The 200 meters of wooden bridge at the Woodland Park course is an experience not soon forgotten. Colorado Track XC file photo by Alan Versaw.
It's a week of brutal courses and stunning venues--sometimes at the same meet, sometimes not.
While a lot of athletes are still a little beat up from this weekend's racing, the next week of meets begins this afternoon with the Denver North Viking Invitational at Willis Case Golf Course. In a few short years, this one has become the showcase event of the DPS schools, but its proximity to Liberty Bell and St. Vrain may have put a dent in attendance this year.
And, meet action gets even more serious on Tuesday with Elizabeth, Woodland Park, and Clear Creek each hosting meets. Clear Creek's Golddigger Dash should probably be redubbed the Golddigger Grind. It definitely falls on the list of toughest courses in the state. Woodland Park has an element or two of elevated difficulty as well, most notably the hill climb at the far north end of the course. Elizabeth rates as a fairly tame course by way of comparison to these other two.
No preview of the Golddigger Dash (Grind) would be complete, however, without revisiting this scarring image from the finish of the boys varsity race a few years back:
Middle school cross country at Sheridan has never been the same since.
Update: The Woodland Park meet has been canceled due to lack of interest, so there will be no 200-meter wooden bridge in Colorado high school cross country this fall. I did, however, miss finding out about the Florence meet, so that meet goes up on the Tuesday list of meets.
Meet action takes a break on Wednesday only to resume on Thursday with the Air Academy Kadet Invitational. This is not your father's Air Academy course. Nor, in all likelihood, is it your older sister's Air Academy course. But, you'll still probably have to navigate some base security to get there. For all those teams trying to free up a little weekend time, Air Academy makes for a nice option as the Kadets have more or less settled on that Thursday date on the calendar.
For those teams more inclined to wait for the weekend to race, Friday provides a nice slate of opportunities, and Saturday still more opportunities.
On Friday, you can choose between Broomfield, Fort Morgan, Arvada West, Fort Collins, and Ouray's meets. East of the Continental Divide, these tend to be faster courses. Ouray's meet, on the other hand, runs at Ridgway State Park between Montrose and Ridgway and is anything but flat or fast, but the scenery goes a long way toward making up for it. Like Clear Creek, there is a kind of cult-like following that keeps showing up at this meet.
The biggest of these Friday meets is traditionally the John Martin, hosted by Fort Collins. The meet should have better than 30 high school teams, possibly as many as 40, in two divisions. It all happens on and around the Fort Collins High School campus. Legend has it that a meet title was once decided here by an arm-wrestling match.
Arvada West may stake claim to the flattest course in the state. That happens when you run at a soccer complex. The course alternates between sidewalk, grass, and dirt and is most recently famous for hosting Cerake Geberkidane's 14:46 effort in 2013.
Broomfield runs at spacious Broomfield Commons Park. Perhaps the signature feature of this course is that short, steep little uphill just before the finish. If your quads are especially combustible, you may want to look into having a fire extinguisher ready at the finish line.
Out in Fort Morgan, you can run loops around Riverside Park on what is very nearly the lowest elevation cross country course still in use in Colorado (Sterling is the only one lower, to my knowledge).
Saturday's options include a scenic tour of the Gypsum Creek Golf Course for the Eagle Valley XC Invitational. The meet has achieved a certain level of distinction by decking out meet workers in black EVXCI t-shirts--or at least I hope that's still the case. It's probably not a PR course, but it does rank as one of the nicer settings in the state. Those coming from points west get to endure the Glenwood Canyon construction scene, so leave and extra 15 to 20 minutes to get to the meet in that case.
If you're on the Western Slope and need something more demanding, there is always Middle Park's meet at Snow Mountain Ranch in Tabernash. It might not help attendance at this meet that the Clear Creek meet is running the same week this year. There's only so much abuse you want to heap on your body over the span of 96 hours, even if you are a glutton for that sort of thing.
Western State and Gunnison are holding a joint meet in Gunnison. Like Eagle Valley, this one also has a pleasant little setting. While the elevation and scenery in Gunnison is certainly sufficient to get your attention, the course is of the tamer variety. For a Gunnison team famous for their travel schedule, this is the one weekend where everyone on the team catches up on sleep.
Also within the borders of the state, Platte Valley, Rock Canyon, and Pueblo Central host their meets on Saturday as well. Platte Valley offers a running tour of Kersey. Rock Canyon previews the 5A Region 5 course for next month. And, Pueblo Central revisits the old state meet course at Elmwood Golf Course in Pueblo. Lots of older coaches was nostalgic at this meet. It doesn't hurt that the venue truly is Pueblo at its very greenest.
Interestingly, the Elmwood Golf Course venue is still home to the fastest-ever boys and girls 5K cross country times ever posted in Colorado. Check out the links and see what kind of escapades Adam Goucher and Melody Fairchild were up to during their high school days.
And, wouldn't you know, there are rumors of Colorado teams slipping across the border this weekend...
Shiprock, New Mexico, is one budget destination of choice and appears to be pulling Montezuma-Cortez across the state line. Mancos is headed to Ridgway for the weekend, and I do not have word of where Dolores is running this weekend. Update: The other budget destination of choice lies in Hugoton, Kansas. That is where the Longhorns of Springfield will be pasturing this weekend.
The Woodbridge Cross Country Classic in Irvine, California, is a very fast three-mile course in the Golden State that requires airline passage and a more substantial budget to get there. At this point, it appears Mountain Vista, Cheyenne Mountain, and Frontier Academy are all making the trip. Whether there's enough water in California for all three teams to take showers before coming home remains to be seen.
Update: Colorado Track XC will be on-hand for coverage at Pueblo Central, Eagle Valley, and either Arvada West or Broomfield this weekend.
If I missed anything, please let me know!
The 200 meters of wooden bridge at the Woodland Park course is an experience not soon forgotten. Colorado Track XC file photo by Alan Versaw.
It's a week of brutal courses and stunning venues--sometimes at the same meet, sometimes not.