The latest round of improvements to Apalachee Regional Park Championship Cross-Country Course is under way at last. Leon County held a groundbreaking ceremony at the park, east of Tallahassee, Florida, on Friday morning, 6 March 2020. The $3,000,000 dollar project will include a finish line structure, an operations center, a permanent stage, and running water, getting ARPXC ready to host the NCAA Division 1 National Championship Cross-Country Meet in 2021.
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| Apalachee Regional Park Championship Cross-Country Course |
"We've come a long way," said Leon County Commissioner Bryan Desloge, speaking at the ceremony. "If you remember what we had out here fifteen or seventeen years ago, you'll know we've come a long way."
Florida State University cross-country coach Bob Braman, co-designer of the course with Brian Corbin, recalled what was out there all those years ago.
"We were in a truck, and we drove out to Field #1," said Braman. "And the weeds were six feet high. This is the course? But Brian said, 'Let's make this fun. Let's make it a place that kids would like to run.' So we designed the course to be fun for the athletes."
Not coincidentally, when the course opened, Leon County called it a "Cross-Country Playground."
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| Bob Braman |
ARPXC was laboriously carved out of the weeds, the swamp, and the jungle. It was a great place to run, but no one aside from the athletes seemed to care very much. When the course opened in 2009, there wasn't a group of politicians on hand, squabbling over who would get to cut the ribbon. There was a ribbon-cutting, but said ribbon was broken by the first athlete to reach the 400-meter mark in a community race during that year's FSU Invitational Cross-Country Meet.
Skip ahead to 2020 and the groundbreaking ceremony, more than ten years later. Also many state championship meets, regional championship meets, national championship meets, and tens of millions of dollars of local economic impact. This time there were three county commissioners on hand, as well as two local television stations and fifteen ceremonial shovels. There weren't as many athletes on hand as at the dedication in 2009, but there was no race on groundbreaking day. There could have been, though. The course and the weather were beautiful.
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| Breaking Ground |
Leon County bought the Apalachee Regional Park property from Louise Kirk Edwards in 1979 for use as a landfill and a buffer zone. After landfill operations began to wind down, the property came under Leon County Parks & Recreation. The end of the landfill caused some concern, as did opening the land to recreation. Kristin Dozier is the county commissioner representing Leon County's District 5, where ARPXC is located.
"I'd like to thank the citizens of District 5 and the residents of this area," said Dozier. "Whenever you have change, there's going to be a lot of questions."
$30 million in economic impact did a lot to put those questions to rest, bringing Leon County to groundbreaking day.
"For District 5, for Leon County, for all of us, this is a great day," said Dozier.
Links
- More Trouble Afoot! photos of Groundbreaking Day at ARPXC
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10115293108679463
- Press release, "Leon County Breaks Ground on Improvements to Apalachee Regional Park"
https://content.govdelivery.com/accounts/FLLEON/bulletins/27f39b6
- Upcoming races at ARPXC and elsewhere in the Tallahassee region on the Trouble Afoot! calendar
https://troubleafoot.blogspot.com/search/label/calendar?max-results=1
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