If you could remove one cross country course from existence, which course would you remove?

Detweiller is a joke.

I hate cross country course that have hay bales or are muddy every single year. People that like difficult cross country courses make no sense to me, why don't you just do something that actually difficult instead? Are you a masochist, do you hate cross country runners and yourself? It's a good thing that people are starting to realize XC is just track on dirt and grass.

Hilarious people think a meet that has been around for 5 minutes started this trend.

No, it's a bad thing that some cross country courses resemble track on grass. I ran for a German athletic club years ago and when we had xc races the coach would declare a course to be 12-15 kilometres and across whatever hills or obstacles happened to be present. Times were kept to make a comparison to the rest of the field. This was true cross country.

The one I would eliminate was eliminated a long time ago- Newtown Battelfield in Elmira, NY.

What a horrible course- absolutely nothing about it was appealing.

They had a league championship there and other coaches said if they had another mandatory meet there they wouldn't go.

It is hard to claim Woodbridge as a course. The invitational has no 'Course History!" Meet management changes location and course far too often. On the other hand, Mt. SAC has some history. When runners mention 'Switchbacks,' 'Poop-out,' and 'Reservoir.' Every runner that has experienced the course flashes to race memories. Let alone the arguments that ensued when the course length was shortened and later groomed. Lastly, Mt. SAC is not the hardest course in the nation. The Corona High School (CA) course out at Ganahl Ranch was brutal as the runners could barely run up 'Weeniebake' hill on the second loop.

Lmao. California kids run a dirt road with some hills and think it's "the hardest course in the nation".

I ran for York H.S. in Illinois in the late 87-91 and our course was at East End Park right next to the highway where we ran around baseball fields, tennis courts and picnic tables on a loop that was a half mile, give or take. It was about 2.7 miles and you had to do like 5 laps. It was dreadful. They've since moved to a much bigger, nicer park I've heard. Not sure if Mr. Newton's reasoning for making us run there had something to do with mental toughness or simply no permission to go anywhere else, but all the racing and workouts we did there definitely made you tough.

The XC course at Missouri Southern State University. They run a high school meet there called the Southern Stampede and the times, compared to what the kids run everywhere else, are ridiculous. Kids go there, set a new PR and don't get within 45+ seconds of it the rest of the season. A lot aren't within a minute of their Southern Stampede time.

The sport is about how fast you can run 5 kilometers, what are you on about?

Michigan International Speedway, the dead flat and probably short home of the Michigan State Championships in all divisions.

Seriously, this is cross country. Run a cross country course.

The kids love it because they all get fast times.

The coaches love it because they can claim that their athletes "peak perfectly" every year.

You might as well conclude the season with the Pancake Classic Road Race.

100% joke.

wickham park in ct. all the southern and west kids have never run on a course as hard as it. they would get smoked if they came to the northeast.

the Woodbridge hate makes no sense. nobody is saying it's the best course and it's an awesome event in general. brings a lot of fast teams to the area and just because you win Woodbridge nobody crowns you state or national champ...as far as I know you still have to run those races. let the runners have some fun and no need to wipe it from history

Prolly Nuttycomb... since we've been reading it for like the entire last week.

It's the dumbest ass assembly of letters, devised by some fvcking retard cvnt back in 1790.

Sugarhouse (former home to the Utah State XC Championships). Cuz then I wouldn’t remember how awesome it was with its history, rolling/challenging terrain, and beauty compared to the bs flat, ugly, stupid soccer field crap that the UHSAA makes us run now.

On a purely personal level, I loathe the Van Cortlandt Park XC course in NYC. Esp the 5k version.

It's4/5 bad. The first mile is flat so you have to go way too fast, and usually through goose poop. Then you do a mile in the back hills on alternating rock hard dirt and horribly eroded paths. All the while you are hopping over railroad ties that have failed to stem the erosion. The downhills particularly suck because of the cement-like quality of the dirt and deep ruts from erosion. Downright dangerous.

You can wear spikes but have to run across asphalt for maybe 50 meters so you wreck them and it's bad running.

The last k into the finish is pretty cool - flat and you can see the finish from a long way and plan your kick well. Good test of mental strength and fitness. But that's just 1k of 5k.

I refuse to race there and I urge you to do the same.

Idaho States course.

It’s on dirt, is an early season meet (HOT), is an awkward distance, and it makes my legs SAD. This course is the only course I’ve ever seen MULTIPLE D1 athletes walking on consistently.

I have bad dreams about this course at least once a week.

Carrollton GA high school state cross country course. Used to be a nice grass and dirt course winding through woods and field, now there are something like 10+ road crossings. Still a great spectator course but I always felt there should’ve been some penalty for making it objectively worse.