Mizzou Cross Country and City of Columbia to Unveil New Gans Creek Cross Country Course
9/23/2019 11:30:00 AM | Men's Cross Country, Women's Cross Country, Cross Country
COLUMBIA, Mo. -- Mizzou Athletics and the City of Columbia have teamed up to build a world-class cross country course on the south side of Columbia at Gans Creek Recreation Area. Later this month, the state-of-the-art facility will play host to Mizzou's first cross country meet at its own dedicated course.
"Seeing Mizzou run at home on our dedicated home course is going to be awesome," said Mizzou Cross Country Coach Marc Burns. "It should be exciting for Tiger Nation. Not just for the current team, but for all the past teams, alums and everyone else to see the Tigers running at home."
The partnership between Mizzou Athletics and the City of Columbia Parks and Recreation department helped turn the dream of a top-level cross country course in Columbia into reality. The parks department began talks with Mizzou Track and Field Head Coach Brett Halter as far back as the early 2000's about finding land to create a cross country complex.
"He showed us photos of what a great cross country course looked like," said Mike Griggs, the Director of Columbia Parks and Recreation. "He gave us diagrams and everything. But, at the time, we never had the space."
Ideas continued to grow and the city eventually identified land that had potential to be perfect for a cross country course and complex. While keeping in mind the environmental impact that the proposed plan would have, the city and the Mizzou staffs thought the Gans Creek Recreation Area would be the perfect space for the project.
"A cross country course is a very nature-friendly facility," said Griggs. "We could really create a facility that's going to be a premiere athletic event facility. Yet, for most of the year, it will be a superb recreational amenity if someone wanted to go out and take a walk through a nice, maintained turf trail."
Halter knew that the Gans Creek location was the perfect fit for a state-of-the-art cross country facility.
"This particular venue really showcases Columbia, what the community has to offer and our commitment to recreation and lifelong fitness and health," Halter said. "It's a pretty vibrant community so we really focused on that and believe this is the perfect setting."
The Gans Creek Course, located directly south of Tolton Catholic High School on East Gans Road, will be dedicated on Sept. 27 just before its first-ever race. The facility will feature a number of elements that will support championship-level competition. The course will have a permanent finish line structure, an outdoor shelter and an indoor building with restrooms. The cross country complex will include a raised seating area and various vantage points along the course to accommodate spectators and media members, making the course spectator-friendly. The course features a 600-meter long starting chute, a 2,000-meter loop and a 3,000-meter loop in addition to a 15-foot high viewing berm for spectators.
In order to create a cross country course that would be both athlete- and spectator-friendly, Burns set out to execute a number of features that would enhance the overall effectiveness of the course.
"There's some really nice courses out there that we tried to pick the best parts of," said Burns. "For us, we're going by the finish line multiple times. The way we built the teardrops (of the course) to come up near the spectator area, runners will be coming by the finish line quite a bit. That was one piece we feel like we really improved a little bit compared to some of the other top-tier courses we've competed at."
Burns, Halter and the rest of the Mizzou staff worked closely with Griggs and the City of Columbia.
"We really started thinking about how we could market this course so it can become a championship course that can host NCAA events like regionals and national championships," said Griggs. "It's going to be such a great, spectator-friendly course. At other facilities, spectators don't get to see their athletes unless they're also a cross country runner themselves as the runners disappear far from the starting line. At Gans, everyone including parents, grandparents and those fans that may be limited in mobility – can come to this course and watch their athlete run almost the entire time."
Together, the group determined that a course that features multiple passes near the start and finish area would create a great environment to watch athletes compete. The facility's viewing berms will allow spectators to watch runners at a variety of locations around the course.
"Viewers should never have to go more than three or four minutes without seeing race action," explained Burns.
The Gans Creek Course will be the home course of Mizzou Cross Country, but will also host local high school and large-scale college events. The Gans Creek Classic will be the first race at the new facility and will feature 10 collegiate teams from around the country. The inaugural collegiate race on the course is something that all parties involved have been highly-anticipating during the process of completing the project. Burns' face lit up when talking about what it will be like to finally see action at Mizzou's brand new facility.
"To see the meet actually come to fruition is probably going to be the most rewarding part," said Burns. "After all of the planning and going out there to a blank slate, to creating a map, to seeing the dirt being moved, to seeing the grades and irrigation put in, to seeing the seating. Just going through this whole process and how much time we've spent out there in the last two years to how much time Parks and Rec has put in out there is ridiculous. To see all of that come to fruition is going to be awesome and I can't wait."
When asked about the process of implementing the course, Halter focused on similar points, referencing the dedication that the parks department have shown through the entire process.
"The commitment from the city has been awesome," said Halter. "With cross country and track and field being the highest participated sports at the high school level nationwide, we think this facility will be a real pride point for the city of Columbia."
Gans Creek has been selected as the host site for SEC Conference Championships for the 2021 season, marking the first time Mizzou has hosted the Cross Country Conference Championships since joining the SEC. In addition, the course will serve as the location for the MSHSAA Cross Country Championships beginning this fall.
Burns stressed the importance of having the ability to attract top-level events at the new course saying. "For us, it's a lot of things," he said. "It gives us a marquee venue to recruit with, to promote, to sell. To be able to say you're hosting big events is always a really big deal. From a pride standpoint in the program, you feel good, you feel like it's just another piece, another layer of the administration in the kids' eyes taking care of us as a program. To have a venue that's a world-class venue and one of the best in the country is something we can hang our hat on and help our program grow."
The impact the course will have on the Mizzou Cross Country program will be felt for years to come, but the course will also create an attraction for cross country athletes across the state of Missouri.
"At the high school level, there is such a tremendous benefit that they don't need to travel out of state to be seen on a championship-level course," said Griggs. "You're going to be able to participate on a course that's going to mean a lot to the community. It's something (to be) proud of. You can say, 'hey, Columbia has that now and no one else does.' There's a sense of community pride in having these kind of facilities that are used by our local community and also used by elite athletes."
Griggs noted the process that the city went through to fund the course, using the parks sales tax. He explained that the terms of the tax were voted on by the Columbia community and that without the support, these types of facilities would never be created.
"We have something here that's going to be great for local kids, our local clubs and programs and all the way up to Mizzou athletes. We're going to have this facility that the whole community can use. It wouldn't have been possible without the support of the park sales tax that is approved by our voters and we're thankful for that aspect of it."
The economic impact on the Columbia area will be felt due to the large quantities of runners and spectators that both the high school and collegiate events will draw to the area. Griggs estimated that between four and six thousand visitors will come through on large meet weekends which will be a bonus for the community.
Overall, Halter believes that the Gans Creek facility will make a large impact on his program and the Columbia community as a whole. "It's really remarkable to see a vision of a world-class facility turn into a reality," he said. "I'm really looking forward for the city to have the opportunity to host some of the larger national-scale events," he said. "When the kids get on it and the coaches see it, there's going to be a lot of pride. It's our course. It's the state of Missouri's course."
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The Tigers shift to Gans Creek after competing at A.L. Gustin Golf Course. A.L. Gustin played host to a number of important cross country meets including the Big 12 Championships (2002, 2009), NCAA Regional meets (1982, 1990) and the Missouri High School State Championships (1963-1975).
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