The D3 Nationals are being held at Wartburg College in Iowa this year. I have run on this course and I am personally upset because i don't think the course is up to national standards. It is pancake flat and there is no room for fans to watch and the start is only big enough for a small high school meet. Any thoughts about this?
No room to watch? How so? I'm just curious.
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I have run there and besides a long start and finish the rest of the course is pretty narrow. It goes into a bad prairie where not too many people can watch. What I am most disappointed about is, though, is that the course has no hill, it is the flattest course that I run on all season. There are no challenging parts.
I ran at wartburg and it was on a golf course, rolling hills the whole way.
The course is wider and more fan friendly than St. Olaf's course, and they have successfully hosted nationals multiple times. It is not narrow at all, probably one of the wider course I've ever been to. Yes, it is a fairly flat, fast course. But, there have been plenty of national meets that have flat courses.
Wartburg certainly has no monster hills in it, but Id say it has some rolling parts throughout it. I would say its decently wide, but it has definite boundaries or trails and if you get stuck back from where you want to be, it might be hard moving up. Id say it is an average course, but nationals could be very interesting on it.
Orf is that you?
it's in Iowa... are there hills at all in Iowa?
Come on out and ride the annual bike ride across the state...then ask the same question. As for Wartburg and the course, yes it is fairly flat with mostly rolling hills. To say the course is not fan friendly is not true. How open does a course have to be to be fan friendly? Wide open views allow you to see the entire course for the most part.
Just fyi, the starting line can be stretched, they haven't used a larger line in the past because it wasn't needed. and as far as hills, I think the course is very similar to Hannover's course from 2008 in terms of difficulty and hills. And without a doubt is much hillier than the course outside of Cincinnatti in 2006. I wont argue that it is a hard or hilly course, but the ncaa committee doesn't seem very concerned about that based on previous national meet courses.
The downside is its in Iowa...in November. Was anyone at D1 xc nats when Ritz beat Hall in Waterloo, IA? (15 miles away from Wartburg) It was COLD that day.
And no, it was not me earlier, but this is me.