10/10
10/10
Rimrock in Lawrence, KS is the toughest XC course I've personally run, and it used to be even tougher, with a BRUTAL ascent at the 4200m mark, and a sharp hairpin turn at the end of a downhill that was notorious for causing wipeouts.
cocoach wrote:
Colorado State Meet Course @ penrose equestrian center/bear creek regional park. Before the course was recently adjusted, making it much easier. The course has an insane bottleneck right at the start that involved running through a barn then into a narrow creek bed. Then giant hill climbs at high altitude. Followed by a steep decent. The finished involved running back through the creek bed, and up a couple short steep hills. Course was notorious for crushing even national level talent. Most athletes were two minutes off their PR's.
Don't get me wrong, it was and is a great cross country course. Its just extremely difficult.
I ran the course extremely difficult. No American has broken 16 on it. One 20yo east African did. Some teams don't bring jv to the pre state meet because they don't want to scare the kids off. The course actually was changed because it was impossible to qualify for Nike cross on it. New course is stupid.
Belmont Plateau takes the cake. Holmdel Lightens up big time after the tennis courts. VCP and Bowdoin (where nike northeast is) are no walks in the park either. Flagpole hill the second time around is what makes it belmont killer
Bwineftw! wrote:
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.
It's like Donkey Kong. Feels like you just keep climbing ladders and inclines. All that's missing is someone rolling barrels at you!
My hat wrote:
Griak.
+1
Those neverending hills busted me up, not to mention being a 800 runner didn't make it any easier. Felt like the my calf-muscle was about to fall of my legs
Northfield Mountain. The kids from Western Massachusetts are notorious for not racing well a week later at the All State meet because it takes so much out of them.
Jasper Indiana
Dettweiller Park in Peoria Illinois, to get all state you have to run a 4:40 or under last mile. Don't tell me that's easy.
Brandywine is definitely one of the toughest courses I've ever run. Poway is also up there though. San Diego has some serious inclines. Can't speak to the those CO courses though.
NJXC> wrote:
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.
Oh man, that's too bad. It was our home course throughout high school. Not surprising though I guess. I did a workout there a few months ago and I couldn't believe how rocky that course was. I was like "how the hell did I wear spikes on this in high school"
Lake Poway is brutal! Extremely Hilly, hot and dry!
French Dawg wrote:
From my experience, Mt. SAC is a bitch, but I think those big old hills get more hype than they deserve as it is pretty easy to just haul ass down the other side of any of them. I have also heard the horror stories from crystal springs, near San Francisco. And there's a lot of talk on here about Sunken Meadow, where Ches holds the record at 15:20 and only two other guys have ever broken 15:40.
The way Mt. SAC is set up, with the quick, flat opening mile immediately followed by the switchbacks, makes it one of the hardest courses I've ever run.
bigtool05 wrote:
NJXC> wrote:They don't have meets at Lewis Morris anymore. Too many kids broke their ankles.
Oh man, that's too bad. It was our home course throughout high school. Not surprising though I guess. I did a workout there a few months ago and I couldn't believe how rocky that course was. I was like "how the hell did I wear spikes on this in high school"
A fellow Morris County runner....I would assume you went to Delbarton if it was your home course
OCP wrote:
Ocean County Park in NJ is BRUTAL. Also Warinaco and Greystone are pretty difficult imo.
lol i hope you're joking about Warinanco... do they even run meets there anymore?
greystone is pretty tough though how it funnels at the start, has a few pretty sharp turns and is uphill for about 75% of the way
Bennett Arboretum at Cass Benton - Northville, MI;
Think Van Cortland Park, except worse footing.
BMORE SPICY BOIZ wrote:
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.
The Park School--hardly a recruiting hotbed.
Holmdel NJ state, maybe Morris Hills for dual meets?
crystal springs is the absolute worst. it's a nice half a mile downhill where you speed up too much getting carried away by everyone else, a half mile of at least 8% grade climbing, a nice short rest before some very sharp twists and turns, up 'cardiac hill' (I'll leave it to your imagination). At his point, you end up about 20 meters from the finish line. It's a cruel psychological trick, because you still have 3/4 of a mile to go. You round a small hill that never seems to end, and then you're finally close to the finish. truly, a horrific race.
Sioux Passage in Hazelwood Missouri
I ran this course in high school and it was a bitch. Started the first 400 meters going straight up this massive hill dubbed "Manmaker hill." Thought I was in the clear after the mile, but on the 2nd mile the hills continue and eventually you head back up Manmaker one more time right after the 2 mile mark at a crucial point in the race. In 2008 Nick Happe (8:58 3200)(15:13 5k) at the time, set the course record in 16:28.
Not sure if its the hardest in the US, but definitely a tough one.
I also found an interesting rankings list that dyestat put together back in 2002 and it was ranked 3rd.