The XC thread

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jlucas Feb 2018 3:05pm, 23 Feb 2018 37 posts	jlucas Anyone excited for the nationals tomorrow, apart from the distance how does the course differ from the southerns course?
oi you Feb 2018 4:13pm, 23 Feb 2018 404 posts	oi you Hi, yeah it should be a great day out - if you don't mind it cold. I've always thought there's something medieval about the start of the Nationals. I can almost picture myself wielding a sword, or more likely a pointed stck, charging into battle. Might explain why I'm at the back I suppose. The Brighton course is, I think, marginally hillier of the two. The muddy bits at Parliament Hill tend to be deeper & stickier, but the dryer bits don't have that punishing hard chalky surface. Plus, of course, the ECCA do seem genuinely pleased to see all the runners taking part, not just the quick ones.
Curly45 Feb 2018 4:22pm, 23 Feb 2018 3,333 posts	Curly45 I thought jlucas meant the Southerns course on Parliament hill? My understanding is that the Nationals course goes up in the woods and there is a section that can be stony on the men's course. I think you do laps at Nationals but each is longer. Happy to be corrected on that. The women's is broadly similar. The course is always slightly different up the top as well depending on works going on up the back of the course.
Uyuni Feb 2018 4:32pm, 23 Feb 2018 1,278 posts	Uyuni Not sure excited is the right word, there's a healthy dose of trepidation going on, but overall I'm looking forward to it, I think
oi you Feb 2018 4:41pm, 23 Feb 2018 405 posts	oi you Yes, I think you might be right there Curly. I read it t'other way round. Doh. In which case I think the big difference is that, in previous years anyway, the Nationals run a 2 lap course with an extra little loop up at the northwest corner and some different twiddly bits in the middle. The Southerns were a simpler, shorter, lap but with 3 of them.
Goofee Feb 2018 4:46pm, 23 Feb 2018 1,491 posts	Goofee Yes, that’s the difference as far as I recall
jlucas Feb 2018 4:50pm, 23 Feb 2018 38 posts	jlucas Yeah meant at parliament hill, as southerns are roughly 5k laps for the senior men. Will check the programme and course tomorrow as there fairly early for my daughter's race.
Hills of Death (HOD) Feb 2018 9:29pm, 23 Feb 2018 33,914 posts	Hills of Death (HOD) I’m looking forward to not being last
Oranj Feb 2018 10:29pm, 23 Feb 2018 811 posts	Oranj I feel slightly sad that I never ran it. Went to watch a few times, including Goater's amazing win, but started to suffer injuries around the time I was eligible for my club's senior team. I ran a schools match around 10km of it once, and marvelled at Parliament Hill as a place to run (I was 6th that day, which still lives on in my memory). Now I'm too old and slow to make my local team.
oi you Feb 2018 12:12pm, 28 Feb 2018 406 posts	oi you Nice to see this. facebook.com