Your sports journey

By Dawn Bryant – dbryant@thesunnews.com

MYRTLE beach – A national cross country championship event
will return to Myrtle beach in 2014 with the prospective of bringing 2,300
runners as well as injecting about $2 million into the Grand strand economy,
officials stated Tuesday.

The Junior Olympic cross Country
Championships will take location Dec. 13, 2014 at Whispering Pines Golf
Course, an event that is expected to bring countless athletes,
relatives as well as coaches to the beach during the off-season as well as provide the
area one more push in its goal of boosting sports tourism, officials
said.

This will be the third national championship event through
the USA Track & field association to take location in Myrtle Beach,
which in 2011 held the exact same cross country event as well as the youth track
and field championship.a sports briefs

In 2011, 2,300 runners from 46 specifies took part in the cross
country championship in Myrtle Beach, costs about $2.1 million while
in town, officials said.

The national event introduces Myrtle
Beach to visitors who may not otherwise come here, stated John Pedersen,
an assistant city manager for Myrtle beach who was included in bringing
the 2014 event to the beach. In 2011, 40 percent of participants were
from non-traditional visitor markets west of the Mississippi, including
400 from California, he said. Officials’ goal is for a few of those to
return on vacation.

“This is an exposure to Myrtle beach for those who would otherwise not be in Myrtle Beach,” Pedersen said.

Myrtle
beach beat out Charlotte, N.C., as well as Gainsville, Fla., to hold the event
in 2014, he said. about a lots locals as well as statewide USA Track &
Field agents pitched Myrtle beach during the USA Track &
Field annual satisfying in Daytona Beach, Fla., that wrapped up Dec. 2.

The
group, which included Myrtle beach Mayor John Rhodes as well as Olympic
athlete as well as former Coastal Carolina university standout Amber Campbell,
emphasized the program as well as the beach’s many attractions as reasons to
have the event here.

The national committee chosen Myrtle Beach
as the hold in 2014 since of the success right here in 2011, in addition to the
weather as well as the locals who assist organize the event as well as line up
volunteers, stated Katie Branham, spokeswoman for USA Track & Field.

The
cross country championship rotates around the country, with the 2012
event wrapping up last week in Albuquerque, N.M. It will be in San
Antonio, Texas next year.

“It would be nice to be on a routine rotation for these events,” city spokesperson mark Kruea said.

Contact DAWN BRYANT at 626-0296 or at dbryant@thesunnews.com or comply with her at Twitter.com/TSN_dawnbryant.