For 364 days a year, runners are doers, not watchers. That’s partly because the major races aren’t televised. The one exception is the Boston Marathon, which Versus will broadcast live from 8:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. St. Louis time April 21. The first to start are the elite women at 8:35 a.m., followed by the elite men a half-hour later.

A lot of TV viewers like to slam Versus as the Bicycle Channel or because ratings for the NHL aren’t what hockey fans wish they were. But, the channel does a good job on covering professional cycling and is the only TV network to give running and triathlon much love. So, we’re fans of Versus. We only wish that the English-speaking voices of cycling, Phil Liggett and Paul Sherwen, provided coverage of the Boston Marathon. Their delicious lexicon _ “And Kipligat has popped,” “Look at Ryan Hall dancing on the pavement!” “Kastor climbs Heartbreak Hill like an angel!” “Marla Runyan has to dig deeply into her suitcase of courage” _ would make the coverage a tad more delightful.