By Matt McGowan - Much of the talk leading up to this year’s Championships was how would the new course compare to the Scioto Downs course which was used for the past twenty six year. The following is my opinion combined with comments I received from runners, coaches and media at the meet.

Over the years I have laid out a number of courses and there are always challenges. When I started the women’s cross country team at Miami University I had to lay out a course. Seven years ago I laid out a number of courses of various distances at the Granville Bryn Du Mansion. Also, over the years I have laid out a dozen road race courses.

First let me say I really liked the Scioto Downs course from a coach’s standpoint, spectator viewing and as a media person trying to take pictures. I would give the overall Scioto Downs venue an A.

But when the OHSAA found out that Scioto Downs would not be available for this year’s Championships; the OHSAA, National Trail Raceway and Tournament Managers Terry Oehrtman and Kevin Lewis had less than three months to prepare the course and get ready for the Championships - I give them an A for their efforts.

On my web page leading up to the Championships, I recommended that runners and spectators plan to get there early as traffic could be an issue, which from what I heard was for the first hour and half of the meet. One media person coming from the West got off at Rt 158 and it took them 45 minutes to get to the course. Another media person coming from the East told me it took them an hour to get to the course once they got off on Rt 37 from Rt 70. Athletes and spectators could also be seen walking/running the final half mile to the course.

The parking was a little more challenging than Scioto Downs and will be a problem if it rains as a lot of the parking was in grass fields. Overall this year it wasn’t a problem.

The grandstands were open and on the sunny day it seemed to meet the needs of many fans. But if it rains it lacks the overhang fans enjoyed at Scioto Downs.

A concern many had was that half of the course was not open to fans and about a third was closed to coaches. Considering the challenges for the first year I think the course was pretty good. The runners had to cross the race track or pavement a number of times. Rubber mats were put down and a bridge/ramp had to be built to allow the runners to go over the race track barrier and cross the track just before the two mile mark.

A year from now look for additional work to be done on the course including planting grass in the woods and improving the running surface.

After watching the six races - one area that might be considered for future Championships is to have the runners retrace the course by the west and east grandstands alleviating the need to go over the race track wall. So instead of running north along the track wall after looping around the west field, runners instead could turn south and run around the 180 turn before heading north in front of the main grandstands and finish line.   This would allow the fans in the grandstands to see more of the race. A path would have to be cut out back to the two mile mark so the runners could run thru the woods and continue the final mile of the race.

Good luck to everyone who has worked and will continue to work to make this venue meet the needs of the athletes, coaches and fans.   Hopefully, every year the weather will be like this year’s.

Read RUNOHIO’s recap of the 2011 races –

http://www.runohio.com/index.php/news/170-2011-ohsaa-state-cross-country-championships-

RUNOHIO race photos are posted - http://www.runohio.com/index.php/images

Read Rod O’Donnell’s article - Life Lessons from Cross-Country - http://www.runohio.com/index.php/features/140-life-lessons-from-cross-country

http://www.runohio.com

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Columbus Dispatch’s Michael Arace commentary: In cross country, it won’t be the same.

In every corner of Ohio, the goal of the high-school runner was not to “make it to states,” rather, it was to “make it to Scioto Downs.” The place was the state cross country championships. Read the rest of the story - http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/sports/2011/11/05/in-cross-country-it-wont-be-the-same.html

Read the Columbus Dispatch’s Steve Blackledge article - High-school cross country: Runners get crash course at new meet site- http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/sports/2011/11/04/runners-get-crash-course-at-new-meet-site.html

http://www.runohio.com