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A New Yorker's Thoughts - Mammone on Cross Country PART 2
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For part 2 of cross country I will take you through Van Courtlandt Park- one of the most famous cross country places in New York. In case you missed part one you can check it out here. Now for the fun part- New York style XC. As I already said, I am a bit biased, I've raced in New York all my life. In high school, college and post collegiate I've ran the same courses and have ran pr's on these courses. I know all of that has a big say in this debate because I feel that until you really get to know a course you won't run too fast on it. Once your confident in knowing where you are on the course and how much left it becomes a lot easier- well at least that's how I look at it. I will
highlight two of
New York's tougher courses that I have some experience with: Van
Courtland Park (VCP) and Sunken Meadow. VCP is in the Bronx and is home
to many big high school and college meets. Every year they hold high
school Footlocker Regionals and the Manhattan College Invite- probably
one of the biggest high school races of the year. If you have never
heard of the Manhattan College invite then you probably just started
running today, only kidding....
A few quick facts about the 2007 race: 9:15 is the first race of the day (Sophomore Boys "A") and the last race is at 3:49 (Varsity Girls "F" race); there are over 4405 prizes including medals, t-shirts, watches, trophies, windbreakers and new balance awards; this one day meet has over 10,000 high schools runners representing over 350 schools ranging from all across the United States. With the exception of Footlocker, I'm pretty sure that every high school race at VCP is 2.5 miles. The race starts on the perimeter of a grass field which is about 400 meters (but feels a lot shorter) from the cow path. When the gun goes off, you have about a minute before people start getting squeezed out. Once you enter the cow path the course becomes much narrower, the width isn't horrible but you go from a starting line of 150 people to about 15 wide. All throughout the course there are wood planks (think of a steeplchase type barrier) cemented into the ground but are just enough uncovered where you can see them. You can step on them or jump over them, but some or just a little bit higher then the ground. It's like a little annoying thing that it makes it a little tougher going up hills and running fast in general. The 2.5 mile course has a couple of nice hills. There is one called freshman hill- a nice incline that gets your legs burning before the real hills start. After that you cross over the bridge and enter the back hills. This section is about a mile of rolling hills that beats makes sure your legs are burning. The back hills is a loop so when your done in the "backhills" you cross back over the bridge and fly downhill make a left and then its about 600 meters until the finish. This last section is made of the same material of the cow path its basically cinder. During this last part of the race (at big meets) there will be people lined up on both sides just waiting to see a finish. The closer you get to the finish the more people are there cheering and you can finally see those magical words- FINISH. To help put this course in perspective course records are 12:10 for the boys and 13:55 for the girls, it hasn't been updated in a few years but here's a list of top performers at VCP. It's very impressive. The only difference with the 2.5 miles and 5k is the start and finish. The start is moved to the other side of the field near the final 600 meter straightaway area. After running across a few fields you would loop around the 2.5 mile start and then into the cow path. This time you would have a little less than 1000 meters completed instead of 400. The finish is also different, rather then taking the left turn after the long downhill, you stay to the right and follow the cow path all the way around. Once on the cow path there is still about 800 meters to go. Now when I raced in
college I moved up to the 8k (not like I really had a choice). The 8k
is very similar to the 5k because we start in the same position and
race the same spot. The 8k is two loops total- the 5k loop and then a
3k loop. So the first loop is the same as the high school 5k race, once
you go back into the cow path you make a u-turn at the 4 mile marker
and then make your way up Cemetery Hill. This hill is a long steep hill
that may be about 600 meters total. What makes VCP so tough isn't
Cemetery Hill but where it's placed on the course. This massive hill is
after the four mile marker.
So you've been running your butt off for
the past four miles and now you have to climb this hill. Once you get
to the top of it you think your done, then the second part starts.
There is a section where the hill evens off a little bit and you think
you're done but once you turn the corner you have more climbing to do.
After Cemetery the rest of the course is all downhill- literally. There
is a nice long downhill right after cemetery and then another long
gradual downhill to get back to the cow path (the second downhill is
the same one after crossing after the bridge from the back hills.)
The course record was set in 2005 by Richard Kiplagat when he ran 23:54.4 a fast time for a tough course. At the collegiate
level VCP hosts some big races including conference meets, Regionals
(alternating years) and the IC4A Championship.
Coming up next will be: SUNKEN MEADOW.....
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