we will connect it to the page (if it is one of the meets highlights, we would even feature it). We think of our event pages as community event coverage, anyone can contribute content, our coverage usually gets showcased on these pages because not many others contribute... We hope this can make a difference, but it takes a collective effort!

If only the world had a few more people like you Tom! We all know how much of a difference you have made on these fronts.

Ross

Untitled Comment

12:15 PM, April 9, 2008 .. Posted by trackshark

Thanks for the comments, Ross. If any of you don't know him, he's the mastermind behind RunnerSpace.com. I urge all of you to check this site out as it offers in-depth media coverage from some of the top events across the country. Although their style is similar to Flotrack.org, it's different in that it's built upon a stronger community feel that offers participation rather than just a presentation.

I'll also say that no site is ever going to be perfect, especially in our sport. I can guarantee you that things will be missed. Athletes may not be highlighted more than others. However, with the rise of the internet age and stronger software platforms, the delivery of rich-media is easier than ever. As noted with RunnerSpace, participation is important. They do a great job with this.

We're almost there. We're all working hard. It's just going to take patience, like training for the Olympics.