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I had to laugh when reading the descriptions of some of these so-called "Toughest
Courses". Some of the records on those courses are under 16:00.
And the pictures of Hereford High School's course show only one
big hill and a bunch of flat open spaces. I know my high school's
course is tougher than any of these.
I graduated from Susquenita High School last year, home the toughest
cross country course.
Let the numbers speak for themselves. Boy's record - 19:13. Girl's
record - 24:02. For comparison, Chris Robson of Red Land ran at
the Bull Run Invitational at Hereford in a time of 17:14. Robson
also finished 17th at the PA state meet in a time of 16:45 on a
very tough course in Hershey. I believe the record at Hershey is
16:03 by state champ Dan Mazzocco, so Robson is no slouch. Two weeks
after Bull Run he ran our course in 19:18, five seconds behind our
best runner and record holder, Jeremiah Howard. That's over two
minutes slower than Hereford and two and a half minutes slower than
a hilly Hershey course.
Our course starts on a 50 meter flat stretch and then turns into
the woods and up a mountain. That's right, our course is on the
side of a mountain. The course takes you uphill at a moderate grade
with many turns until about the mile point. (Along the trail is
an old grave site. We jokingly tell our opponents that is what happened
to a kid who tried to run our course.) From there, it is downhill
at a steep grade for about 200 meters. The course turns to a steep
but short uphill, goes around a small pond, and turns right back
down the hill. Once you get back to the bottom of that hill, you
can take one deep breath and prepare for a hill we like to call
the demoralizer. You run along an old dirt road for a while and
then turn up into a mountain trail. The hill is very steep and extends
for as far you can see the trail. When you first go up the hill,
you can see about 150 meters to what appears to be the top. But
when you get there, the trail turns right and continues uphill for
another 100 meters. At the top, there is a flat for about 100 meters
and then the trail goes back down to the two mile point. The downhill
is again steep and twisty. You have to hold yourself back from sprinting
down the hill from fear of losing control. Just past the two mile
point, the trail goes back up a long moderate grade. The trail crosses
a small stream and then heads up a very steep hill for almost 100
meters. From that point, the trail winds gently downhill to the
finish through a very beautiful section of woods. Too bad you are
too exhausted to enjoy it.
The entire trail is narrow, winding, and has bad footing. Most
of the trail is wide enough for two runners, three at some sections.
The course is even 100 meters short! You could add 20 seconds to
make it a 5K. The course is definitely a test of guts, and I would
challenge anybody to try to break 18:00 on it.
-Christopher Shive
P.S. Of the top five runners on the team last year, three have
admitted to walking at some point on the course, usually up the
hill we call the demoralizer. Our team was pretty good too, we were
Mid-Penn Conference champs. I was the #10 runner last year. My personal
best on the course was 23:47, about four minutes slower than my
personal best of 19:53 on a 5K course that year.
Toughest Courses
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