Woodbridge short this year?

Several on Strava measured it at 2.9

As a college coach who has recruited the Woodbridge Invitational for 15 years, I can tell you that it doesn't matter what the distance of that course is from year to year. I give zero credence to Woodbridge course times in September.

There are a few courses in the state of California that speak volumes in terms of giving a true picture of how good an athlete is. And Woodward Park is #1 on that list because it is a high pressure meet, the stakes are very high, and the top athletes are going head to head with each other.

Your Moms wrote:

Several on Strava measured it at 2.9

Strava will say this even if your watch said 2.99.

Your Pops wrote:

Your Moms wrote:

Several on Strava measured it at 2.9

Strava will say this even if your watch said 2.99.

Yeah, but if you look at the actual GPS rout and see exactly when the runner gets to 2.90, you can see that all of the runners come up short to 3.0. It's somewhere around 2.95.

The true measurement of the course will be less than what the gps measurements say. So the fact that there are so many short gps measurements means that it is well short of 3 miles.

Many people get gps measurements of 3.05 mi at Missouri Southern's course, but it comes out to be 3 miles when you wheel it.

College Coacher wrote:

As a college coach who has recruited the Woodbridge Invitational for 15 years, I can tell you that it doesn't matter what the distance of that course is from year to year. I give zero credence to Woodbridge course times in September.

There are a few courses in the state of California that speak volumes in terms of giving a true picture of how good an athlete is. And Woodward Park is #1 on that list because it is a high pressure meet, the stakes are very high, and the top athletes are going head to head with each other.

Woodward Park is the state meet

jon handles wrote:

College Coacher wrote:

As a college coach who has recruited the Woodbridge Invitational for 15 years, I can tell you that it doesn't matter what the distance of that course is from year to year. I give zero credence to Woodbridge course times in September.

There are a few courses in the state of California that speak volumes in terms of giving a true picture of how good an athlete is. And Woodward Park is #1 on that list because it is a high pressure meet, the stakes are very high, and the top athletes are going head to head with each other.

Woodward Park is the state meet

The CA State Meet is just one of many races run on that course each season.

And Woodward Park course doesn't change year after year, so you can draw comparisons to previous years.

Mudhen wrote:

And Woodward Park course doesn't change year after year, so you can draw comparisons to previous years.

Well, there has indeed been years where the course was altered to accommodate certain issues.

H. Harvey wrote:

XC is not about times. It's about place.

....Says the slow dude.

I wheeled the course out on both days. Stuck to the tangents. I was next to another coach who was wheeling it out as well as we talked/walked. Local schools as well. Came out to 2.97 on both our wheels. My runner's gps watches varied from 2.99 to 3.03. Two wheels though? Two separate coaches? It's probably short. Does it matter though? It's a damn track race in September when the goal is November.

2.97 would still mean the times were very fast. How close were you on the turns when wheeling it?

From Arizona and know a lot of kids that went. It was definitely short, plenty of 16:0x runner going low 15 or high 14 for 3 miles. No way, even some 15 high runners getting in low 14s

We stuck to the inside of the course right on where it was roped off around the turns. Basically the shortest path you could run if you were out in front leading.

bestcoast wrote:

We stuck to the inside of the course right on where it was roped off around the turns. Basically the shortest path you could run if you were out in front leading.

Thanks!

bestcoast wrote:

We stuck to the inside of the course right on where it was roped off around the turns. Basically the shortest path you could run if you were out in front leading.

Which part of the course did you measure as short, i.e. did the wheel have 1.00 miles at the 1 mile mark, or was it something like 0.99? Same question for the two mile mark. Basically, I'm wondering if the 1 mile and 2 mile splits were accurate, even if the three mile time as a whole was a bit fast.

I'm curious as to if the mile markers were in the correct place. Personally, the third mile felt short to me while racing, but that could be entirely psychological.

GPS is not that accurate.