Spring Break
The Daily OrangeTrack and field | Canned yams serve as reward for scarcely used distance runners
By Jackie Friedman
Posted: 5/10/06, 7:44 PM EST Section: Sports
Kevin Graham is not in denial. A freshman distance runner on the Syracuse track team, Graham admitted running can be repetitive, especially for someone who isn't competing regularly.
SU head coach Chris Fox and assistant coach Brien Bell provided a solution to break up the monotony and give the less experienced runners an opportunity for rivalry and contention.
Fox and Bell created the Dumb-Bell Deuce, a two-mile race named in honor of the assistant coach. The distance runners who rarely receive the chance to travel with the team to meets, mostly freshmen and redshirts, compete against one another in the biannual contest.
The athletes on the team who qualified for the ECAC/IC4A Championship travel to Princeton on Friday. The competition runs through Monday.
Graham suffers from tendonitis in his knees and endured a bout with mononucleosis last winter, which made him unable to compete with the team during his debut season. He experienced his first taste of the spotlight during his victory at the not-so-carefree fall Deuce.
"It wasn't playful at all," he said. "Anytime we step on a track it's pretty serious. I mean, this is everybody running that doesn't get an opportunity to race during the year. They're running for the love of running, so they take any chance they can to run seriously because of their passion for what they do."
Fox hopes the intensity with which runners approach the Deuce will eventually carry over to substantial competition. He suspects the winners of the Deuce will be solid runners for the team in the future. Other winners during the Deuce's inaugural year were Robert Cary (spring), Kathryn Reintjes (fall) and Abigail Christian (spring).
While the ambience of the actual race may not be casual or easy-going, the post-race activities are much more light-hearted, as is the winner's reward.
"The prize is a can of yams," Fox said. "It's perpetual, like the Stanley Cup. You get to sign your name on it as a winner and it stays on coach Bell's shelf. When the yams get covered in names we'll have to buy a second Stanley Cup."
SU head coach Chris Fox and assistant coach Brien Bell provided a solution to break up the monotony and give the less experienced runners an opportunity for rivalry and contention.
Fox and Bell created the Dumb-Bell Deuce, a two-mile race named in honor of the assistant coach. The distance runners who rarely receive the chance to travel with the team to meets, mostly freshmen and redshirts, compete against one another in the biannual contest.
The athletes on the team who qualified for the ECAC/IC4A Championship travel to Princeton on Friday. The competition runs through Monday.
Graham suffers from tendonitis in his knees and endured a bout with mononucleosis last winter, which made him unable to compete with the team during his debut season. He experienced his first taste of the spotlight during his victory at the not-so-carefree fall Deuce.
"It wasn't playful at all," he said. "Anytime we step on a track it's pretty serious. I mean, this is everybody running that doesn't get an opportunity to race during the year. They're running for the love of running, so they take any chance they can to run seriously because of their passion for what they do."
Fox hopes the intensity with which runners approach the Deuce will eventually carry over to substantial competition. He suspects the winners of the Deuce will be solid runners for the team in the future. Other winners during the Deuce's inaugural year were Robert Cary (spring), Kathryn Reintjes (fall) and Abigail Christian (spring).
While the ambience of the actual race may not be casual or easy-going, the post-race activities are much more light-hearted, as is the winner's reward.
"The prize is a can of yams," Fox said. "It's perpetual, like the Stanley Cup. You get to sign your name on it as a winner and it stays on coach Bell's shelf. When the yams get covered in names we'll have to buy a second Stanley Cup."
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