Anyone know details of what the Georgia Regional Hospital XC course (host of ACC Championships) is like? Hills, footing, surface, etc..
Anyone know details of what the Georgia Regional Hospital XC course (host of ACC Championships) is like? Hills, footing, surface, etc..
Footing - good for the most part (grass). A couple of road crossings to deal with. Also, watch your footing on the loop around the lake - it is pretty uneven and can get swampy.
Hills - only a couple of hills to deal with. One gradual rise near the one mile marker of the course (heading up towards Panthersville Road), another short sharp hill at about 2.5 miles (near the start finish area) before you head into the lake loop.
All things considered, it is a good solid course. Usually pretty accurate for distance and pretty well maintained.
Best of luck.
Hilly
Hilly is an expert on the course, having run a few hundred miles on it. My take, having raced it every year from 1993-2001:
--Weird uphill start that makes it well suited for XC (as opposed to tracksters)
--The slight uphill finish also plays into the hands of strength runners, but not enough to offset someone with a big kick. Throw it all in before you get behind the lake if you need to shake that 1500 meter type who is on your ass.
--Course is exponentially slower when wet; the ground out there just soaks up moisture and holds it. Given all the rain down here this week, I would expect a relatively slow day.
--The tone for the races there is set on the uphill first mile. Fast first mile = fast race. It is tough to go sub 25:00 there if you are not out in 4:55 or under.
--Course record is 23:4? from the Life guys. Andrew Letherby went 24:16 back in 1998 to become the fastest white man on the course. I think Kevin Hogan (Clemson) ran 24:50 or so to win ACCs there back in 1994.
Good luck.
Forgot about the slight up hill to the finish!
One more tip: The race does start up a small hill (about 600m long), but then dips sharply. You can pick up quite a few placings and get into a solid position by being aggressive on that first downhill.
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