From machetes to medals: How Tallahassee built world-class cross country

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On Saturday, Jan. 10, the world of running will be descending on Tallahassee for the World Cross Country Championships, returning to the United States for the first time in over 30 years.

The tireless work of hundreds of individuals through the years has brought this prestigious race to Florida’s capital. The course the participants will run has hosted dozens of races at various levels, from local middle and high school events, the state high school cross country championships for over a decade, multiple NCAA events including the 2021 NCAA National Cross Country Championships, and USATF races at every level.

Over the years, the course has always received high praise as one of the best in the country.

Its humble beginnings at Apalachee Regional Park, however, are why so many feel so connected with and proud of all the accolades the course has received.

In 2008, the Florida State Invitational was run at the Miccosukee Greenway. It had been run there for several years. The event was popular and continued to grow but had outgrown the venue, so an alternative venue needed to be found.

Leon County Parks and Recreation suggested Apalachee Regional Park. Very few knew anything about this park. A handful of people, including me, met there to see the property. There were some beautiful trees, a few fields with overgrown grass well over waist height, and no obvious path to make any loop necessary for a respectable cross country course.

More: Leon County wins bid to host 2026 World Cross Country Championships at Apalachee Regional Park

Group challenged to blaze a running path through the woods

We were given the task, if we chose to accept it, Mission Impossible style, to blaze a path through the woods connecting both ends of the park.

FSU cross country coach Bob Braman and I met out there, machetes in hand, to blaze a trail through the woods, and mark it with tape. Though neither of us had ever done anything like this, we whacked our way through wild forest. There were no pre-existing trails, only dense forest understory.

There were times we could not see each other though we were only paces apart. We had an idea of what we wanted to accomplish which was to connect the two ends of the park. We had no idea where we were going, only a general direction, which often traversed areas too wet or too steep for running.

After multiple attempts and days, we finally connected the back side of the course we were blazing to the field we thought would be the start of the course. County personnel met us at the course, walked our potential trail and said the trail was possible. After generous donations from Gulf Winds Track Club and FSU, heavy equipment was used to make the initial 10 feet wide trail.

Runners explode into action at the start line at Apalachee Regional Park, ready to take on the course ahead.

The course was nowhere near runnable at this stage. Multiple workdays were organized and staffed by volunteers to make the trail someplace where an athlete could run and not break an ankle. Rocks were removed. Roots were taken out. More vegetation was cleared. Crushed limestone was brought in to make a better running surface. The trail was rolled. There was finally a path worthy of a cross country event.

Being an experienced coach, Bob wanted a trail that allowed access to other parts of the course, so coaches could coach. Initially, there was no trail to get from the fields where the race started to the back side of the course in the woods. He blazed a trail that was later widened and improved. That trail is known as the Braman Trail.

Neither Bob nor I knew much about grass either. All the waist high grass needed to be taken down and even when taken down, was not suitable for cross country running. It was stiff and ankle turning. It was removed and replaced with grass like what might be found on a soccer field.

County employee Dean Richards was communicating with us about the progress of the course and grass. He was SO patient with us. Bob and I would look at a barren field and be freaking out that there is no grass and races are coming in four months. Dean would reassure us that there would be grass and urged us just take a deep breath or two. He was right!

The 2009 FSU Invitational was the first to be held on the new course at Apalachee Regional Park. It was an instant success. The fans loved it. The athletes loved it. Over the years, the course has undergone many improvements, including the addition of another trail to allow better access to other parts of the course for spectators and coaches, which I am proud to say has been labeled the Corbin Trail.

Also, there were changes to the course on the pre-existing fields, better access to spectators and coaches alike of the entire course, improved drainage to prevent erosion, widening of the entire course to allow larger groups of runners (measured by Bob and I going through the woods with a javelin as our tool of choice to mark how much width needed to be added to the trail), and all of the infrastructure currently in place to host events like the World Cross Country Championships.

Today, I am no longer involved with course design and improvements. Whenever possible, I do work at the various races held there including my favorite job, driving the lead cart. I will be out there with a battalion of other volunteers on January 10 to help put on the best event possible. When we were blazing that first trail, Bob and I dreamed of hosting a big event here.

Runners compete in the second day of the Florida High School Athletic Association Cross Country State Championships at Apalachee Regional Park in Tallahassee Sunday, Nov. 15, 2020.

Neither of us even thought to dream this big. This was a grassroots project that exploded. It was built from the bottom up. Once the project got going, the ceaseless promotion of this unique venue by Visit Tallahassee and the continual facility upgrades by Leon County Park and Recreation have brought us to where we are today.

All of Tallahassee should be proud.

Brian Corbin is a Leon High School environmental science and biology teacher and cross country coach. He also is a Gulf Winds Track Club and Hall of Famer and one of the creators of the Apalachee Regional Park track, which has now become a global destination.