Hardest Highschool Xc course

Crow Creek Park in Iowa. Last mile is absolutely brutal, as it includes three huge hills so big they have names. When you approach the base of each one there is a road sign with the name of the hill on the side of the course. They have been affectionately named "The Exterminator", "The Exasperator", and "The Incinerator". Winning time every year is rarely under 16:00.

Griak.

Ocean County Park in NJ is BRUTAL. Also Warinaco and Greystone are pretty difficult imo.

OCP wrote:

Ocean County Park in NJ is BRUTAL. Also Warinaco and Greystone are pretty difficult imo.

0/10

Descending order of difficulty:

Hereford HS

Brandywine

Sunken Meadow

Belmont Plateau

Holmdel

VCP

I've run them all but I must admit I've only run the 2.5 at VCP. I just walked in the door from an eady run on the Belmont 8k

Holmdel is a great course if you know how to run it.

Patton Park - Hamilton Wenham XC course in MA

bigtool05 wrote:

Holmdel's not too bad. Belmont Plateau is much tougher, as is Lewis Morris Park in NJ. From what I've heard, Hereford is far tougher as well.

They don't have meets at Lewis Morris anymore. Too many kids broke their ankles.

hart crane wrote:

Descending order of difficulty:

Hereford HS

Brandywine

Sunken Meadow

Belmont Plateau

Holmdel

VCP

I've run them all but I must admit I've only run the 2.5 at VCP. I just walked in the door from an eady run on the Belmont 8k

Holmdel is a great course if you know how to run it.

Before Hereford was Changed I would argue it was the hardest course in the country. Ran it both before and after. Also have run Holmdel, VCP and Belmont- although didnt race Belmont.

Hereford is now 25 seconds faster than what it was. Centro did not break 16 the year he ran 8:41- he did slip in the end but still. Since the change my athletes have run 20 seconds faster easily. Comparing two 9:30 4:25 guys. One ran 16:08 this year where the other could only muster 16:27.

Needless to say the course isn't what it used to be- Not complaining though I've always found it unnecessarily tough and believed that the racers make the race, not the course.

Northfield Mountain in MA and Thetford in VT are both brutal. I've also heard horrible things about the course at Narragansett Regional in Templeton, MA.

Much older ones, and plenty of new courses have been designed since then. Also many older courses have been redesigned. Although I'm not sure how you'd say a course you've never run is the hardest one you've encountered, its still always an interesting thread.

Quote from a fine West Virginian, in 2002 (this is an old topic)

I have to offer the course in Elkins, WV as one of the toughest. There are courses in WV harder than Elkins, but none that hold major meets.

The Elkins course is currently home to the Forest Festival Invitational and was the site of the WV State Meet for several years (the meet was held at a different location this year and in 1998 and 1999).

Only one high school runner has ever broken 17:00 on this course. That was Justin Simpson of Oak Glen. He ran the course in 16:54. A couple weeks later, he ran the Footlocker South race in 15:30.

The course features several large hills (one particularly large hill that begins at around 0.6 miles), two creek crossings (add some weight to those shoes for the last mile), a log jump, and several areas of rooted terrain that is rather treacherous.

In 1998, when our State Meet was at Williamstown, Ricky Moore was the State Champion (Class 3A) in 15:57. The year before, he was State Champion on the Elkins course in 18:15.

We'd love to have some of the Maryland teams that compete at Hereford come to Elkins and make the comparison for themselves.

Josh Weekley

RunWV.com

PaAlum wrote:

Pennsylvania State course at Hershey park is brutal

Thank god somebody said it, although that's not even the hardest course in Pennsylvania. If anybody runs in D3 in PA, they probably have atleast heard of the dreaded Susquenita course. The record still stands at 17:04. Whoever still let's kids run on that death trap is a real pos.

It may not be the absolute hardest but Rim Rock Farm definitely deserves an honorable mention

Lake Poway (Poway, CA)

As a coach I have to agree Brandywine in DE is one of the tougher and also quite beautiful courses in the Mid-Atlantic and maybe beyond. Lots tougher than others in the NY, PA, NJ,MD area though the Maryland Hereford is a cutie too.

Hereford is a tough course. Nothing I've ever run compares to that hill, and like Maryland Coach I've run Holmdel and the others... One course that was harder was another Baltimore county school's home course. The Park School, no one had ever broken 18 on their course prior to the year we had 3 do it, and even then the fastest time was 17:40's ... and the three that broke 18 were 9:30/4:20 guys in track that same year.

Another vote here for brandywine creek. That was my home course so I ran at it for at least half our duel meets. My first day of xc was a race since I joined the team late. When I saw maintenance hill I said "f$ck!" I made it to the top and was totally deflated when I was told that it was only half way and I still had another 1.5 to go. The course is hard because it starts you at a low elevation and ends at near the highest point in the park. The course was guaranteed to take at least a minute longer than your pr.

I have seen courses all over the country, including some of those listed in this string. In my judgment, there is no course that compares with the Susquenita HS course in PA. It is not a XC course, it is an obstacle course and should be disallowed as a valid course for HS XC competitors. Gigantic potholes and roots everywhere, giant rocks and piles of rocks that you have to run "through", uncountable number of stone-filled gullies to pound down and up within a 5 yard space, slippery shale rock slopes where you risk wiping out even walking down them, steep turning rooty switchbacks every 30 yards for about 7 minutes of running up a mountain (not a hill) that beg a runner to just walk because it is impossible to work up any speed, and numerous very steep downhills littered with roots and potholes. You have to see this course to believe it. I know of a team that had 6 runners injure themselves on the course in one race, even after walking it beforehand and knowing of the dangers. I agree with fcuksusquenita. I can hardly believe someone ran 17:04 on it, must have been a state-champ caliber runner who has balls of steel to even try to race that course that fast. 17:04 on that course boggles the mind, I have to wonder if he cut it, that time doesn't seem possible by anyone. Most runners are 2 to 2.5 minutes over their best 5k time on it. The course is a joke and so is the school for allowing athletes to risk their health racing it.

Battle Mountain Invitational, at Beaver Creek, CO, hands down.

Held at over 8,500 elevation, it climbs 500 vertical feet in the first 2.0 miles before dropping all of that gain in the final mile on loose gravel among "baby head" embedded rocks.

In a cruel twist of irony, the final 100 meters/finish chute is on beautifully manicured fairway! Usually the scene of major carnage, only 2 times ever has 18 minutes been broken and 20 minutes is usually a winning time. Brutal doesn't begin to describe this xc experience!