Glasgow Calling

Photo from Josh Kerr’s Instagram of Josh Kerr returning to Scotland

(Suit and photo by Intern 00…I guess 0)

Words: Jeff Merrill

The World Indoor Championships are in Glasgow, Scotland this year and this weekend.

In 2020 and 2021, the meet was not contested. During the Olympic year, meets outside of the Olympics or the Trials to get there struggle to maintain relevance. Athletes have a one-track mind, solely focused on the goal of getting to the big dance and making the most of their opportunity there, while the eyes of the world are on their sport.

Josh Kerr was toying with the idea of even competing in the World Indoor Championships held in his home country, his sights set on 1500m gold later this summer. Yared Nuguse also likely had conversations with his camp about the prospect. Both ultimately decided to compete, although in the 3000m and not their bread-and-butter event, the 1500m.

Maybe one day we’ll learn what it took to get Kerr to get on a plane from his base in Seattle to toe the line on his home soil in Glasgow- perhaps a country manor near St. Andrews, but even so, few will argue that there is a much better atmosphere than a raucous indoor home arena when a real contender is in contention late in the race.

In 2016, when the World Indoor Champs were held in Portland, Oregon, Matthew Centrowitz marked Nick Willis through the final 2 laps before overtaking him down the stretch to win on the green track in his adopted hometown. Centro had gone to the University of Oregon, and his father had gone to the University of Oregon… his family’s been here a long, long time. The pounding of the boards in the Oregon convention center was only muffled by the yells from the home crowd.

Indoor track is tight and intimate. Stands that ring the track are the best, and when the crowd is right up on top of the boards, there is no better way to watch track racing. It’s loud, and hot and the action is like a roller derby, elbows flying and moves made off the bank in the blink of an eye.

Before the green fixed-board, steel-frame track was moved to the Oregon Convention Center for the WIC’s, it was held in a warehouse on the docks in NW Portland. The NW warehouse district is tucked between the Forest Park hills and the Willamette River, and runners know it well. After runs on the trails, they frequent the greasy spoon, Dockside, famously where Tanya Harding’s cronies plotted the attack on Nancy Kerrigan, and then where they disposed of the implement.

Known in the winter of 2016 as Nike’s ‘House of Track’, meets were held in the warehouse on a regular basis, and Portland came out to watch. Matthew Centrowitz’s 2016 fitness was on full display when he won a 3000m in 7:40 against top competition. Back then it took only 7:53 to make the NCAA championship meet. It was at this meet that Jerry Schumacher first saw Woody Kincaid race, and reached out to the Portland Pilot’s coach, Rob Connor to kick the tires on him when he placed third in 7:48.

People in Portland still talk about the House of Track to this day. Centro says it is one of the best race atmospheres he’s ever been in, up there with the Portland 5000 on the Michael Johnson Track on Nike’s campus. Prior to the 2016 WICs, the green track was sold to the University of Iowa, and after the meet it was painted grey and shipped out to Iowa City. It still resides in the field house out there, and it’s still very fast.

The buzz created from having the WIC’s in Portland still lingers, due to the medal winning performances of hometown heroes, Centrowitz and Ryan Hill (silver in the 3000m), and also because of the unique communal energy generated from the House of Track.

Josh Kerr returning to Glasgow for the World Championships will have lasting effects in the community, with the chance to elevate an already embarrassingly rich Scottish running scene (Kerr, Jake Wightman, Laura Muir, Eilish McColgan, Jemma Reekie, Neil Gourley…).

Holding Championship events in areas where top talent is from is a great move, albeit an advantage to the hometown athletes over the visitors. Who could forget the crowd before, during and after Mo Farah won his first 10,000m gold in London in 2012. It provides an extra level of importance and a real urgency to the crowd reactions to the competition as it is taking place. The energy caught on the broadcast and in photos is infectious as well, calling outsiders to take interest and see what all the fuss is about. It invites and encourages them to develop their own ravenous track communities. And the Scottish kids who will watch Josh Kerr and Laura Muir compete in front of their home crowds and see with their own eyes what hard work, dedication, risk and action can evoke from their people will have those memories seared into their brains. They will become the next generation of greats, calling for World Champs to be held at home again when it is their time.

Bravo, Josh for competing, and for choosing the event that takes the longest amount of time on the track in front of your people. The energy churned up from this race will likely put you on another plane heading into Paris and will get your people all the more excited for your march to gold. As the story goes, after winning gold at World Indoors, Centro went on to do it in Rio later that year.

Portland still needs a fixed-board wooden track in a soulful warehouse tucked between the forest trails and the river.

Watch the World Indoor Championships on Peacock this weekend

Kerr races on Saturday at 12:40pm Portland time

World Indoor Championships Timetable

NFL Combine viewing: NFL Network Thursday-Sunday

NFL Combine Timetable

…It’s basically Track and Field