Running should be more popular than ever, particularly at the middle distances. At the 2024 Paris Olympics, the United States Cole Hocker was the surprise gold medalist, and American Yared Neguse won the bronze medal in the Men’s 1500-meter run. That was nothing. The real surprise was American Grant Fischer winning the bronze medal in the Men’s 5000-meter race.
Running the Middle Distances at the 2024 Olympics
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The last medal won by an American male in the 1500-meter race was in the 1916 Olympics – 108 years ago. The last medal won by an American in the 5000 meters at the Olympics was in 1968, more than 50 years ago. The American middle-distance running medals at the Paris Olympics were surprising, to say the least. The future for the 2028 Olympics looks bright.
Running in Purcellville, Virginia
At the high school level, Purcellville, Virginia, is a hotbed for middle-distance running, with Loudoun Valley High School winning the national championship in cross country in 2018 (which runs races of 5 kilometers, or 5000 meters). To add to all this running craze, Purcellville, Virginia, also has Woodgrove High School. Woodgrove is pretty good at running, but Loudoun Valley High School is better.
Andrew Hunter was the star of that Loudoun team. He hoped to compete at the 2024 Olympics but came in fourth place in the men’s 10,000 meters at the United States Olympic trials. Hunter’s parents were the coaches of the cross country and track teams at Loudoun when he was part of the team. They have since retired and have been replaced by Kevin Shirk, who I interviewed for this article. His answers to my three questions are in the next section.
Interview with Kevin Shirk
Coach Shirk responded to three questions on September 7, 2024. That was the same day the Cross-Country team at Loudoun Valley High School had a big Cross-Country meet in Salem, Virginia, about three hours away from Loudoun.
United States Running Olympic Medals
I first asked if Coach Shirk thought the surprise medals in the 2024 Paris Olympics would increase interest in middle-distance running in this country. He said, “I hope so! I would not be surprised to see an uptick in Track & Field participation, especially throughout Virginia, from the most recent Olympics. Noah Lyles from northern VA won the 100m, Grant Holloway from southern VA won the 110m hurdles, and Cole Hocker is training in Blacksburg, VA, won the 1500m. So, there has been great exposure from those amazing races.”
“I think it would be interesting to do a statistical analysis of national participation in the big Olympic sports (Gymnastics, Swimming, Track & Field) to see if there is a 4-year wave of increased participation just from the television exposure that young kids are getting each Olympic cycle- just like how kids want to play baseball, football, and basketball because of how publicized those sports are regularly.”
The Effect of the 2018 National Championship at Loudoun Valley High School
I then asked if he thought Loudoun Valley’s 2018 national championship would increase interest in running in the area. He said, “I do believe that there was an immediate, brief effect in participation from the two national championships back in 2017 and 2018. I also believe the effect started when Andrew Hunter first broke the 4-minute mile barrier in 2016. That increase in interest probably led to the national titles- it wasn’t long after Andrew’s incredible runs, guided by the coaching of his own parents, that athletes really wanted to run for Loudoun Valley, and participation in Cross Country shot up to 100 athletes on the team.”
“Unfortunately, all that success came just a year and a half before COVID took its toll on participation across the country for many reasons: having to wear masks, limited competitions, travel restrictions, and general apprehension about rejoining group activities. In 2020, Loudoun Valley’s participation had dropped by about 50%, and the boy’s team, which had won Nationals just two seasons prior, finished 3rd in the state championship (the girls, however, won that season!). The following season, I took over the program, and we’ve been slowly building the participation back towards the pre-Covid levels.”
The Best Places to Run in the United States
Finally, I asked him about great places to run in the United States. He said, “I do not know; I am well-traveled enough to answer! I’m happy just about anywhere with dirt roads and scenic views. One of the great things about training in Purcellville is that we are just minutes away from rural areas with beautiful views of rolling farmland and the Blue Ridge Mountains. I’ve never run in the training hotbeds for professional runners, like Flagstaff, Colorado, or Oregon, but the pictures I see are unbelievable, with mountain views and wide-open spaces. Some day!”
Running Outlook in 2024
The combination of the unexpected American Olympic Medals and the great success of the Loudoun Valley High School Cross Country Team means the outlook for running, particularly in this area, is rising in 2024. The Loudoun High cross-country team is strong and has 80 kids. That is a big team for a small school. They run around town as a pack, which is a sight. More and more people are likely to run soon.
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