Remember to pack your medications
Which top New Zealand athlete won a goat hoof for a trophy this year? Bet you don’t know the answer.
Here’s a clue: she also won two of the biggest mountain races in Europe this year, and a prestigious running series. Still nothing?
The answer is Ruth Croft, and if you haven’t heard of her, you’re not alone. The truth is, Croft probably likes it that way. She’d rather be up in the mountains running than signing books at a mall in town.
‘‘I just do my thing, I don’t mind, to be honest,’’ the laconic, West Coast-born and bred runner tells us on the Dirt Church Radio podcast this week.
But it did get us thinking: why is it that some sports get prominence and others don’t?
How come, for instance, Brendon Hartley’s unsuccessful (so far) thrust for Formula One glory is more deserving of coverage than someone who has stood atop the podium at gruelling events and waved her arms aloft before adoring crowds?
I certainly mean no disrespect to Hartley – good on him, and good luck to him.
One answer, of course, is money – Formula One, and motor racing in general, is big business.
But business is business, sport is sport, right?
Surely Croft and others – Anna Frost, for starters, but the list of Kiwis blazing trails is long and growing – deserve just as much kudos.
OK, so Croft doesn’t win millions of dollars like a Formula One champ – but, hey, this year she won a goat hoof.
It was at a race called the
On the United States trail scene, it’s a big deal, and people take notice.
Speedgoat 50k in Utah, organised by a trail running legend, Karl Meltzer. He’s won more 100-mile races than anyone, and his nickname is, you guessed it, Speedgoat.
Over the 50-kilometre distance, you climb about 4500 metres and it’s the kind of race where the organiser warns on the website: ‘‘Remember this is a hard race, if you feel like this should be your first 50k, you are probably wrong in your assumptions.’’
(As an aside, Meltzer doesn’t mince his words – one of the race instructions is: ‘‘If you are late, tough sh**.’’)
All this is making Speedgoat sound a bit low-key. But on the United States trail scene, it’s a big deal, and people take notice of who wins.
This year, Croft became the second Kiwi to win the notorious trophy (Frost has won it twice), but she didn’t even attempt to bring it back into the country.
‘‘I didn’t think it would make it through Customs,’’ Croft says. ‘‘Karl was like, ‘I can make you another trophy’, and I was like, ‘no, it’s OK’.’’
Things are a little more glamorous in Europe, where Croft was a multiple champion this year, including winning the prestigious Mont Blanc Marathon which set her up to take honours in a series called the Golden Trail.
And at the OCC, a race where she ran to the finish line down a gauntlet of people about 10 deep on either side, she finished first and another New Zealander, Nancy Jiang, finished 5th.
This is incredible. But they say that explaining is losing.
So the fact I feel like I need to be explaining what all these events are and their significance means I have little chance of convincing you of the merits of Croft’s achievements, and, therefore, why she should be celebrated here. Gah!
You won’t get any such exasperation from Croft, though. She’s nonplussed. ‘‘I suppose it’s not like we’re wearing a New Zealand singlet, so that’s a reason, too.’’
She’s happy just running, and winning trophies, both bizarre and illustrious. And maybe I should just be happy about that for her.