hardest x-c course you've ever run

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da wrote:

HARDEST COURSE hands down.. there is no tougher 8k around..

Holmdel Park, NJ 8k Course...

find a harder course u cant

I was wondering if anyone was going to mention Holmdel. The 5k course makes High Schoolers cry, but it's not that bad really. The 8k course on the other hand.. very difficult.

Hardest course I've ever run was the 8k course at St Francis, PA. I heard they changed it because it was too hard, but that might just be a rumor. I've run Vanny, Holmdel, and a bunch of the other tough ones and nothing comes close to St. Francis's course

Parliament HILL UK

For HS - Holmdel and Sunken Meadow I feel are very close

college - West point - 3 times up a ski slope in 8k is just not nice

Open - VCP 10k course!! Not the baby course they use now for NCAA Reg, but the old one used in the USATF Champs - For those who are not sure what that is - you run the normal 8k course, but when you come off Cemetary and return to the bridge you head back into the back hills one more time. 30 min has only been broken by three people on the course - Pat Porter, Eamonn Coughlin, and Jim Farmer. At least 2 USATF Champs were held here so it is not as if no big time runners have run there.

West Point's course is sick. Anything that is raced on a ski slope (and goes UP a Bunny slope) is just not fair. Nothing has compared to that course for me.

Holmdel, NJ

Holmdel is a joke. Only hard for south Jersey runners.

I would say the hardest HS State course is Maryland's course at Hereford HS. I ran a couple courses tougher in small dual meets, but not championship races.

Davis & Elkins in WV is tough. Can you say stream crossings and mud walls to climb?

West Point is rediculous too.

Crystal Springs in Belmont, CA

bahston wrote:

sorry man, i've been away all day....

the geneva on the lake race(in ashtabula ohio, also called "the legend" --thanks to those who helped me out with the names) is not formally run anymore...i'm not sure if they have an open race. it was independently run by one guy every year the second weekend in october. The race itself was open to anyone--clubs, individuals, and four or five community colleges. It was cancelled two years ago by the race director for a worsening turnout and financial strains (so i was told....apparently he was funding the race completely out of pocket). anyways, if they ever bring it back i HIGHLY recommend it....helluva good time. ashtabula is right off interstate 90 just west of the ohio/pa border on lake erie.

That's too bad. I'm curious because I'm trying a 50-stater type stunt, but instead running a race of any length or type in each of Ohio's 88 counties. I don't want to just run 80 5ks and 8 marathons, so I'm looking for races that are different, either by location (like Kelley's Island), history (the Peace Race), "Ohioana" (the National Road 5k or the NFL Hall of Fame Kickoff race), or just plain wierdness (the Potato Stomp). This kind of XC course would be a blast and definitely different.

Mcalpine. Compared to a mondo track, it is intense

is there a list anywhere of a holmdel all time list for high school 5k and college 8k? It is funny how all the jersey guys think this is the hardest course in the world. Believe it or not, the world doesnt end when the garden state parkway does.

I'm gonna go Slippery Rock in PA that D2 nationals was at in 2001. Seemed like everyone ran terrible that day.

You should try running the Vossler Shield. Its held every May in Wellington, New Zealand and is known as the countries toughest cross country race. Distance varies from 5km to 10km depending on age group.

I used to run cross country in Montana and Butte Central had a course that was near Montana Tech and ran through land that had been mined and was insanely hilly. Very tough course.

I don't know if it's been used for anything but Duel Meets in the MHAL League in NY but I can safetly say, after running the toughest courses in NY, that the Ashokan Resevoir course is, without a doubt, the hardest 5k out there. But most likely only 1 or 2 of you even know where that is, let alone have raced on it, so I suppose my opinion doesn't really matter much.

Souix pASSAGE PARK in St. Louis, MO.

Do most of you guys even know what a mountain is? Anything under 5,000 feet is not a mountain, not much more than a hill really.

Exactly not only is the course in Butte a nightmare it is run at over 5000 ft elevation which just adds to the fun.

From the Northwest wrote:

Do most of you guys even know what a mountain is? Anything under 5,000 feet is not a mountain, not much more than a hill really.

screw that, Hills are hills man, they funking blow. They may suck more at higher elevations but they still suck balls at sea level. And the appalachins have some ass hard courses that I would consider mountains, ex. That WVU course is the hardest course I've ever run by far. I've run in the rockies in Wyoming and CU. but that WVU course sucks balls.

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