Compare And Contrast Track And Cross Country

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Track and cross country are two very different sports: the milage, location, simplicity, and even the races themselves are different. Despite the distinctions, both of these sports share the same goal and needless to say, a lot of running is involved. Both can be seen as nearly identical or completely diverse athletics. I have spent some time participating in these sports and have experience in both track and cross country. Personally, I prefer cross country over track because of the pace of the sport. It angers me when people don’t understand the difference between the two sports and call both of the activities track, they are definitely unalike.

During my early years of high school, I spent my spring season participating in track and field. During summer and fall months, I spent my time doing cross country. Therefore, I have experience in both sports. The severe pain and the jelly-like legs is apart of both cross country and track, so I understand how many can see them as very alike sports. Although, I have had
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Track meets are held on a track. The only exception for this is the field events, which are held on grass, sand, etc, depending on the event being held. For example, shot put is held on a cement area and the participant throws their shot put onto grass. Depending on the season, tracks can be indoor or outdoor. Many high school races are held outdoors. Cross country on the other hand is outdoor and on a number of different terrains like, gravel, grass, and dirt. Usually meets are held on golf courses for the runner’s sake. The location is extremely different because track athletes always turn left when running on a track. Whereas cross country runners go different directions on a course that is filled with obstacles like sticks, puddles, tree roots, rocks, etc. I enjoy the cross country location because it isn’t boring. The location for track is very different compared to cross