The tight start of the Southwest XC Challenge requires athletes to get out quicker than normal. Photo courtesy of Sampson Sage.
Now that all the rust busters are complete, the fall racing season is in full swing across the Land of Enchantment.
Thursday
New to the slate of competitive opportunities, Coach Turcotte’s St. Pius X 5-Star XC Relays offers a unique format. Races will fire off in a golf-lie stagger, featuring 5’s v. 5’s, 4’s v. 4’s all the way to the 1’s v. 1’s capping the evening. With 5 Teams attending and an ultra-fast course promise, results from this race should be blazing.
Friday
While no races are scheduled in the 505/575, Albuquerque Academy makes their yearly trip up to Littleton, Colorado for the Liberty Bell Invitational. Drawing from much of the 1-25 Front Range and I-70 Mountain Corridors, Liberty Bell pulls roughly 90 teams to this flat, fast event.
Saturday
By last count, there are nine races across the state. Let’s begin in the South and work our way North.
Much of the southeastern corner will converge on Roswell for the Pecos Valley Invite. Based off the teams listed, this looks to be a very competitive meet.
Moving over to I-25, team schedules show most team’s crossing into Texas and attending the Loretto/Cathedral Invitational in El Paso.
The Albuquerque Metro team’s have two options to choose from, either head to the Hardrock Pavilion for the Albuquerque High Invite, or over to the Westside for the Volcano Vista Invite.
Further up 1-25 is the ATC Everybody Invite, where people will find competitive racing, starter’s donning Chicken suits, and maybe even a few solar cooked hot dogs if you’re lucky (weather permitting of course). 21 Teams and counting from all over Northern New Mexico is helping this meet live up to its name.
Continuing northward, the Taos Tigers are playing hosts this weekend to northern New Mexico.
Moving back southwest brings a stop at the Jemez Valley Invite, where a nice collection of team’s look to toe the line.
Further westward brings us to Gallup and the Miyamura Patriot Invite, which will be pulling teams from the surrounding Gallup area as well as San Juan County.
Last, we head north, cross state lines once more and end up in Bayfield, Colorado for the Southwest XC Challenge. With the recent bit of precipitation, this meet looks to be every bit as challenging as its name suggests.
And there you have it. Wherever you are, kiddos are rocking-and-rolling. Woo-hoo XC!