2. Cross Country Course Maps & Photo Tours

Apalachee Regional Park XC Course

NOTE - Consider this gallery an archive. The facility has been upgraded with significant course revisions. Maps, photos, vids need to be redone. I'll post a link if I get around to doing an up to date course tour. 2012 ARP event news: FSU will be hosting the Friday, November 9, 2012 NCAA South Regional Cross Country Championships. Saturday, 17 November 2012, ARP will serve as host to the FHSAA Cross Country State Finals. See the Apalachee Regional Park NCAA Mods gallery for some updates on work designed to improve the facility. 2011 Course Notes: After 2009, the course was modified between ~1km - 1200m. The rest of the course is unchanged. New course map for 2010 and beyond - shown below, first photo. Download at full resolution or get it here. 1 November 2011 helmetcam video showing the current course layout. Video includes linked splits for 400m, 800m, 1km, 1200m, 1500m, 1M, 2km, The Wall (twice), 2500m, 3km, 2M, 4km, 5km. Print the course map and follow along. And/or use the GPS track player function. 6k course variant is used for the GWTC Tannenbaum Trail race. Course design (scroll waaay down below all this text) by Brian Corbin and FSU XC/T&F Coach Bob Braman. Leon County Parks linky. As of 7 Oct '09, an official (and quite slick) Leon County ARP webpage is online. Fan Facebook page. LOOK LOOK LOOK: An "every 50m" photo tour of the 5Km course is posted here. Jason Byrne's influential running site Flrunners.com turned its attention to the Saturday race. Pro photographer Barry Jones covered the races. Bob Cooke, aka doctorbob has posted a video. Live blogging took place Thursday 8-9:30pm on Flrunners.com through CoverItLive. Here it is, should you want to read what we typed live. FSU Invite Preview video with Coaches Braman and Harvey. Tallahassee Democrat 10 October article. See also Herb Wills' fine blog entries here, here, here, here, and one last one from 8 October here. More Herb Wills ARP photos here. Note that some course segments have been modified since Herb's earlier photos were posted. Herb's photos depicting GWTC President Judy Alexander with course designer (and husband) Brian Corbin presenting a $10K check to Leon County Director of Parks and Recreation Pat Plocek. Two part 5Km video course tour "at 12:52 5Km pace" is posted below. You might want to download the clips, particularly if your connection is spotty or slow. They normally play quite well if you pause them till they load fully. Oh yeah - while watching, play your own preferred music, okay? By all means lemme know what works for you. I'm a "Holiday in Cambodia" kind of guy. There's always room for Jello. 5Km confirmed GPS track. The player allows you to follow as I lead you around the 5Km loop. Another 5Km track here. The player allows you to follow as I lead you around the 5Km loop while shooting the video. 8Km confirmed GPS track. The player allows you to follow as I lead you around the 8Km loop. A 22:09 8Km track here. The player allows you to follow as I lead you around the 8Km loop. West Coaches' Connector GPS track. East Coaches' Connector GPS track. NEWER MEASUREMENT NOTES: I went over to ARP 5 Nov '09 to satisfy my "calibrated measurement" curiosity. Knowing the FSU Invite was likely measured USATF (tangent) style, rather than NFHS (center of course) style, I started at the marked 5Km finish and rode backward center of course all the way to establish a new start point for HS races. It came up 60m in front of the start line used at the FSU Invite. My experiences at similar "wide tread with lots of turns" venues suggested this was in the ballpark. I then measured NFHS style from the new start. Clicked over to 5.00Km right at the finish as it should, if I'm doing my job. Then went back to the FSU Invite start line, rode tangents (probably a bit too tight in a few spots) and came up 10m short at the marked 5Km finish. If I hadn't shaved those corners so severely, it would likely have been precisely 5.00Km, rather than 4.99Km. Marked splits are off, but that's not as significant as overall precision. My NFHS and USATF tracks. Remember, GPS is NOT useful for precise or repeatable measurement!! I relied upon a calibrated bike computer for these measurement duties. GPS tracks like these are an assemblage of line segments. Distance-wise they are normally (but not always) short compared to reality. Best plan is to never use them to measure distance (or altitude) if you desire accuracy. The software you feed the track file into adds further mischief. My device normally gives one measurement, the three software packages I've used typically give three different distances. Gee, it's all so scientistic. Add speed and lots of tight turns and oh boy! I just like the ability to produce a helpful Google Earth mashup map. Course had its official christening 10 October with the FSU Invite. Sunrise 10 October was 7:36. FSU Meet Info flyer. POST RACE COVERAGE... FSU Invite photo, video, results links as they roll in: Did Herb Wills do a superb job of announcing the races, or what! This guy needs way more than an attaboy and a t-shirt. Herb's coverage. Doug Covert's photos. Flrunners.com coverage page. Post event forum thread. Look for Bob "doctorbob" Cooke's videos here. They will also get embedded at Flrunners.com. Barry "Trihokie" Jones' FSU Invite spectacular photos. Trihokie Boys' HS 5Km video and Girls' HS 5Km video. Barry may have a Doctor Bob interview vid coming...check back here periodically. Steve Andrews' photos. Some really sweet ones in here. RunnerSpace.com coverage. Seminoles.com coverage. Tallahassee Democrat coverage here and here. Tallahassee Democrat's Robby McPherson remembered. Lead bike GPS track. Spikes are fine for all sections of this course. Event participants need to take care to respect and not trespass on Seminole RC Club's field. Park and stay west of the road heading toward the XC course's starting field. Pick up MORE trash than you bring. The RC Club has been out here since the '80s. I've talked to club president Michael Atkinson about potential conflict with runners out here. He's very understanding. Even has a daughter who ran at the FSU Invite. Let's make this venue work. THIS SITE is private property, and doesn't necessarily represent any other individual or organization. You are welcome to download/use my photos for your private enjoyment, including printing them. Any other usage/linking must come from me in writing (email ok), with credit given. Questions, pre-scoldings, comments, ID, complaints? Thanks, John Kalin Email me TallahasseeTrails on YouTube. "If I fall you're going down with me" - Trail running advice from my Dixie Chicks
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  • Revised course for 2010-2011! Prepared using this GPS track, modded with GPS Visualizer and Google Earth. Print this map and follow along while you're viewing the 2011 helmetcam video. Course change occurs at ~1km - 1200m. The abandoned diagonal first lap path is still visible between those two points. Still confused? Use the GPS track player function.

    Revised course for 2010-2011! Prepared using this GPS track, modded with GPS Visualizer and Google Earth. Print this map and follow along while you're viewing the 2011 helmetcam video. Course change occurs at ~1km - 1200m. The abandoned diagonal first lap path is still visible between those two points. Still confused? Use the GPS track player function.

  • Course variant for the GWTC Tannenbaum Trail 6k. Prepared from 14Dec2011 GPS tracks for the 6k, the East Connector, and West Connector. Strain through GPS Visualizer and here ya go.

    Course variant for the GWTC Tannenbaum Trail 6k. Prepared from 14Dec2011 GPS tracks for the 6k, the East Connector, and West Connector. Strain through GPS Visualizer and here ya go.

  • NOTE: This map applies ONLY to the 8Km! First race of the day on 10 Oct '09. 8Km GPS track. Try the player. Note that the little NE loop (top right) is repeated three times, unlike in the 5Km.

    NOTE: This map applies ONLY to the 8Km! First race of the day on 10 Oct '09. 8Km GPS track. Try the player. Note that the little NE loop (top right) is repeated three times, unlike in the 5Km.

  • 5Km GPS track. Try the player. Ride the little NE loop the first lap, skip it the second. Use with Coach Harvey's map to make the most sense. (Rotate her map 90 degrees clockwise.)

    5Km GPS track. Try the player. Ride the little NE loop the first lap, skip it the second. Use with Coach Harvey's map to make the most sense. (Rotate her map 90 degrees clockwise.)

  • Mashup of four GPS tracks: 8Km, 5Km, and the West and East "Coaches' Connectors." The East Coaches' Connector (right) goes from the 2M point ("start") down down down ~220m to the 1M point.

    Mashup of four GPS tracks: 8Km, 5Km, and the West and East "Coaches' Connectors." The East Coaches' Connector (right) goes from the 2M point ("start") down down down ~220m to the 1M point.

  • Official 5Km course map from FSU Coach Karen Harvey. East is up, north is left! PDF download here.

    Official 5Km course map from FSU Coach Karen Harvey. East is up, north is left! PDF download here.

  • First half of the 5Km course - from the start to right at the 2.5Km point. The halfway point is behind the start line, off its north end. This helmetcam video uses a ~170 degree lens. Things are closer than they appear. I'm not going as fast as it may appear. The 5Km took 12:52 on this rigid (locked out) singlespeed 29er, geared 32X18. Gimme a 34X16 on this course! May still ride the Pugsley on race day - TBD. You may download this video, if it won't stream well. DOWNLOAD VIDEO now fixed - sorry! Should be ok format for iPod/Phone. Quality is limited by the crummy hardware plus my mangling plus SmugMug's compression and recoding.

    First half of the 5Km course - from the start to right at the 2.5Km point. The halfway point is behind the start line, off its north end. This helmetcam video uses a ~170 degree lens. Things are closer than they appear. I'm not going as fast as it may appear. The 5Km took 12:52 on this rigid (locked out) singlespeed 29er, geared 32X18. Gimme a 34X16 on this course! May still ride the Pugsley on race day - TBD. You may download this video, if it won't stream well. DOWNLOAD VIDEO now fixed - sorry! Should be ok format for iPod/Phone. Quality is limited by the crummy hardware plus my mangling plus SmugMug's compression and recoding.

  • Second half of the 5Km course. We begin where we left off in the first half - at about the 2.5Km point, behind and just north of the start line.

    Second half of the 5Km course. We begin where we left off in the first half - at about the 2.5Km point, behind and just north of the start line.

  • Sampler from District 1-2A, 7 Nov '09.

    Sampler from District 1-2A, 7 Nov '09.

  • Boots on the ground with FSU XC/T&F Coach Bob Braman 30 Sep '09, flagging the new course. Bob's working here to mark the final ~400m of the courses. Bob had been assisted earlier by Harry Norton and Steve Mucchetti Later, on Wednesday, 7Oct, I had fun with Coach B as he squared up and marked the start line. We love this guy..

    Boots on the ground with FSU XC/T&F Coach Bob Braman 30 Sep '09, flagging the new course. Bob's working here to mark the final ~400m of the courses. Bob had been assisted earlier by Harry Norton and Steve Mucchetti Later, on Wednesday, 7Oct, I had fun with Coach B as he squared up and marked the start line. We love this guy..

  • Running toward the finish under the oaks. 105mm (35mm equivalent) view means things are farther away than they appear...

    Running toward the finish under the oaks. 105mm (35mm equivalent) view means things are farther away than they appear...

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