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the course
Bob Baratta's course notes
Bob Baratta walks you through the course:
- Width of starting area: Just over 400 feet. 38 teams in 11' boxes. Capable of expanding some
- Starting straightaway: 450 meters
- Viewer friendliness: Roughly 900 - 1000 meters is not viewable assuming strict crowd control. About 650 meters in mid-race (the hill) and roughly 300 of the final 1000 meters. 80% of the course can be seen by moving about .25 mile on a blacktop road (uphill & back downhill)
- Hills and difficulty: A short steep hill at 800 meters followed immediately by a short downhill, a significant twisting uphill at 1.25 miles to 1.5 miles followed by a long downhill to 1.7 miles, a moderate downhill just after 2.0 miles to about 2.2 miles, and a moderate but timely uphill at 2.9 to 3.0 miles. The course is basically an out and back with a hill loop in the middle.
- Finish level: Last 1200 meters flat except for the hill at 2.9 miles
- Straightaway distance to finish from last turn: About 350 meters, last 200 meters flat.
- Course difficulty: Challenging, only a handful of male runners have broken 16:00. Finding the fine line between going out hard enough to be competitive and being able to run in is not easy.
- The course is primarily open with about 600 meters in the woods and 350 - 400 meters below sight lines.
BOTTOM LINE IS THAT THIS IS A CHALLENGING, BUT FAIR COURSE. IT HAS GREAT SPECTATOR VISIBILITY WITH A MINIMUM OF MOVEMENT, A VERY FAIR START AND AN EXCELLENT FINISH.
TEAMS/RUNNERS ARE ABLE TO BE LAST GOING OFF THE MAIN FIELD, AND BE IN THE FRONT COMING DOWN TO THE LAST 1000 METERS. THERE IS ONLY ONLY COMPARATIVELY NARROW PART, AND THAT IS UP AND DOWN THE MAJOR HILL IN THE COURSE. THAT HILL IS WIDE ENOUGH FOR A GATOR TO LEAD OR FOLLOW, AND PLAYS AN IMPORTANT PART IN THE RACE STRATEGY EMPLOYED IN THE RACE PLAN.
IT HAS A GOOD BALANCE OF HILLS, TURN, STRAIGHT RUNS, AND A BIG HILL, AND IS VERY EASY TO REMEMBER THE COURSE SINCE IT IS BASICALLY AN OUT AND BACK COURSE. IT HAS BEEN THE PERMANENT SITE FOR THE NEW YORK STATE FEDERATION XC CHAMPIONSHIPS SINCE 1989 WITH ONE EXCEPTION – THE 25TH ANNIVERSARY MEET WHICH WE HELD IN VAN CORTLANDT PARK IN NYC, THE SITE OF THE FIRST FEDERATION MEET IN 1974, AND SEVERAL MORE BEFORE I MOVED IT TO BOWDOIN PARK AS A PERMANENT, MORE CENTRAL SITE.
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