Comparing the Incomparable: The Wisconsin adidas Invitational Cross-Country Meet and the Hakone Ekiden Yosenkai 20 km Road Race
by Brett Larner videos by sk002000 and naoki620 The world's two leading university men's distance running systems each held some of their fall seasons' major events this weekend. In the U.S.A.'s NCAA , 36 university teams lined up at the Wisconsin adidas Invitational 8 km cross-country meet , with other top teams competing at the Pre-Nats meet later in the weekend. In Japan's KGRR , the 11th through 58th ranked university teams in the Kanto Region were at the Hakone Ekiden Yosenkai 20 km road race , with the top 10 teams in the region scattered elsewhere on the track and road. It's not really fair to compare cross-country to road racing and even less so to compare 8 km to 20 km, but how do the results from Wisconsin and the Yosenkai look in relation to each other despite the inequalities? Click to enlarge the tables below to find out. In NCAA cross-country, teams run 7 men with the top 5 placers scoring. Team scores are based on placing instea...