With the Pac-12 Cross Country Championships coming fast, preparations are underway at the Pac-12 Network to televise their first cross country event. This year’s conference championship will be hosted by the UCLA Bruins at Robinson Ranch Golf Course in Santa Clarita, CA on October 27. The women’s race will start at 9:40 am, followed by the men at 10:40 am.
Covering cross country is inherently difficulty since the participants traverse parks or golf courses to complete the course. Limited sight lines, long cable runs, and the uneven terrain all place additional demands on the production process. This year, the women will run a course that serpentines across 4 holes at Robinson Ranch, for a total distance of 6 kilometers. The men will run add a few extra turns for a total of 8 kilometers.
Leading the broadcast team are Los Angeles based producer Michael Levy and TrackTown Productions principle, Tim Lay. Levy and Lay have both been very involved in creating programming for the Pac-12 Network since it began in August.
Michael Levy has been traveling throughout the conference producing shows olympic sports for the new network. As the Executive Producer at TrackTown Productions, Tim Lay is a seasoned veteran of marquee Track & FIeld events, producing the stadium production at the Olympic Team Trials in Eugene. Lay also produced the conference cross country championship in 2008, which was hosted by the University of Oregon at Springfield Country Club.