Belfast’s Troy Howard Middle School has one of the more fan friendly and challenging cross country courses in the state.

After three years at Leavitt Area High School in Turner, the state championship meet will return to Belfast this fall, the Maine Principals’ Association announced recently.

The state meet will rotate between the Belfast site and Twin Brook Recreation Center in Cumberland on a yearly basis starting this year, according to Belfast athletic administrator Terry Kenniston.

Jeff Sturgis, the MPA’s liaison for cross country, was on vacation and could not be reached for comment Monday.

Belfast’s course is wide-open, starting and finishing on a football field, and spectators are able to see the runners a handful of times, which Kenniston said was one factor in the meet returning to Troy Howard Middle School.

“We just think it’s a great location to hold any meet because of that,” said Kenniston.

“The other piece is the community and coaches and cross-country people do a great job of keeping that course in great shape,” he added.

Belfast hosts the Maine Cross Country Festival of Champions and Eastern Maine regional meets on a yearly basis. The Festival of Champions attracted more than 50 teams last fall.

Twin Brook, where the New England championships were held last fall, hosts the West regional meets.

This year’s state meet is set for Nov. 1.

Another factor that came into play was Belfast’s central geographic location.

“It’s a pretty good location, with Eastern Maine being a big geographical area [and] with Oxford Hills and those schools being in the East it certainly is a much better location,” Kenniston said. “We do realize that people from around the state really enjoy coming back and we really enjoy having them.”

He added the travel to a southern Maine locale at Twin Brook could be difficult for teams north of Bangor, in particular with high diesel fuel prices.

“I’d like to see something where everybody was pretty much equalized. Going to Western Maine, the teams for Bangor and above have significantly more travel,” he said.

Belfast hosted the state championships in 2003 and 2004.

Last year’s state meet at Leavitt was held in a driving rainstorm, turning the 3.1-mile course into a muddy mess as the meet went on.

In fact, for the last couple of races, race officials had to put down flour at the finish line to try and give runners more footing on a muddy football field that had been significantly chewed up by spikes on the runners’ shoes throughout the day.

Preseason draws near

It may be the fourth week of July, but the start of high school soccer and cross country season is just around the corner.

Teams in Aroostook County will kick off their preseason practices next week, with the first countable contests set for Aug. 11.

Schools in the County are allowed to start practices early due to the midseason potato harvest break.

Teams elsewhere around the state can get practices under way starting Aug. 18.

rmclaughlin@bangordailynews.net

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