Juniors Fall 2024 Resources

Practice Schedule

• Monday: 4:45pm trail run @ Green Mountain (Rooney Road Lot)

• Tuesday: 5:30p Strength @ Trailhead Crossfit* only for athletes age 10 and older

• Wednesday: 4:45pm track workout @ Bell (Lower Lot near Bell MS Track)

• Friday: 4:45pm trail run @ South Table (Park across from BGOLDN building)

Upcoming Races

We highly encourage all athletes to at least try one cross country race this fall.  We trust that your athlete will find it to be a great time. You will want to register your athlete using the links below. Please note that registration typically closes a couple of days before the event so please don’t miss the deadline.

1. 11/9/24- Kokopelli Invite

2. 11/16/24- USATF JO XC Region 10 Champs athletes need USATF membership to compete. See below how to sign up.

3. 12/14/24- USATF Nationals athletes need USATF membership to compete. See below how to sign up

In a typical year athletes need to qualify at the Colorado State meet for the opportunity to compete at Regionals. This year USATF cancelled the state meet so athletes can auto qualify for Regionals by clicking this link and signing your athlete up for a virtual race. Registration deadline is Wednesday, 11/6/24 @ 9:00am and the cost is $0. You must register & complete virtual race to be eligible to advance to Regionals. To get to Nationals though they will only allow the top 30 individuals and top 5 teams from the Region 10 championships.

REGIONALS TRAVEL

Hotel- He will be staying at the Westgate Painted Mountain Golf Resort. There are many options near here, but we would love to have as many athletes as possible in the same place to have fun together during this exciting race time! Think about travel to/from the Phoenix area and lodging for the race.

Flight- Coach Alex will be taking the American Airlines flights on Friday, November 15th at 11:20 AM and Sunday, November 17th at 8:24 PM.

Please share your travel information here. This helps us coordinate schedules.

CROSS COUNTRY 101

Here is a short guide to inform you on some important things to know about running cross country, especially for those first time runners. Over the coming weeks, if you have any questions about cross country, feel free to email questions you have so we can provide information to help you better understand the beautiful sport of cross country!

The course - Each race will have a different course that the athletes will run. This makes comparing times difficult, as some courses are “easier” than others. In track, most of the tracks should be a standard 400m. In cross country, the distance will be the same but the course, terrain, and surface can be different from one to the next. So don’t let your athlete be discouraged by slower times.

Spectating - Spectating at a cross country race can be challenging. In track, you are able to see the athletes at all times as they run around the oval. In cross country, this is not always the case, as the course may take them far from the start/finish lines. Knowing the course map can be helpful in figuring out where to be on the course to be able to see the most action. Often, the start and finish lines are the best place to be, but if you’re willing to move about, you might be able to catch more of the action!

Scoring - In cross country, an individual finisher can score points for their team. The place that each individual on a team finishes is the number of points that they score for their team. For example, an athlete finishing 7th place scores 7 points for their team. The team with the lowest score from their first 5 finishers is the winning team! This is why we are strongly encouraging as many athletes to race the Peak USATF races as possible. Individual success is amazing, but it’s even better with a team! Also, it can even be a little easier to qualify for the bigger races (regionals, nationals) as a team than as an individual. Check out the Cross Country Race Schedule below to sign up for some awesome meets!

How does my athlete get a jersey?

If your athlete wants a jersey to proudly represent the team you can purchase one from us at the race.  Cost is $20

If I am signed up, what time should we arrive? 

Please arrive about 60 minutes before race time. That will allow your athlete plenty of time to get warmed up and check out the course with our coaches. You should be able to easily spot the team with our black Peak tent. 

USATF Membership

All athletes planning on participating in the USATF races need to have a current USATF membership. Please sign up for this using this link. Membership is $30 per year. You will want to complete this at least a 7-10 days before the race because you need to have your athletes date of birth verified through submission of a birth certificate. This takes time to process so please make sure you aren’t saving this to the last minute.

Within the process there is a way to select that your athlete is attached to a club using the code below If you don't attach your athlete as part of our team we won't be able to count their results as part of our team.

USATF Club- code is 32-0507

Athletic.net club code- YGP48AVSQ

Lightning Bolts

We are excited to share that we ordered several lightning bolts for athletes to put on their jersey. These lightning bolts will represent the electricity and speed of which our athletes race. We started this tradition last year and it was a big hit to incentivize racing. This concept is similar to football players putting stars on their helmets for accomplishments. For each race our athletes participate in, they will receive a lightning bolt that they can put on their jersey.  We think the athletes will be pretty excited about this. We will try to have them at most practices so athletes will receive them there.

INSTRUCTIONS: Preheat your iron/heat press. Use 300˚ for heat press or the polyester/wool setting for a home iron. Preheat the garment for 10 seconds with the iron to check the area and warm the fabric.  Position the transfer on the garment.  Cover completely with a cover sheet (you can use a teflon sheet, kraft paper, or parchment paper).

Press down with medium pressure on the transfer for 10-15 seconds.While it is still warm but not hot (30-45 seconds), remove cover sheet and peel off the plastic carrier sheet, exposing the transfer. If plastic doesn’t come off easily, let the garment cool before trying again. If this doesn’t work, stop and repeat the first steps again, trying to use more pressure or increase the temperature slightly. If the corners of the transfer come up after you remove the plastic carrier sheet you can always place the carrier sheet back on the transfer and apply finishing touches, be careful to cover the whole transfer as a hot iron will melt the transfer with direct contact.

One important detail that we have discovered is when ironing on please be sure to not have the iron touch any of the other lettering on the jersey as it will melt and ruin your jersey.

Peak Gear

Many of you have requested purchasing Peak gear to wear at practices, or just around town! We were able to find an ordering system that provides several options of gear, from hats, pants, casual and dry fit tees, and more. The items are reasonably priced, production is quick, and best of all, it can be ordered at any time! Click this link to look at all the amazing gear that is available!