Much was made of the course at Crystal Springs in Belmont, site
of the Central Coast Section Cross Country Championships on
Saturday.
Much was made of the course at Crystal Springs in Belmont, site of the Central Coast Section Cross Country Championships on Saturday.
When San Benito boys coach Jess Morales said the race started with a 300-yard downhill run, forgive me if I didn’t believe him.
Three hundred yards? Ha!
Now, I didn’t run it, and to be honest, I didn’t measure it either. But it was definitely downhill, and it was definitely long.
Three hundred yards? Well, after seeing it, sure, why not.
The course basically starts out with a rather steep decline, and when you add a couple hundred runners to a rather steep decline, it almost looks like they’re in the Running of the Bulls.
It’s wild. It’s mayhem. It’s completely out of control.
It’s also quite comical. If you just saw the first 30 seconds of the race on Saturday, with hundreds of harriers charging down a hill uncontrollably with arms flailing wildly, you’d question if these were actually the top runners in the section.
It’s almost like walking into a room and listening to someone else’s conversation, only to pick up on some out-of-context comment that puzzles you to no end.
These are the best the section has to offer? Really? They can’t be!
Of course, they are the best – they are the best of the best – and that realization comes quickly after watching a full race, and not just the beginning.
I trekked about 30-yards down the 300-yard “hill,” and after I climbed back to the top of the small mountain – walking, mind you – I was completely exhausted.
And yet, the cross country runners had to scale back up – running, of course – what I just walked up.
From there, the course narrows as the runners spread out, and angles slightly uphill for the remaining two miles.
Add a little rain to the mix, and it’s crazy to think that everyone on the Anzar Hawks, according to coach Doug MacKinnon, conquered Crystal Springs with personal best times.
“Runners will tell you that this is the hardest course they’ve run on,” MacKinnon said. “National-class runners, who ran this 10 to 15 years ago, who’ve been all over the world – it’s a really hard course to run.
“And part of it is that downhill at the beginning that just messes you up … I tell the guys to keep it in check and come on in the second half of the race, and that’s what they needed to do.”
Anzar finished with their first-ever CCS title on Saturday, claiming the Division I crown by a narrow 11 points over Redwood Christian.
“You can’t slow down,” said Anzar runner Miles MacKinnon of the downhill start. “You can’t slow down, or everyone is going to run you over.”
Thankfully, no one was run over.
San Benito’s Courtney Allen clocked 19:02 and finished 10th overall Saturday to earn a spot at the CIF State Cross Country Championships in Fresno next week.
But don’t get her started on Crystal Springs.
“I don’t like this course,” she said. “I don’t know what it is about it, I just don’t like it.”
Clearly, admiration is lacking for Crystal Springs, but the course will get over it, and so will the runners.
