Army West Point Athletics
Army To Host Navy, Air Force In 'America's Race' On Historic Plain
October 26, 2020 | Men's Cross Country, Women's Cross Country
WEST POINT, N.Y. - The Army West Point cross country program has announced that the United States Military Academy will host the inaugural 'America's Race' service academy cross country championships on the historic West Point Plain on Wednesday, Nov. 11.
America's Race presented by USAA will be the first major athletic event to take place on the parade grounds of The Plain since the opening of Michie Stadium in 1924 and the first ever tri-meet contest between Army, Navy and Air Force. The competition will be streamed live on ESPN Plus.
"This event is special on several levels," Director of Cross Country and Track & Field Mike Smith said. "It is a salute to service and a celebration of the commitment to serve our country made by young men and women at the three service academies that sponsor Division I cross country on a day that we as a country come together to recognize and honor military service. It is also an opportunity to showcase one of the most iconic settings in the world - the grounds of the United States Military Academy at West Point."
The Veterans Day competition will begin with the women's 6K race at 2:30 p.m. followed by the men's 8k race at 3:30 p.m. The entirety of the competition will take place on The Plain and attendance will be limited to the Corps of Cadets.
The grounds of The Plain are entrenched in the long history of the United States Military Academy. As the original grounds of the Academy in 1778, it remains the site of the longest continually occupied U.S. Army Garrison in America. The land was the site for the first Army-Navy Football Game in 1890 and was the home field for the Army football team until Michie Stadium opened in 1924. Earlier this year, The Plain hosted the United States Military Academy graduation ceremony for the first time since 1977.Â
"The opportunity to compete on this hallowed patch of ground traversed by all cadets at one time or another and presided over by statues of West Point graduates that have shaped the history of our country and our world will be a tremendous experience for everyone involved," Smith said. "As the race unfolds, the runners will pass under the watchful eyes of the statues of Grant, MacArthur, Washington, Patton and Eisenhower, set against the backdrop of the buildings where those and countless other cadets have lived and learned."
The Army and Navy cross country programs have each seen success thus far in the shortened 2020 season. In the annual Army-Navy Star Meet earlier this month, Army and Navy split results among the women's and men's competitions with the Black Knights winning the women's meet and Navy winning the men's meet. The meet will mark Air Force's first competition of 2020. The Falcons finished eighth in the USTFCCA Women's National Coaches' Poll in 2019. Army last competed with Air Force in a head-to-head competition in 1962.
"This is a once in a lifetime event, on a special day, at one of America's national treasures, contested on a piece of ground that last hosted an athletic event nearly a century ago,"Â Smith said. "This truly is America's Race and it doesn't get much better than this."
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