Cuyahoga Valley National Park in Ohio. Only a few have ever gone under 17:00 ever and a sun 18 will almost always get you into the top 10 at an invitational that is held there. Andrew Jordan who just finished up his careers at Iowa State and Washington could barely crack 17:00. Olympic steeplechaser Bridget Franek hold the girl’s course record at a bit over 19:00. The hills are so steep that it is not uncommon to see people walking up them.
DyeStat has it listed in the list of toughest courses.
XC season is starting to hit its peak, and I see arguments about this every year, so I may as well start one this year. What is the hardest high school XC course in the US?
Few I've heard mentioned before to start off the discussion:
- Sunken Meadows
- Holmdel Park
- Van Cortland Park
- Mt. Sac
- Crystal Springs
Bowdoin Park in Wappinger's Falls, NY (near Poughkeepsie) is tougher than Sunken Meadows, Holmdel, and VCP.
Bowdoin is a tough course for sure, but I’ll be charitable and say it is at best on par with SM. I personally think SM is harder.
"And sorry..pet peeve of mine, it’s: Sunken Meadow - no “s” at the end Van Cortlandt - there’s a “t” at the end"....,no apology needed. I'm sure you'd be getting called out for posting Bowdoing Park, Mt.Sack, Ballboa....
XC season is starting to hit its peak, and I see arguments about this every year, so I may as well start one this year. What is the hardest high school XC course in the US?
Few I've heard mentioned before to start off the discussion:
I’d contend that the four CA courses listed are all way more difficult than Mt. Sac
Crystal Springs is not even close to as hard as Mt. Sac. One time, I ran Mt. Sac in 19:5x, 3 days later I ran 18:5x at Crystal Springs. I ended HS with an 18:4x pb at Mt. Sac and a 16:5x pb at Crystal Springs. Granted, I ran Crystal Springs around 6 times and Mt. Sac twice, but still the discrepancy is huge.
XC season is starting to hit its peak, and I see arguments about this every year, so I may as well start one this year. What is the hardest high school XC course in the US?
Few I've heard mentioned before to start off the discussion:
- Sunken Meadows
- Holmdel Park
- Van Cortland Park
- Mt. Sac
- Crystal Springs
There’s nothing tough about VCP.
I was going to say that but thought I'd catch crap for it.
What's tough about VCP is (and this is only for the 2.5 mile course) you have to go out very fast to get to the trails in good shape THEN you hit those hills.