This parent-led initiative raised over $25,000 through individual donations and a grant from the WTS Foundation and has culminated in the completion of Phase 1 [planning and development].

The excitement of completing Phase 1 gives us the opportunity to host modest events scheduled during the upcoming 2012-13 season and drives us towards the future developments of Phase 2.  We challenge you to run or walk the course and not be impressed by the topography, the landscape and surroundings.

We need your help to complete Phase 2, to acquire the equipment needed to turn this course into the “Best in Class” course it was meant to be.Become a member, create a community legacy.  We are looking for sponsors and individual donations.  With your generous support, we can continue to develop and maintain the Walking Trails and Cross Country Course befitting our amazing community.                                                 

Our goal with the development of the NCXC course on the NC campus, was intended to make basic improvements to the existing property just east of the campus, so that the area could be used for training, community access, and as a cross country course.  Basic improvements were made to the property to meet a minimum standard in which we could host a modest cross country event.  The first two events scheduled for 2012 will be the NCXC Alumni Run in August, and a reserve meet in mid-October.  Expenses and funding for completion of Phase I of the development:

In the second phase of the development of the NCXC course we are looking to make improvements to the course overall, that will give us greater flexibility in running XC events.  By making additional improvements to the course we can move from hosting small XC events, to actually hosting a more prestigious sectional or regional XC event on the NCXC course.  To get the XC course to the next level we have identified the following items that we would like to complete in 2012.

*All funds are handled through the Washington Township Foundation (WTSF) to qualify as tax deductible donations. The WTSF makes the funds available to the NC Athletic Department for the improvements made to the cross-country course.

In the initial plans of developing the cross country course, we had determined that there would be a need for a bridge to cross over the drainage area.  The bridge would need to span about 30 feet, and it would have to be high enough to clear the high water levels of the waterway.  While we were hopeful that this would be the cornerstone of the development of the new cross country course, we learned that this would be a very costly and time consuming venture since it would involve approved engineering plans and approval for construction from the DNR.  Initial estimates of the cost far exceeded any reasonable expectation that we had, and so the NCXC Course Committee felt it would be prudent to use the money we raised to first develop a running course, and then to make future improvements to the cross country course in various phases.  So we deferred the design, approval and fund raising required for a bridge on the course to a future date.  By having a bridge over the waterway, we would increase the options to lay out the cross country course, and it would provide a novel feature to the overall course.  We intend to continue to evaluate alternative options in constructing a bridge, to see if we can add this feature to the course at some point in the future.