City hopes new course will attract track and field attention

Video and Story by Mary Milz / WTHR-TV Indianapolis eyewitness News

Marion County - Indianapolis is going the extra distance to attract another major sports event. The venue is semi-hidden on the east banks of the White River just north of downtown. At first glance, it looks like a field over run with wildlife, but it's actually becoming a field to run over.

The 20-acre site is the start of a cross country course that Greg Harger has helped develop. Harger coaches elite runners as part of the Indiana Invaders, a track and field team. He sees the course as a training ground and more.

"The course layout and the surface, it has the potential to be the best course in the country in three or four years," Harger said. His goal is to attract national cross country championships.

The state and city own the property. Indy Parks Director Stuart Lowry calls it ideal for "an up and coming sport. We're going to add a new level of excitement to the sport that has never existed before."

Lowry said he's working with a private company to provide a wireless timing system for the course.

"There aren't any races now where you know the [runners'] times until the end of the race," he said.

Lowry calls the course great for all levels of runners and great for spectators, too.

"On a lot of courses if you're watching runners, you have to run from point to point, but here because of the levee you can stand on it and oversee 85-95 percent of the race," he said.

In the long run, Lowry said he envisions much more along the corridor than a track and a field. It's already a conservation area with plans for more trails running north.

"I would love to see this embraced as a corridor along the river for whatever uses - students wanting to take a walk, for birders and naturalists to history panels," he said.

Lowry said so far the project has involved little if any city money. He said Harger and other volunteers designed the course and are now maintaining it.

The course is already used for high school track and field events. Lowry sees it hosting as many as 20 events a year.

Indiana Cross Country Arena web site