| Thetford Trails in Vermont is a grueling course.
3.15 miles starting with a narrow beginning into the undulating
trails, coming back to the start, circling around back into the
woods.
As you hit the 3k mark you climb a huge hill called Morty's Monster.
It's name is appropriate because for the next 600-800 meters you're
straight uphill, when you crest you have a difficult down hill.
Many 180 degree sharp and quirky turns guide you down hill till
you hit the flat across from the start, you hit a small steep hill
and a short down hill to finish.
The 2000 New England Championships were very slow, Brian McGovern
and Mint Henk, Footlocker Finalists were only able to complete the
course in 16:05-16:10. That is my nomination, Thetford Academy Trails,
Vermont.
by Jeremy Fallis
Cross Country runner at Belmont Abbey College in Belmont, NC
Alumnus of Xavier High School in Middletown, Connecticut
In all of the hoopla surrounding the recent declaration that Maryland
harbors the nation's most abusive high school cross country course,
I feel that the trecherous hills of the Thetford Academy XC course
are being shortsighted.
Allow me to take us all back to a day not long ago, when Thetford
was the gracious host of the New England Championships. Over the
previous 4 days, a cyclonic weather system had descended upon the
area leading to floods that can only be compared to the mighty currents
which left Noah's Ark ravaged against the side of Mt. Ararat.
No runner, not even the mighty Brian McGovern, could summon the
will or the strength to cross the line in less than 16 hard fought
minutes. Further, several runners from that race never crossed the
line, and many of those are still missing- believed to have been
caught in a mud slide and washed into the Atlantic Ocean.
For this reason, I think it is heartless, cruel, and disrespectful
to the families of the victims to consider any course other then
Thetford for the title of "America's Most Difficult."
Thetford was not only a physical hell, but an emotional nightmare.
by Horatio Blizzardbaum
Toughest Courses
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