Some information concerning the NY State Meet at Norwood-Norfolk (on Nov 10, 2007)

The NYSPHSAA Championship Meet will be held at Norwood-Norfolk HS (in Section 10, about 10 miles north of Potsdam on Route 56) on Nov 10.

(1) Information and a Photo Tour of the course are available from the Section 10 Cross Country Web-Site.

(2) Driving by car from Tully to Potsdam takes approximately 2 hours 45 minutes in decent weather (I did it many times) ... From Syracuse, it takes roughly 2 hours 30 minutes ... Take Route 81 North just past Watertown to Exit 48 ... Turn Right and go several miles to Route 11 ... turn left on to Route 11 and go north for about 61 miles to reach Potsdam (you go through Canton about 11 miles before Potsdam) ... Turn on to Route 56 North (towards Massena) for about 12 miles to Norwood-Norfolk HS.

(3) Starting Times of races:

   Boys B  -  9:30     Girls B  - 11:35
   Boys C  -  9:55     Girls C  - 12:05
   Boys D  - 10:20     Girls D  - 12:35
   Boys AA - 10:45     Girls AA - 1:10
   Boys A  - 11:10     Girls A  - 1:40

The boys races have 25 minutes between races ... The girls have 30 minutes between races (Class D girls are given 35 minutes) ... Apparently the course lay-out requires that a race finishes before the next race starts ... so actual start times may change as the day progresses (something to keep in mind for warm-ups).

(4) The course itself is a very good runners course and should be a fair test of ability for the runners ... On a difficulty scale where difficulty increases from 1 to 10, the Norwood-Norfolk course rates about a 7 if the South Jefferson course rates about 9 (South Jeff is probably not much different in difficulty than Sunken Meadows where the 2008 State Meet will be held) ... I guess Tully would rate about a 2 or 3 (I know, we're easy).

(5) Coaches Take Note ... The course is NOT particularly coach- or spectator-friendly ... Coaches and spectators will NOT be allowed to enter the back trails ... effectively, you can watch the runners start and then watch them finish.

(6) Most Parking is 1/2 mile from the start ... There will be a Shuttle-Bus system (Last I heard) ... The Norwood-Norfolk School is located on Route 56 (the main road between Potsdam and Massena) ... DO NOT PARK on Route 56 - apparently the local law enforcement agencies will be standing by with a fleet of tow-trucks to fill the town coffers and lower the tax rates for local citizens.

(7) If you order the Boxed Lunches, you must pay for them (even if you don't go).

(8) Awards Ceremony will be in the Elementary Gym.

(9) The State Meet is being timed & scored the same as last year ... Last year, I took printed hard-copy pages of the results and scanned them so I could post the results on Saturday night (about half-a-dozen newspapers asked me post results Saturday night so they could include results for the Sunday edition ... and that's the reason I scanned results last year ... I was not allowed access to the electronic results at the meet (nor was anybody else that I know of ... I wanted to post those results IF nobody else would).

This year I am NOT going to do that (go to the trouble of scanning results) ... Past experience suggests that the electronic results MIGHT get posted on the NYSPHSAA web-site by the following Monday or Tuesday ... I apologize to the newspapers who will not be sending reporters this year (hopefully you can make arrangements and pool with other newspapers who are sending reporters).