When the starting gun fires on Friday morning, the Gans Creek Cross Country Course will be shown off on a national scale for the first time in its young life.
For the partnership of Mizzou Athletics and City of Columbia Parks and Recreation, the 2021 SEC Championships will be the culmination of the patience and hard work put into the venue over the last four years.
If You Build It, They Will Come
When Mizzou head cross country coach Marc Burns walked the site of his team's future home for the first time in the fall of 2017, he could have used a bush whacker.
The 328-acre plot of land where the course stands began as an untouched property owned by the City of Columbia. Tall prairie grass dominated the landscape while a handful of soccer fields stood as the sole human footprint on the land.
From the very beginning, the idea was to create a venue that could serve as the Tigers' home course in addition to providing a mixed-usage space for school events and local recreation.
While multiple layouts were considered, the constant in each plan was the need for a looped course.
"Logistically, [a looped course] makes everything easier," Burns said.
Finding the correct configuration that would measure the correct distance and present a fair challenge took creative problem solving. The first concept, what Burns claims would have been the most difficult course in history, was a 5,000m loop all the way down to the creek to the south. This presented multiple issues, the most pertinent being that most races run at varying distances.
Eventually, the group settled on a dual-looped course consisting of 2,000m and 3,000m loops.
"We knew we could offer a variety of different races," Columbia Parks and Recreation services manager Erika Coffman said.
The decision allowed the Parks and Recreation department to cater to younger runners that compete over less distance. At the college level, the configuration also allowed Burns and the Mizzou staff to get creative with loop sequences in longer races where multiple laps are required.
The next hurdle was tackling how to make a spectator-friendly course.
What Burns and the project team looked to avoid was a venue where you'd see a runner once and then need to sprint to the next viewing point.
"A looped course solves that."
Not only did the loop concept solve the issue of visibility, but the multi-loop configuration also allowed the course to ebb and flow through the landscape and provide multiple viewing lanes a relatively short distance apart. But as with the theme of the development, the team took it a step further.
Using land that was excavated during the grading and molding process, a viewing berm was raised overlooking the starting and finishing chutes with unobstructed views of multiple sections of the first and last kilometers.
The design put the project into the upper echelon of collegiate courses in the nation. What separated the Gans Creek course from its peers, though, is the technology behind the aesthetic landscape.
A 21st Century Spectator's Paradise
Another priority during the construction of the course was creating a permanent system that'd allow the race to operate smoother on both the technical and spectator sides.
The request manifested in permanent kilometer markers throughout the course that all routed back to a central timing tower behind the finish line through fiber cables. The connection meant that information could stream from the markers to the tower and vice versa.
"As we've gotten into an age of live results in cross country, parents love being able to watch the feed online," assistant coach Stephen Smith said.
An intended benefit of the permanent structures across the course is having a reliable source of results. Unlike some venues which are unable to provide updating results, the Gans Creek course allows for spectators and families at home to be continually clued into a team or individual's mid-race results.
With this in mind, the team went a step further in the construction, building space for video boards on the markers so spectators and runners can check in with the standings in real time. The course is even equipped with stationary cameras that help in the broadcasting of races including this year's SEC Championships.
"Nobody has what we have in that regard right now," Burns said.
A Place To Call Home
When the course was dedicated in September 2019, it was far from finished. According to the Mizzou staff, it will be a project that will never stop improving. Regardless, Burns, Smith, Coffman and the rest of the team are already seeing dividends.
For the Mizzou cross country squad, running at the course as opposed to running on a golf course in the past gives the Tigers a sense of ownership. Having a facility to train and race also provides the team a leg up with a constant, predictable space.
Officially classified as a facility for both Mizzou Athletics and Columbia Parks and Recreation, Gans Creek equally belongs to runners across the state. With middle school and high school runners competing on the course all the way up to the MSHSAA Cross Country Championships, it gives the teens something to work toward each season.
"It's totally a game changer for them," Smith said. "Not even just from a competing standpoint, but having a place to call home. They have pride in the course."
From the very beginning, Gans Creek was built with a world-class quality of care and detail. The course was designed with the intent to bring big championship meets to Mid-Missouri.
The Tigers' home venue will play host to a number of large races in the near future, including the 2022 Midwest Regional Championships and the 2025 NCAA Cross Country Championships. While goals for the course will continue rising, for those who were involved in the project, the SEC Championships offer an opportunity to stop and smell the roses.
"[It's exciting] to see the young men and women cross the finish line and experience a quality space to run and showcase their talents," Coffman said. "To see that level of competition compete on our course and in our community on something that myself and other staff members have been a part of, it's been one of those professional feathers in my hat."
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