F.T
Full Member
Posts: 293
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Post by F.T on Oct 6, 2009 20:36:03 GMT -5
5. Not in Ontario and not true XC (more mountain running) however the Vancouver Grouse Grind is a killer race! They run races on that thing! Sounds intense/ extremly dangerous |
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Post by jordan1234567890 on Oct 6, 2009 21:37:20 GMT -5
That ski hill course would be Blue Mountain at Collingwood back in the late 70's. Toughest course however by far was in North Bay, 1978, W.A. Porter C.I. took it with Rob Earle (2nd World Juniors), leading the way for our team. The course was literally cut out of the bush a few days before. Several runners went knee deep in mud and lost shoes, having to finish in bare or sock feet, and it was freakin COLD!
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Post by trailer on Oct 6, 2009 21:37:34 GMT -5
When I was in high school, OFSAA was always (except once) at Woodbridge and that was a tough one. That exception was Chedoke Golf/Ski Club in Hamilton. But the one at Blue Mountain in '75 looked like one of the toughest I have spectated at. Dave Peckham won the senior race there by a minute. I have never seen as many zombie-like finishers as the year I photo'd OFSAA at Ancaster though. Attached is a photo of the Blue Mountain start, taken from way up the hill. Every race started straight up a ski hill, and basically ran up, across, down, across, up, across, down, etc.  |
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Post by jordan1234567890 on Oct 6, 2009 21:41:35 GMT -5
I'm not sure which course it was or even what year, but I remember my coach telling me horror stories of one year at Ofsaa XC when it was run at a ski hill. Apparently the only kid who didn't have to stop and walk was the guy who won senior boys. Maybe some of the older guys can help me out with this. Hey take alook atmy post about OFSAA 1978 |
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Post by HHH on Oct 6, 2009 21:44:53 GMT -5
Oh man! What a great photo!
Question for the kids, where do they run LOSAA these days? I remember running at Ski Dagmar a few times I think (might have been elementary) and in Trinity for sure. I used to like that course, there was one really big hill if I remember correctly?
And Heartlake was tough for sure.
Showing my age now for sure but we used to run DYSSA somewhere in Scarborough I think back in the early 90's? They held OFSSA there as well (92 or 93 maybe?) which was a decent course.
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Post by Young Pratticus on Oct 6, 2009 21:55:55 GMT -5
Go North my friends to find real XC: 1. Algonquin Barons XC Invitational: At least the course I used to run on was in a gravel/aggregate open mine like landscape including 45degree hills (up and down in knee high sand) 2. Matawa Ski Hill: You got it ... you run up the hill and down again ...then run another 5 to 8 km afterwards. 3. Timmins Theriault Invitational: Hard hilly course. 4. Laurentian University XC Invitational (behind Sudbury Track facilities): There is no flat section ... up and down almost the entire way ... 5. Not in Ontario and not true XC (more mountain running) however the Vancouver Grouse Grind is a killer race! Unfortunately, the Algonquin Barons course is different and not as hard as it used to be. Barons and Cobalt (another northern Ontario course) are still harder than Heart Lake. Actually, I didn't find Heart Lake all that bad. I struggled up one hill, but felt good on the rest of the course. |
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Post by trailer on Oct 6, 2009 21:59:20 GMT -5
We had a course in CWOSSA that was used almost every year for a decade. At a golf course/ teen ranch just south of Orangeville. It climbed mighty big hill, and usually only the top two or three seniors made it to the summit without walking. I finished second to Chuck Woods of Fergus one year. Where is he now?
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skuja
New Member
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Post by skuja on Oct 6, 2009 22:26:28 GMT -5
I'm not sure which course it was or even what year, but I remember my coach telling me horror stories of one year at Ofsaa XC when it was run at a ski hill. Apparently the only kid who didn't have to stop and walk was the guy who won senior boys. Maybe some of the older guys can help me out with this. Hey take alook atmy post about OFSAA 1978 OFSAA 78? Dude I was there! ***Goes and looks for post*** Edit: I'm losing my marbles....I don't remember North Bay XC. |
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Post by spartan on Oct 7, 2009 5:06:14 GMT -5
Heh Skuja,
The North Bay race that people are referring to was 1977 in Mattawa. It was a great true cross country course and we did run through some mud and challenging terrain.
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Post by henry25 on Oct 7, 2009 14:36:51 GMT -5
Oh man! What a great photo! Question for the kids, where do they run LOSAA these days? I remember running at Ski Dagmar a few times I think (might have been elementary) and in Trinity for sure. I used to like that course, there was one really big hill if I remember correctly? And Heartlake was tough for sure. Showing my age now for sure but we used to run DYSSA somewhere in Scarborough I think back in the early 90's? They held OFSSA there as well (92 or 93 maybe?) which was a decent course. Hey .. well obviously DYSSA is gone, but LOSSA is run at Beverley Morgan Park behind Pine Ridge High School .. pretty good course, but the SB loop you do 3 times, it gets a bit repetitive with the "Rollercoaster" set of hills, which you loop up and down 3 times on each lap. It has a nice little forested trail area and a finish where you can see basically the last 400-600m |
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Post by cfmalone on Oct 7, 2009 18:26:16 GMT -5
That ski hill course would be Blue Mountain at Collingwood back in the late 70's. Toughest course however by far was in North Bay, 1978, W.A. Porter C.I. took it with Rob Earle (2nd World Juniors), leading the way for our team. The course was literally cut out of the bush a few days before. Several runners went knee deep in mud and lost shoes, having to finish in bare or sock feet, and it was freakin COLD! uh, were you even alive back then? |
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Post by trailer on Oct 7, 2009 22:02:22 GMT -5
If this attaches okay, here is a shot from OFSAA, 1980 at a ski club in London. No mountains, but quite a few climbs involved. In this shot, Chris Brewster is destroying Marc Oleson in the junior race. Attachments:
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Post by prefontainelives on Oct 11, 2009 19:13:44 GMT -5
Chicopee was pretty rough, from what I remember. Also, OFSAA 1994, wherever that was, Niagara somewhere, I think? Favourite all-time has to be Boyd though. 12 times (5x Carter, 5xTDCAA, 1xOFSAA, 1x(not-so) triumphant return at Bruce's Twosome in 2000). I could still probably run that course with my eyes closed. Grade 10 year was the last year they made the seniors run through the river. Luckily we were deep in junior that year (92), and thin in senior, so I got to run with the big boys and do a little river crossing. i couldn't agree more. Boyd isn't overly difficult compared to some more hilly courses, but one of the hardest in YRAA. I run it now and still can't even imagine what it would be like to cross that river, especially if the weather was as cold as it is now...or worse. Looking forward to a great OFSAA this year. |
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Post by limestonemiler on Oct 11, 2009 20:23:13 GMT -5
That ski hill course would be Blue Mountain at Collingwood back in the late 70's. Toughest course however by far was in North Bay, 1978, W.A. Porter C.I. took it with Rob Earle (2nd World Juniors), leading the way for our team. The course was literally cut out of the bush a few days before. Several runners went knee deep in mud and lost shoes, having to finish in bare or sock feet, and it was freakin COLD! uh, were you even alive back then? Insta-call-out. |
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Post by s.bisson on Oct 12, 2009 21:12:20 GMT -5
malden park is tough. not outrageously hard, but hard enough that it makes for a fun race.
also, ofsaa xc 2006 in thunder bay. that course was just stupid.
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Post by christie on Oct 13, 2009 0:20:12 GMT -5
Surprising number of posters seem to recall the Matawa (North Bay) course in '77. This was a memorable race for me, as it was my first indication that I might actually be able to train myself into becoming an actual runner (21st in the junior race, when I'd been around 160 the year before).
I think anyone who was there will be very hard pressed to imagine a more challenging cross-country race. Of course, it may be that it is a bit of a stretch to think of this as cross-country - it was more like an extreme trail-race. It did seem that large portions had been hacked out of the bush just the day before the races.
There was one point I still vividly remember - coming out of a stretch of branch-whacking, root-tripping, rock-twisting 'trail' to turn onto what seemed to be an open stretch, only to realize that this openness was just really a stretch of a stream that flowed down a fairly steep slope through the bush, over good sized rocks and through ankle-deep mud, through which we were expected to 'race'.
My recollection is that many, many runners lost shoes and socks, and that there were numerous twisted ankles and even a bruised/broken bone or two. When you can still remember a course, a race and a day 32 years later, you know the course was something else!
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Post by kagerun on Oct 13, 2009 21:18:22 GMT -5
Easily the hardest race is the Duntroon Highlands course in GBSSA region. No other course in the high school circuit do you climb to 1673 ft. Over the years from its horrible weather conditions during every xc race came the saying: "the sun never shines in Duntroon"
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Post by slappyj on Oct 14, 2009 9:46:07 GMT -5
Another vote for Duntroon. Tough Course to begin with combined with the terrible weather that always accompanies a race.
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gary
New Member
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Post by gary on Oct 14, 2009 23:18:56 GMT -5
While I agree (in a somewhat biased way) that Malden Park in Windsor is a tough course, it can't hold a candle to the '77 Mattawa Course at Samuel de Champlain Provincial Park. I survived way better as a Grade 11 Junior Boy than my teammate, Dave Gordon, a Grade 13 veteran who, 5 minutes after the last runner had finished, was still nowhere in sight.
Our coach hustled us off to find him, so off we went. A few minutes later we found Dave, shivering, hypothermic and horizontal in the aforementioned freezing creek. He couldn't walk, so 4 of us helped to carry him back. By the time we got there everyone had gone home, except the Riverside team. We bundled him into our van, drove to North Bay and stopped at the hospital. Dave had a fractured ankle....no big deal , though....that was the way it went. We waited for a few hours, then drove home together, arriving back in Windsor at about 3 am.....real cross-country back in the 70's ....that was the way it was, and we loved every minute of it.....that's why we're still involved 32 years later....Dave, if you're out there, hope the ankle's okay!
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Post by runwoodsy on Oct 28, 2009 22:05:43 GMT -5
We had a course in CWOSSA that was used almost every year for a decade. At a golf course/ teen ranch just south of Orangeville. It climbed mighty big hill, and usually only the top two or three seniors made it to the summit without walking. I finished second to Chuck Woods of Fergus one year. Where is he now? Chuck is my uncle. He's working for the University of Waterloo now, and, after a 30 year hiatus, is trying to get back into running. |
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Post by coachfaulds on Oct 29, 2009 22:09:45 GMT -5
toughest course i've ran is heart lake... most fun course is umm... ohss the one we had for ofsaa thunder bay 3 years ago.. it wasnt like a bomb course but the atmosphere around it was pretty. nice. Dude... That was like 5 years ago. OFSAA in T-Bay was 2006. Not a very hard course at all. There have been lots of people suggesting Heart Lake is tough but as someone who taught in Peel for 8 years and helped set up that course a couple of times each year, I didn't find it that tough a course. I never raced it but have run it hard many times (usually 6 races worth at every meet). I think that Heart Lake is one of the most fair xc courses around with hills, trails, grass and some speedy flat sections but not a killer hard course. Hard courses depend on what type of runner you are. Personally, I would run a much better race at Heart Lake than I would at the grassy, flat Sarnia course last year so I think that hard can come in different forms. If hard means lots of vertical climbing then courses like London back in 1983 with the ski hills or North York in 1982 with the mud covered hills (I remember them carting some guy off in a stretcher after running down into that bowl and wiping out in the muck). I was in university when they ran at Horseshoe Valley but I did a duathlon there once and had to run the road section of that climb. My understanding was the OFSAA course went up that ski hill at the start of the race which would have certainly spiked the heart rate for the rest of the route. |
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Post by waterlooxc on Oct 30, 2009 22:37:29 GMT -5
shout out for duntroon its hard enough XC skiing up those hills, running it would be killer, however, my real point is of the long ago Chicopee Invitational or Oktoberfest in Kitchener, at chicopee ski hill, would be killer.
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mpw17
New Member
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Post by mpw17 on Nov 2, 2009 23:05:49 GMT -5
yeah heartlake is probably the hardest course...especially after a bit of rain
but the course cant handle major meets, little too narrow
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Post by coachfaulds on Nov 3, 2009 4:27:42 GMT -5
yeah heartlake is probably the hardest course...especially after a bit of rain but the course cant handle major meets, little too narrow They've hosted OFSAA there and it is a pretty major meet  |
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Post by xc4ever on Nov 3, 2009 21:34:00 GMT -5
Goodrich Loomis out in the bay of quinte area is pretty good has a tough first hill and if really muddy can be very tough not alot of fast times run out there even though it is a bit short
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Post by lukesteer93 on Nov 4, 2009 12:09:07 GMT -5
the eossaa meets usually have fairly easy courses.. rolling with only one or 2 major hills.
my local association's eossaa qualifier (uovhsaa) has a meet at twin river's gold club. a solid 2.5/3 km on the way out is sterotypical golf course, but then you have to run up a significant hill and for the backstretch you gte pounded by hill after hill after hill. sb have to run this twice.
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