Roth: Duke Eyes New Cross Country Course
10/11/2007 - John Roth, Blue Devil Weekly
DURHAM, N.C. – Duke's track and cross country programs take full advantage of the plentiful training opportunities available on the tree-lined trails in Duke Forest. Now there is a move afoot to develop a competitive racing course through the forest that would enable the Blue Devils to conduct home cross country meets.
Officials from forest management and athletics have been working together to identify a suitable location for a championship-caliber course within the forest's 7,000 acres, while also discussing the issues that need to be addressed to bring it to fruition.
A section of Duke Forest a couple of miles from campus, near N.C. 751 and Kerley Road, has been under examination, and a route has tentatively been plotted that would employ some pathways already in existence.
Some construction would need to take place at the proposed start and finish area, and one new trail segment would need to be built to connect existing trails into a loop. But those needs are considered only minimally invasive and likely would not produce enough of an environmental impact to derail the project.
"We don't want to tear down any more trees than we need to, and we'll be able to do that," director of track Norm Ogilvie said. "The next big step will be funding it."
According to Ogilvie and women's cross country coach Kevin Jermyn, the objective is to create a racing course that would allow Duke to get back into the rotation for hosting the ACC Cross Country Championships, an event that has not been in Durham since 1981 when Duke had a running course that traversed the Duke Golf Course.
The new course would need a long, wide grassy area at the start to accommodate a large group of runners, with a straightaway perhaps a kilometer long before the path narrowed entering the forest. Ogilvie and Jermyn would then like to see a figure-eight loop of two to three kilometers in length through wooded area. Runners would pass through the loop multiple times depending on the length of the race. The ACC men's race is typically an eight-kilometer event, while the women's race is six kilometers.
Jermyn says that an open section of the forest near some power lines could be developed into an adequate starting area, and that the proposed loop would be redundant enough to make the course fan-friendly, as spectators could gather near the center of the figure eight to monitor the progress of the race.
Judd Edeburn, Duke Forest resource manager, recently met with Jermyn to work on the design of the course and discuss some of the details that would enable it to use already-existing areas.
"For us it's a matter of being able to continue to use some of the roads for vehicular traffic to get to research areas and for teaching, and have those roadbeds also serve as a suitable running surface," Edeburn noted. "So we have to marry up the two uses, to make sure we can still use these areas and make them satisfactory for cross country races."
A topographical map of the proposed course layout has been prepared. Once it is fine-tuned, the university will solicit bids for the construction that will be needed. "Then we'll see if we can raise some money quickly to get this in place in the near future," Jermyn noted.
Duke Forest, which is open to the public, already includes about 75 miles of roads and fire trails, plus an additional 10 miles of walking trails, according to Edeburn. Duke distance runners utilize them fully as part of their training regimen, as do thousands of recreational runners in the Triangle area.
But the school has no place to host home cross country meets, and the coaching staffs for the men's and women's programs would like to see that situation remedied with a course through the forest. Initially the goal is to hold some invitationals, then get back in the rotation for the ACC meet.
Jermyn, whose program has had three straight top-10 national finishes and is ranked in the top 20 again this fall, eventually would like to see the school bid to host the Southeast Regional or the NCAA Championships. Nationals have been held in the Midwest for most of the recent past, including a current run at Terre Haute, Ind.
"We'd love to do it on our home field at least once in awhile, and get people in the community involved in the program," Jermyn said.
"Not many people have seen it. You don't really get involved and get excited about something until you see it firsthand and see how special it is. We'd like to put our product in front of Duke fans, administrators and other Duke athletes to show them in the near future."
The coaches also think it's important that their cross country athletes have the opportunity to compete at home at least occasionally. "First and foremost this needs to be a part of the student-athlete experience here at Duke," Jermyn said. "We're a unique institution with the space to have a cross country course, we have an extraordinary program that is supported at a high level, so let's take the next step in the student-athlete experience here and allow them to stay on campus to compete once or twice a year."
Director of athletics Joe Alleva said he favors the project. Now a cost must be determined, then a fund-raising plan developed. "We really hope it materializes into a course in the near future," Jermyn said. "We've received positive feedback from the forest advisory committee. We think at this point that it will come down to fund-raising efforts to pay for it."