Summary of the State Course @ McDaniel
College
1st
Kilometer - Open field start
with a gradual down hill start, 1st 200 down hill and
it flattens out, next 200 up a hill, 1st half of the hill is tough,
after that it becomes more gradual until you hit the plateau. Hang a left at the fork.
Next 300-400 looks pretty
flat on the top of the plateau and hang a left at the fork and go back down the
same hill you started but on the opposite side of the tree line.
Heading into the 1st
kilometer marker you are going back up the hill that you started on.
1st km ends behind the start
line on another plateau which is a tee box for one of the golf holes. You will go up this hill twice today and you
will go down it twice
2nd Kilometer - 2nd km goes into the same down hill and up hill that
you ran up at the start. Stick to the
right of the fork at the top after about 400m.
180 degree turn sends you back down the same hill.
Next 300m are all down hill. Nice wide open with easy footing. But at the turn around it’s a 180 degree
turn. This turn will stop all
momentum. This will start to weed out
the weak. End of the hill gets to be
steep.
The last 300m of this 2nd KM
will be flat and down hill heading. 3rd
Km starts on a down hill slope.
3rd Kilometer - 1st 350m of kilometer 3 are down hill and flat. Not many turns, easy to maintain momentum and
keep folks in sight. 180 degree turn at 2350, almost half way. Take the turn wide to maintain your
momentum. This is one of the few 180
degree turns on the course where you can maintain all of your speed in the
corner.
Next 200m are flat, good
footing, and wide open. At a nice short
fast down hill you will hit roughly the 2500m mark.
At 2900m you will go up a
hill that will take you right down again into a turn and the start of the 4th
km.
4th Kilometer - The 1st 800m of the 4th km will be spent entirely
along the road/tree line. The 1st 300m
will be gradually up hill or flat, the next 200 is flat. The next 300 has some rolling up and down
short hills for the first 150 and the last 150 is up hill back to the
plateau.
The last 200m of the 4th km
will basically be flat.
5th Kilometer - The 5th kilometer will start at the top of the plateau
and we will head back down to the start line area.
1st 300m of the 5th km are
flat and down hill. At the bottom you will be in the same area (opposite side
of the trees as the start) and going back up the same hill you went up going
into the end of kilometer #1.
180 degree turn
to go back down the hill. You can
maintain the speed if you take the turn wide.
Almost home.
700m to go.
After you make the turn you
are going right down the hill you just came up. You will go into the valley and
up the plateau for the last time. You
only go up the hill about 3/4 of the way before you veer off to the left to run
along some sort of sport field. It
levels out.
During that first 1km you
went to the left at the fork, this time you will go to the right and into the
last 1/4 mile.
Last 400m starts flat but its probably all down hill.
Fast finish.