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For the 2024 FLRC Challenge, we’ve chosen a new set of courses, making sure there’s something for everyone. Courses range in length, surface, hilliness, and location. Check out their pages for driving directions, course maps and directions, and (in time) custom RunGo voice directions using your smartphone or Apple Watch. We have once again worked hard to introduce you to new courses both in Ithaca and the outlying communities.
Courses include:
- Sweet 1600 (1 mile, track): Feeling frisky? Test your legs at 1600 meters on any standard track in the world (just 9 meters short of a mile—we’ll round up for mileage calculations). You can run the Sweet 1600 in FLRC’s summer track meets for some competition, and it’s a great way to continue to rack up Challenge efforts while you’re traveling. Results | Posts
- Duck Trails (2.7 miles, trail): Never run trails before? This course is short and easy, but it will introduce you to trail navigation in the pretty scenery surrounding Cornell’s world-famous Lab of Ornithology. Results | Posts
- Lakefront Loops 5K (3.1 miles, pavement and crushed gravel): For those in downtown Ithaca, this course on Cass Park and the Allan H. Treman State Marine Park trails provides a flat 5K with no cars. Like the Sweet 1600, you can substitute race results from any 5K or parkrun for this course during the Challenge—a report on remote races is required this year!—so you can keep up with the Challenge while on vacation. Results | Posts
- Lindsay-Parsons (4.3 miles, trail): The Lindsay-Parsons Biodiversity Preserve south of Ithaca has 554 acres and several miles of trails leading to a forest, lake, and beaver pond. We’ve set a 4.3-mile course you can run twice if you want more miles for the drive. Results | Posts
- FH Fox (5.0 miles, trail and road): With a starting point at the Stevenson Road intersection of the Dryden Rail Trail, this course crossing the famous FH Fox 4Ever bridge over Route 366 offers a scenic trail option for those at Cornell looking to get a run in before work, at lunch, or after work. Results | Posts
- Valley Views (6.4 miles, road): We return to Brooktondale for this road course, which starts at the Brookton Market and takes you on two loops of the countryside, including the lovely views from Burns Road. Results | Posts
- Treman Trailipop (7.7 miles, trail and a little road): This course starts at the Finger Lakes Land Trust parking area for Lick Brook near the base of Treman State Park, then climbs the Lick Brook hills before making its way over to Buttermilk State Park for a loop around Lake Treman. Results | Posts
- Hammond Hill Hoctathon (8.8 miles, trail): Some of the best running trails in the area are at Hammond Hill, and this course takes you on some that you may never have seen before! Results | Posts
- Run Rabbit Run (11.2 miles, road and crushed gravel): The Black Diamond Trail is an FLRC Challenge favorite, so this long Trumansburg-focused course incorporates some of the trail along with West Hill roads. Results | Posts
- Freeville Fly-In (13.1 miles, road): Our longest course of the year starts at Campbell Meadow Park and sends you out and around flat roads all the way to the Ithaca airport before you turn and retrace your steps. Results | Posts
Special thanks to these organizations for allowing us to use their spaces:
- The Town of Caroline for the Valley Views course
- The Cornell University Lab of Ornithology for the Duck Trails course
- The City of Ithaca for the Lakefront Loops 5K course
- The New York State Office of Parks, Recreation, and Historic Preservation for the Lakefront Loops 5K, Treman Trailipop, and Run Rabbit Run courses
- The Finger Lakes Land Trust for the Lindsay-Parsons course
- The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation and the Friends of Hammond Hill for the Hammond Hill Hoctathon course
- The Town of Ithaca and the Cornell Botanic Gardens for the FH Fox course
- The Town of Dryden and the Village of Freeville for the Freeville Fly-In course