HS : Derryfield park in NH, course record is only 1620, cause its so dam hard
college: Vanny, motherf***in cemetary hill
HS : Derryfield park in NH, course record is only 1620, cause its so dam hard
college: Vanny, motherf***in cemetary hill
my two:
kent state (ohio) : twice thru the stagnant stream, 400 meters on the beach (dry sand), twice crossing the inlet to lake erie (in october), two steeple chase hurdles, and a swamp. thankfully, no hills (just cliffs you have to climb on your hands and knees). i don't think they run the race anymore though (used to be called geneva on the lake i think)
alfred state (upstate NY): twice up the longest f***ing hill. paaaainful.
Two posts in a row for courses ive run on in the last year, I must either be a masochist or just plain retarded.
Sunken Meadow is an absolute pain in the ass. Flat out for 300 meters or so, then a right and it closes off going over a bridge. They hype up cemetary hill, but the one about a kilometer in is the steepest motherf***er ive ever seen. Cemetary is long and hard but atleast you can get some type of rhythm going on it. Last year at the St. Anthonys Invitational I heard some guy screaming "f*** you hill" the whole way up, maybe he wouldnt hate it so much if he didnt scream while anaerobic, anyways...
I attended Green Mountain running camp and did alot of running on that course and ill respect anyone that finishes it. Most of the mile markers come at the top of huge hills, and yea, the beginning is kinda angled on the side of a hill too so I doubt any of that course is actually flat.
PARLIAMENT HILL.
DEFINITELY.
It's not the course itself that makes it a MONSTER, it's the fact that literally thousands of spiked feet charge over the soaked terrain in one day, in the various races - and as the day wears on it gets deeper and shittier until the main event - when you get what 2000? men racing round a lapped course, it's a bit like the Battle of the Somme, but you don't have to carry a gun or stick bayonets into Germans.
I have to say though that it's the event rather than the terrain that makes these big XC races so apocryphal, with thousands of competitors on the course the Big Ones - regional or National are always killers and it's always wet in March.
Anybody remember the southern at Epsom & Ewell in the '80's? Not only was it a mud bath over 9 miles, but it was so cold that, well it was f***ing horrible. I recollect that Crammy raced and at the end he was suffering like the rest of us,Daly Thompson was at the finish, talking to him whilst posing in a white suit - in a field of shit. Flash, very flash, but stupid.
I once ran in a 6 k course where had to run up a ski hill, twice. im sure there are much harder courses out there, im just wondering what theyre like. training runs dont count.
what course is that?
Northfield MOUNTAIN
Trask Mountain, McMinnville, Oregon. Hardest course ever. You must tape your shoes to your feet in order to get through it.
as far as state meet courses go, missouri's at hough park in jeff city has to be one of the toughest.
so is maryland's at hereford high. just ask any maryland runner about "the dip" and you will see them cower in fear.
I second Northfield Mt in Massachusetts as the hardest course i've ever run. Only 2 people have ever broken 16 and they've had the state meet there a bunch of times
another vote for Vanny.. ludicrously fast start, Cemetary Hill right before you finish
Yeah, Trask has to be the toughest. There is no way it can be tougher without being against the law!
Parliament Hill, London, England.
I think the only flat bits on the course amounts to about half a mile on the whole course..
Esp the southerns champs which are 3 laps - so about 11-12k which is about 7-8 miles?
Rim Rock Farm in Kansas...maybe not the toughest but definately sucked. Billy Mills hill...damn.
Definitely Parliament Hill.
Toughest course ever and used for European trials last year and Nationals this year...ARGH!
Hills, streams, mud, mountains it's a very long nightmare!
defo on the parliament hill, it always rains as well making it impossible to get grip even with 12mm spikes!!!
starting straight up that hill always kills me!! only done it once as a senior and never again.
theres a chiltern league course in Oxford that is pretty tough too.
Hereford (the MD stae course) is ridiculously hilly. Vanny is a joke (even the tougher 8k course) in comparison.
VMI's course circa 1999 it was behind this high school down the road from campus... back in the rolling woods the whole time then you bust up this monster 5.10-like hill... no straights the whole course. not even the start or finish.
Brevard's course at Dupont park