Bowdoin Park

I ran it several times in high school years ago. The start is a nice flat open field for about a quarter mile. It funnels very rapidly at that point so if you have any plans on being in the front it's a full sprint to get in position. After that it's basically rolling hills and one big steep hill up to the halfway point. The uphill sucks and does some twisting so it's actually longer than you think it is if you haven't ran it before. The downhill part after the halfway point is probably the worst part of this course because it is extremely steep and has some hairpin bends. You actually need to be careful here otherwise you will fly off into the woods. I saw that happen a couple times. The course is pretty much an out and back so you'll go back down the hills the way you came. The last half mile is a big loop around the starting field and ends with a pretty sizable uphill.

Overall the course isn't too bad. The real x factor in times usually has to do with conditions. Cold wet and windy is pretty standard NY state weather. My guess is that it's about a minute slower than the track on average. I personally really liked the course. Tough but not awful. Felt like a pretty legit cc race and not a golf course track.

Times are always slow but the course isn't too bad.

There are some videos of NXRs on this course. for example

It's the hardest of all the NXR courses.

Everyone knows the hill is a killer but there's other parts that are deceptively hard. The start is a flat quarter mile that bottlenecks at a gate. If you're not at the front by the gate it's going to be an issue. The section by the playground slopes uphill and is a grind that can wear you out even before the big hill. The downhill is steep and curvy. After a couple races the grass areas of the downhill gets pretty torn up and becomes slippery.