Catamount Race to Homecoming

The 5K course is a road race (primarily asphalt with a small stretch on a gravel lane). It is a single loop on and around campus. Runners and walkers will stage in front of the Mary F. Shipper Library on Campus Drive and head out onto Fort Avenue with a soft left turn. The next turn comes at about the half-mile mark, a left, onto what turns into Parkview Drive. Participants will race past the Agricultural Technology Building, the Greenhouse and the Hospitality Demonstration Kitchen before nearing the turnaround point in Hoover Hollow just past the Upper Farm. After reaching the turnaround point, runners and walkers will retrace their steps on a gradual descent before a right turn onto Walnut Street. This marks the bottom of the race course’s first of five notable ascents. This first hill is less than one-tenth of a mile, and ends with a left turn onto D Street.

A right turn onto Arnold Lane starts the second climb of the morning — about the same distance as the first, though more gradual — before turning right and passing in front of the Church-McKee Arts Center. Runners and walkers will cross the parking lot overlooking the softball field, then Stayman Field, before taking the gravel lane between Stayman Field and the Golden Park baseball field. Participants will begin their third ascent when the Indoor Riding Arena is on their left. A welcome downhill awaits participants as they run onto Chestnut Street before taking a left onto Valley View Avenue for their fourth uphill segment — another climb of about one-tenth of a mile. At the top, runners and walkers prepare to make a 45-degree turn onto Crescent Drive. Once they reach Arnold Street and make a right-hand turn, the finish line is in line. All they’ll have to do is complete their fifth and final climb — the most gradual yet — before finishing on Campus Drive near Academy Hall and the Administration Building by the Quad.