Welcome to Fayetteville, Arkansas!

NCAA South Central Region Championship: Friday, November 15, 2019 | Free Admission
Women’s 6K – 11:00 a.m.
Men’s 10K – 12:00 p.m.
all times CST

About the Course (Facility Photos)
The University of Arkansas is known around the world for its outstanding distance runners. It is also one of the handful of universities in North America with its own dedicated cross country course. Carved out of a portion of the University of Arkansas’ on-campus agricultural area – hence the name Agri Park – the course provides the men’s and women’s cross country teams with an excellent practice and competition area.

The 1996 season saw the first two events at Agri Park, the Chile Pepper Run, and Arkansas Invitational. Starting in 1997, the two reunited into the single Chile Pepper Cross Country Festival. The current course configuration has three distinct areas. The open area of the starting chute is separated from the pond and Razorback Meadow by a grove of trees surrounding the former site of one of Fayetteville’s old eateries, the Farmer’s Daughter.

Razorback Meadow is open and relatively flat. The men’s 10K snakes through three groves of trees in the Meadow. The pond section has more contour as the trail rises up along the rim of the course’s water feature. For women, both the one- and two-mile markers for a 5,000-meter race are in the pond area. The finish chute is shaded by a row of trees separating it from the starting line area.

The Agri Park site is extremely versatile. During the Chile Pepper Festival, seven divisions compete on distances ranging from the mile-long fun-run for children to the collegiate/open 10,000 meters – all using the same start and finish areas.

The women’s collegiate course was initially configured as a figure 8. In 1997, the collegiate races changed to a double loop for women, triple loop for men. Fans can watch the start, then walk up the Farmer’s Daughter hill for a view of the main loop and finish chute. In 2000, a new 6,000-meter course was created for the Chile Pepper.

More detail for the women’s 6K course: the first mile mark is near the pond, the course then winds through agricultural fields and a few small groves of trees before coming to the 2 mile, the course follows the tree line down past the starting line and into the meadow and then back up to the top of the hill near the pond, the 3 mile is just before approaching the last big downhill of the course.  There is approximately a 400-meter straight run-in to the finish.

More detail for the men’s 10K course: the first mile mark is near the pond, the course then winds through agricultural fields and a few small groves of tree before coming to the 2 mile, the course follows the tree line down past the starting line and into the meadow where the second loop of the course begins repeating all of the first loop until the end of the meadow where a hair pin turn is made with a 100 meter sprint into the finish.  The 3 mile mark is on the second loop at the top of the hill as the course turns to winds back toward the rim of the pond. The 4 mile mark at the end of the agricultural fields just before approaching a right-hand turn and the second grove of trees.

Directions to the Course

The Agri Park Cross Country Course is located north of the main University of Arkansas campus. Fans attending Arkansas’ annual home meet can reach the course by turning west off of North Gregg Street.

From the main campus:

• Leave campus heading north on Garland Avenue (Highway 112)
• Continue north through the University farm before turning right on W Knapp Dr.

Driving into Fayetteville:

• From I-49, take the Highway 112 exit
• Turn south (toward Fayetteville) on Highway 112
• W Knapp Dr. is less than a 1/2 mile off I-49, turn left

Teams will have parking at the start/finish area.

SCHEDULE OF EVENTS

(All Times are Central Standard Time)

Thursday, November 14

10:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. Course inspection/practice. Weather permitting.

12:00 p.m. – 3:00p.m. Packet pickup. Clerks’ Tent Near Starting Line

3:00 p.m. Mandatory coaches’ meeting. Clerks’ Tent Near Starting Line

Friday, November 15

7:30 a.m.                    Course opens to competitors.

Please call 479-200-3821 or visit @RazorbackTF for frost warning or severe weather updates on race day if needed.

9:40 a.m.      Clerking procedure begins for women’s race.

10:30 a.m.    First gun fired (30 minutes to start of women’s race).

10:35 a.m.    National Anthem

10:40 a.m.      Second gun fired (20 minutes to start of women’s race).

Final check-in at clerk’s tent for women’s competitors.

Clerking procedure begins for men’s race.

10:50 a.m.     Third gun fired (10 minutes to start of women’s race).

11 a.m.            Women’s 6K championship race.

11:30 a.m.     First gun fired (30 minutes to start of men’s race).

11:40 a.m.    Second gun fired (20 minutes to start of men’s race).

Final check-in at clerk’s tent for men’s competitors.

11:50 p.m.    Third gun fired (10 minutes to start of men’s race).

Noon              Men’s 10K championship race.

Immediately following the second race, recognition of top runners and teams.

ACCOMMODATIONS

The following is a list of area hotels and their contact information.  The institution is responsible for contacting the hotel to make all arrangements and providing the hotel with a rooming list.

Headquarter Hotel:  Hilton Garden Inn / 1325 N. Palak Dr. / 479-856-6040

Other Hotels and Restaurants in the Area:

Experience Fayetteville:  www.experiencefayetteville.com

Explore Springdale: https://explorespringdale.com/

Visit Rogers: https://visitrogersarkansas.com/

DRESSING ROOMS

Locker rooms are available at Randal Tyson Track Center (1380 S. Beechwood Ave.) upon request only. Email requests must be received by noon on  Wednesday, November 13 to downsm@uark.edu. No towels will be provided.

DRUG TESTING

Please see the 2019 NCAA Division I Cross Country Pre-Championship Manual for information.

Note that if drug testing does not occur during this championship round and/or a test is required outside of the standard championship protocol (e.g. national record, world junior record, etc.), the cost associated with such a test will be the responsibility of the tested student-athlete’s institution. 

ENTRY PROCEDURES

In order to be eligible for participation in the regional and national meets, institutions must submit an NCAA official online entry roster form through DirectAthletics prior to the regional cross country championships. Coaches will be allowed to submit a maximum of 12 student-athletes on the entry form, of which no more than seven must be declared to participate prior to competition. Only the 12 student-athletes listed on the entry form may compete in the regional and/or national championship meets. Coaches will not be able to change the 12 student-athletes on the entry form should the team qualify for the national championship meet.

The entry form will be available beginning at 8 a.m. Eastern time, Monday, November 4.  Coaches must submit the forms ONLINE by 5 p.m. Eastern, Thursday, November 7. The late deadline, with fine, for regional entries is 5 p.m. Eastern on Friday, November 8. A late fine will be assessed in the amount of $400 per team/per gender. No entries will be received after this deadline. Each institution should print a copy of its entry forms to take to the regional and national sites.

The online entry roster form can be accessed through DirectAthletics at www.directathletics.com. If you experience technical difficulty using the online entry system, please contact DirectAthletics (support@directathletics.com; phone: 347-674-3002).

Entries will be posted at ArkansasRazorbacks.com and Flashresults.com by 5 p.m. local time on Monday, November 11.

The qualifying finish of teams and individuals at the regional meets will constitute entry into the national meet.  No further entry is required for the national meet.

Please follow the instructions below to complete your entries for the regional/national championship.

Please note: If you already have a DirectAthletics account for your team, you should login at www.directathletics.com and use your existing account to submit your entries.  The NCAA entry process is no different than submitting entries to other DirectAthletics meets. If you know you have an account but have forgotten your username/password, you can click the “Login Trouble” link next to the login box.

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