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The Parkhill South Invitational Course (5K) just outside of Kansas
City, MO has to be one of the toughest. It may not be as tough as
Hereford Hills, but it is up there.
The race starts in an open field and then heads into a wooded area.
It used to be you went down a steep 100 meter downhill which was
basically mud, almost impossible not to slip and slide. It has now
changed but it is still a very steep downhill.
The rest of the first mile is relatively flat, but then at about
the 1.25 or 1.5 mile mark there is a hill that will just make you
cry. It is long and steep. You go straight up the hill for probably
close to 200 meters. Then you make a turn thinking the worst is
over. Wrong. There is another hill directly after it for another
100 meters that is just as steep.
The last mile has some flat places and some rolling hills. At the
end you must go up one last 50 meter hill before getting to the
flat last 200 meters.
In the two years that this meet has existed it rained a lot the
night before making the course even harder. This fall no boy ran
under 17:00, and the meet featured good teams from Missouri and
Kansas such as Liberty, St. Joe Central, and Saint Thomas Aquinas.
Those teams all did well in their state tournaments.
by Mark Dent
Toughest Courses
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